In November 1907 one of the most celebrated meetings in musical history took place in Helsinki. Gustav Mahler paid a visit to Jean Sibelius, and the two composers "discussed all the great questions of music thoroughly". Naturally, the conversation came round to the symphony, the form that most preoccupied both composers. Sibelius explained his belief that its most important quality was "its severity of style and the profound logic that creates an inner connection between all the motifs". "No" countered Mahler, "the symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything".

Rather more Mahler than Sibelius biographers have quoted this exchange. The implication seems to be that Mahler comes rather better out of it, and superficially the distinction might appear to be one between a formal, "cold" artistic vision and an exuberant, life-affirming approach. Sibelius' superb formal logic certainly commended him to his early admirers; at least outside his native Finland. And when he made his famous comment, in 1907, he had just completed his most "classical" symphony, his Third, and was moving towards his Fourth, the darkest and most severe of his seven. It's understandable that he had something of a preoccupation with "severity of style" at this time, and of course throughout his entire career he was concerned, to an extent unusual in that era, with paring his music down to the essentials and creating logical musical arguments. His final symphony, the Seventh (1924) comprises one single movement and lasts less than 20 minutes. "Other composers mix brightly coloured cocktails; I offer pure cold water" he is reported as saying. But this is very far from being the whole story where Sibelius is concerned, and from the beginning of his career this was widely appreciated where it mattered most to the composer - Finland. Until 1917 that country was part of the Russian Empire, and had been struggling throughout Sibelius' lifetime for autonomy and ultimately independence. Any Finnish artist or intellectual of the period would have been closely involved in this movement, and in fact Sibelius had become a leading figure in the struggle while still in his early thirties, a fact recognized by the Finnish senate, which granted him a state pension at the age of 32! He'd then experienced the dubious satisfaction of having one of his works banned by the Russian authorities - his symphonic poem "Finland Awakes" (1899), now better known as "Finlandia", but only allowed to be performed under the title "Prelude" before 1917. Sibelius was a national hero and a participant in a great patriotic movement well before he composed his Second Symphony, in the summer of 1901. His music engaged his emotions as well as his mind, and the Finnish public recognized at once what some Anglo-Saxon commentators have perhaps been reluctant to mention; that the uncompromisingly original formal construction of his symphonies serves a powerful emotional and expressive purpose. The Fifth, Third and, above all, Second, Symphonies grow with unstoppable emotional and logical power from quiet pastoral openings to majestic and unmistakably triumphant conclusions. The "profound logic" of Sibelius' symphonies is not a cold construct but an elemental, natural force. Sibelius himself liked to compare the symphony to a river, into which innumerable tributaries feed before it broadens majestically and flows into the sea. Listening to the Second Symphony, and particularly the great, sweeping build-up to the finale, this seems a wonderfully apt description.

Sibelius began work on his Second Symphony while on a trip to Italy in the summer of 1901. His friend and supporter Axel Carpelan had raised funds specifically to allow him to travel and compose, and many commentators have observed that the Second is Sibelius' "warmest"-sounding symphony, perhaps inspired by the Mediterranean climate. His letters back to Carpelan suggest that southern climes were certainly proving a fruitful source of inspiration; he wrote about a proposed symphonic poem based on the Don Juan legend, and later a four-movement symphonic poem to be entitled "Festivals". None of these works was completed; instead Sibelius took the music planned for them back to Finland and transformed them into a new symphony. It was premiered in Helsinki in March 1902 and was an overwhelming success, all four performances being sold-out - the Finnish public immediately saw it as a patriotic epic. It caused a considerable stir even beyond Finland and by 1905 had been performed in London and Berlin, remaining the most popular and frequently-played of Sibelius' symphonies.

Reasons for its popularity are not hard to find; the warmth of its orchestral colouring, the memorability of its themes (particularly the magnificent opening melody of the finale) and of course the tremendous emotional crescendo throughout the entire symphony, culminating in the triumphant coda of the last movement. More formal explanations for the symphony's success, however, have tied successive commentators into knots - the originality of Sibelius' musical construction techniques, particularly in the first movement, defy easy analysis. Where, for example, are the first and second subject groups of the opening Allegretto? Sibelius presents successive motifs; the throbbing string chords of the opening, the folksy woodwind counter -subject, the recitative for unaccompanied unison strings, the bold cadential figure in wind and later full orchestra, preceded by string scales; each of these, and the chord progressions and motifs between them, is dismantled, recombined, and then built towards the climax of the movement, stormy and then triumphant; before the movement is simply taken to pieces and the material restated again in a new order, closing on the calm repeated string chords with which it began. However it works, it succeeds. The Tempo andante is no less unconventional; its main theme is taken from the abandoned "Don Juan" project, although the "northern" atmosphere here is perhaps more intense than anywhere else in the symphony - the low drum-roll and pizzicato bass introduction immediately create a dark mood. The movement builds through numerous tempo-changes to a powerful and craggy brass climax; in response to a query from Carpelan Sibelius spoke of it as having "a spiritualised development". The scherzo, Vivacissimo , follows a more conventional layout. The poignant oboe melody of the trio section, with its nine repeated B flats, evokes folk music without quoting it; Sibelius follows the example of Beethoven's Seventh in having the trio repeated twice. After the second repeat he follows Beethoven's Fifth in composing a bridge passage which builds into the great opening melody of the Allegro moderato finale. Even here the music continues to grow and develop; the opening notes of this melody are first heard hidden in the texture of the bridge passage, and even after the finale proper commences the theme is heard in its entirety only on its second statement. Trumpet fanfares give the music a victorious character, but there is not yet a clear run to the final triumph; a long, lamenting second-subject over a swirling ostinato slows the movement twice; some commentators have suggested that these passages reflect Sibelius' mourning after the recent death of his sister-in-law Elli Jarnefelt. Momentum is gradually regained, the major key retuns and the symphony broadens to a majestic and exultant close.

R. G. Bratby, 2000


Copyright Classical Notes.co.uk 2000
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