Category Archives: News

Sibelius’s ‘Finlandia’ barn for sale

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Sibelius’s barn for sale

The barn attached to the Mattila house in Kerava, where Sibelius lived between June 1899 and the summer of 1902, is for sale.

This is a unique opportunity to own a building that is closely linked to an iconic piece of music and a vital period of Finnish cultural history.

The barn is sold with a building plot (2,300 square metres) and comes with outline building permission for a 220 square metre house. The barn is in the Kytömaa area of Kerava, an area that is currently undergoing considerable new development. It is approximately 2 km north-east of the town centre.

Sibelius’s ‘Finlandia’ barn

According to the advertising board, the agent responsible is Raija Nyström/UpHouse, tel.: 00358 500 403022 / email raija.nystrom@uphouse.fi

At the Mattila house Sibelius worked on a number of significant works, most notable Finlandia and the First and Second Symphonies. The famous songs Svarta rosor, Säv, säv, susa and Demanten på marssnön were all written there. It has been claimed that Sibelius found inspiration for Demanten på marssnön as he was admiring the glistering snow-covered fields outside the Mattila house in the spring sunshine.

For more information about Sibelius and Kerava, see the Janaury 2021 issue of our Magazine. Members can download a pdf version free – click here.

Sibelius One Magazine – July 2023

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Magazine 2023-07

The July 2023 edition of Sibelius One’s magazine is now being sent out to subscribers.

Articles planned for this issue:
— Sibelius and Vaughan Williams – Symphonic Synergies  Douglas Whittet
— Sibelius’s ‘Swanwhite’ – the original incidental music  Eija Kurki
— ‘The stage works are not B-level symphonic works’  Tuomas Hannikainen
— Finlandia – Anthem, Hymn or What?  Kornel Kossuth
— Two Poems by Hilary Finch

To subscribe or order a copy, please click here to visit the Magazine page of this website.

Sibelius i Korpo 2023

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Archipelago landscape, Korpo
The young Sibelius was inspired by the archipelago landscape

The 22nd ‘Sibelius i Korpo’ Festival will take place on 14–16 July 2023.

The theme of this year’s festival is ‘Sibelius in his composition workshop’. In addition, the music selected marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Édouard Lalo and the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sergei Rachmaninov.

On Friday 14 July there will be two evening concerts at Korpo gård, the first (6 pm) featuring Sibelius’s suite to Belshazzar’s Feast, and the second (8 pm) with the title ‘Valse triste by night’.

On Saturday 15 July there will be an afternoon concert (3 pm) on the island of Norrskata, with Sibelius’s ‘Hafträsk’ Trio, which was composed on that island in 1886. This will be followed by an evening concert at Korpo gård (6 pm) including music for violin and piano, the Op. 75 piano pieces (‘The Trees’) and musical fragments associated with the lost Eighth Symphony. The Symphony will also be the subject of a panel discussion.

On Sunday 16 July there will be the traditional celebratory address at the Sibelius monument in the centre of Korpo village (12 noon), followed by a concluding concert at Korpo gård including more music for violin and piano, a talk by Satu Jalas and the piano version of Finlandia.

The festival’s general manager is Petri Kirkkomäki, and its artistic director is Sibelius One president Folke Gräsbeck.

Korpo gård

Performers this year:

Satu Jalas, violin (Sibelius’s granddaughter)
Fenella Humphreys, violin
Olivier Pons, violin

Helen Lindén-Pons, cello

Folke Gräsbeck, piano
Joseph Tong, piano

Petri Kirkkomäki, baritone

In addition, Sibelius One’s general manager Andrew Barnell will speak about the ‘Hafträsk’ Trio.

Provisional list of works to be performed:

Friday 14 July (6 pm)

Jean Sibelius
Belshazzar’s Feast, Suite, for piano

Édouard Lalo
Cello Concerto: Prélude. Lento – Allegro maestoso, for cello and piano

Jean Sibelius
Scène d’amour from Scaramouche for violin and piano
Cantique for cello and piano
Valse lyrique (arr. Emil Kauppi) for piano trio
Novellette for violin and piano
Four pieces from The Tempest for piano

Friday 14 July (8 pm)

Edvard Grieg
Violin Sonata No. 2

Jean Sibelius
Tempo di valse, JS 2, for piano
Tempo di valse, JS 193 (reconstructed by Kalevi Aho), for cello & piano
Trånaden, JS 203, for piano
Valse triste for piano

Saturday 15 July (3 pm)

Jean Sibelius
Menuetto in D minor for violin and piano
‘Hafträsk’ Trio
Impromptus Nos 1 & 2 for piano

Édouard Lalo
Symphonie espagnole: I. Allegro non troppo; IV. Andante
for violin and piano

Sergei Rachmaninov
Trio élégiaque

Saturday 15 July (6 pm)

Jean Sibelius
Four Pieces, Op. 78, for violin and piano
Five Pieces, Op. 75 (‘The Trees’) for piano
Five Pieces, Op. 81, for violin and piano
Fragments associated with Symphony No. 8, and panel dicussion
Landscape II, two sketches (1928–29) for piano
Song in the Forest, Op. 114 No. 4 (1929, first version) for piano, world premiere
Four Pieces, Op. 115, for violin and piano
Three Pieces, Op. 116, for violin and piano

Sunday 16 July (12 noon)

Celebratory address with Petri Kirkkomäki (who will also song) and Andrew Barnett

Sunday 16 July (3 pm)

Jean Sibelius
‘Korpo’ Trio (movements 2 & 3)
Tanz-Idyll, Op. 79 No.5
Humoresques Nos 4 & 5 (arr. Karl Ekman)
Three excerpts from ‘A Catalogue of Themes’ for piano
Suite in E major for violin and piano
Andante cantabile for violin and piano
Finlandia for piano

Click here for the Festival’s website (currently being updated)

 

 

 

 

Luukas Hiltunen’s arrangement of ‘The Tempest’ published

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Luukas Hiltunen holding score

The arrangement for chamber music ensemble by Luukas Hiltunen of selected movements from Sibelius’s The Tempest (1925–26) (see earlier post here), commissioned by the Ruovesi Summer Music Festival, has been published by Edition Wilhelm Hansen.

The arrangement comprises the following movements:
1. The Oak Tree, from Op. 109 No. 2
2. The Harvesters, from Op. 109 No. 2
3. Berceuse, from Op. 109,No. 2
4. Chorus of the Winds, Op. 109 No. 3
5. Dance of the Nymphs, from Op. 109 No. 3
6. Prospero, from Op. 109 No. 3
7. Miranda, from Op. 109 No. 3
8. The Naiads, from Op. 109 No. 3

The new arrangements will be premiered at a concert on Sunday 2 July 2023 at 4 pm at Sofia Magdalena Church, Ruovesi, Finland.
Tickets are on sale from Friday 10 March 2023 via http://www.lippu.fi.
More details (in Finnish): http://www.musiikkiaruovesi.fi/

To hire performance materials (WH33640): https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/work/63841/The-Tempest-Suite–Jean-Sibelius/

Contact information, Luukas Hiltunen:
UE (Universal Edition AG) Composer Profile: https://www.universaledition.com/luukas-hiltunen-7879
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/luukashiltunenmusician/
Instagram: @luukas_hiltunen_composer
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luukas-hiltunen-composer/

JSW Pohjola’s Daughter, critical edition, review

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Click here to read our review of the JSW critical edition scores of:

Pohjola’s Daughter, Op. 49
The Dryad, Op. 45 No. 1
Musik zu einer Szene
Dance Intermezzo, Op. 45 No. 2 (also early version: Tanz-Intermezzo Nr. 1)
Pan and Echo, Op. 53a

Jean Sibelius Works
SON 636: Series I (Orchestral Works) Vol. 13, edited by Timo Virtanen

BBC Proms 2023 – Sibelius rarity at First Night

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Dalia Stasevska (Photo: © Veikko Kähkönen)

A rare work for narrator, choir and orchestra by Sibelius will be featured at the First Night of the BBC Proms 2023 (14 July), conducted by Dalia Stasevska. Snöfrid, Op. 29, a setting of words by Viktor Rydberg, dates from 1900 and was described by a reviewer after its premiere as making ‘an impression of great feeling and warmth; it seems so clear and inspired that it is undeniably to be numbered among Sibelius’s masterpieces’. This 14-minute piece is dramatic and lyrical by turns, with sumptuous melodies and an undercurrent of political allegory very typical of its time.

The concert also includes Finlandia, a new work by Bohdana Frolyak, Grieg’s Piano Concerto (solo: Paul Lewis) and Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.

Othwewise Sibelius is represented at the 2023 Proms by his First Symphony, performed by the BBC Philhamonic under its principal conductor John Storgårds on 3 August.

General booking opens at 9am on Saturday 13 May:
— online at www.royalalberthall.com
— by phone on 020 7589 8212 (9am – 9pm daily 13–21 May and 9am – 5pm weekdays from 22 May)
— in person (daily 9am – 9pm).

Works by Sibelius at the 2023 BBC Proms
at the Royal Albert Hall in London:

Friday 14 July 2023 – Prom 1 (First Night)
Finlandia, Op. 26
Snöfrid, Op. 29
and music by Frolya, Grieg and Britten
Paul Lewis, piano / BBC Singers / BBC Symphony Chorus / BBC Symphony Orchestra /Dalia Stasevska
https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/evgxp6

Thursday 3 August 2023 – Prom 26
Symphony No. 1
and music by Barry and Walton
BBC Philharmonic / John Storgårds

Full season listing, click here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/rrbp5v/by/date/2023

 

Major update to important Italian Sibelius book

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A new version of ‘Jean Sibelius’ by the eminent Italian Sibelius scholar Ferruccio Tammaro has been published by Libreria Musicale Italiana (Lim editrice srl; in Italian).

The original book (508 pages), the first Italian monograph about Sibelius, was issued by Eri (Turin) in 1984. The new version is considerably longer (850 pages), taking into account the much more extensive information now available and, above all, reflecting the fact that great artists like Sibelius always benefit from new opportunities for reflection and investigation.

After musical studies with Franco Donatoni (composition) and Azio Corghi (piano), Ferruccio Tammaro studied under Massimo Mila at Turin University, later becoming professor of history of modern and contemporary music at the same university. He has participated in numerous seminars and has contributed more than 70 items about Scandinavian and Finnish composers to DEUMM (Dizionario enciclopedico universale della musica e dei musicisti). His special interest in the symphonic genre has resulted in essays about the music of Vaughan Williams and Shostakovich, with the publication of the first book in Italian devoted to the latter (Le sinfonie di Šostakovič, Turin 1988). In addition, Ferruccio Tammaro has written books about the eighteenth-century symphony from Sammartini to Beethoven and about Tchaikovsky’s symphonies.

The publisher’s notes accompanying the book point out that Sibelius left us a legacy that still challenges the listener today. He was an artist always who was animated by a clear and strong inner temperament who in his old age, after seeing his nation finally become a truly independent nation, decided progressively to isolate himself so as not to have to breathe the foul haze that was then poisoning a large part of the European continent. Sibelius  managed to position himself as a national musician without resorting to the dialect of folk songs and dances, creating works that are completely independent of fashion and clichés. His relationship with nature, represented for instance by the flight of migratory birds, gave his music its lifeblood and energy.

ISBN: 9788855431897. Language: Italian. Price: €48.00

Click here for publisher’s website or to order the book.

Unknown song by Sibelius found

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A previously unknown song, believed to be by Sibelius, has come to light. With the title Venelaulu (Boat Song), and also known as ‘Teij-oo’, it has an anonymous text (most likely the composer’s own adaptation of a traditional poem) about berry pickers working the night shift, loading the berries they have picked onto boats. Daylight has come and they want their harvest to be counted up so that they can go home.

The original handwritten material for this song was found on a postcard concealed between pages of a travel guide to Jamaica in Ainola’s library. It is assumed that Sibelius acquired both the book and inspiration from the song on his trip to the USA in 1914, hence the provisional dating of the song to that year.

Opening bars of ‘Venelaulu’ (without text):

Experts from Sibelius One have seen the material and have pointed out that descending intervals of a fourth or a fifth are characteristic of the composer (here the opening motif contains a descending fourth), and that the ornamentation in bar 6 of the extract quoted above bears a resemblance to Sibelius’s violin writing in some of his wartime pieces for violin and piano; these factors would suggest that the piece is indeed authentic.

Other commentators have taken a more sceptical attitude. The singer Harry B comments: ‘The idea that Sibelius crossed the Atlantic and then wrote this Boat Song is, frankly, bananas.’

Harry B is 96.