Jean Sibelius~

Born: December 8, 1865 in Finland

Sibelius was the musical treasure of Finland. He had a sister, Linda, and a brother, Christian. With Linda on the piano, Christian on the cello, and Sibelius on the violin, they often played together in a piano trio in their youth. Although Sibelius’s family spoke Swedish, he went to a Finnish-speaking school. After finishing school, he studied law and music. Eventually, he studied music full-time at the Helsinki Music Institute, which is now known as the Sibelius Academy. Sibelius’s inital dream was to become a violin virtuoso, but then began a career as conductor and composer. He composed until the 1930s, when he retired into the  “Silence of Järvenpää”. He did work on the Symphony No.8 until he burned the work in the 1940s. Eventually, Sibelius passed away in 1957.

Among Sibelius’s many famous compositions, here are the two that I am most familiar with. First is Finlandia, a Finnish nationalistic work that doubles as a tone poem. Contained in the work is the Finlandia hymn, whose tune serves as the Iolani School alma mater. ^_^

The second piece is the Violin Concerto in D minor, which also contains Finnish themes. At the time of this post, I am learning this piece! The mysterious beginning can be compared to a swan on a serene lake. This concerto has a more heavily involved orchestral accompaniment than most concertos. The orchestra provides an indispensable richness in the tone of the piece.

Here is the violin concerto, played by a young Hilary Hahn.

Part 1

Part 2

And Finlandia -(this video has too much camera time on the conductor, and i wanna find a better video, this one is a bit too brassy…or maybe my ears are weird o_O)

Enjoy!