Great Composers: Jean Sibelius 

"I'm so good of a composer I've to get drunk just so the orchestra can keep up with me"

Man, you are my History Music Teacher. Thank you for this videos.

I love an anecdote about Sibelius (not saying it's true, just that I love it): Walking in the streets with his daughter, they hear Shostakovich being played in the radio. Daughter: Dad, do you like this Shostakovich guy? Sibelius: Well, he's very talented, my darling. Daughter: but he sounds like he's copying you... Sibelius: Well, he IS very talented, my darling... :P

The Dm violin concerto is my favourite piece of the era.

17:55 - 18:03: "Many enterprising composers sought to emulate Sibelius in their own works, specifically British composers for reasons I am not entirely sure of." Response: The 20th century British composers emulated Sibelius because he offered a way out of the Germanic impasse that had fixated their musical life up to Elgar: 1) His unique musical vocabulary reflected his Finnish tongue which was distinctly different from the Indo-European pool of languages, particularly by his employing native folk song as source material; 2) His firm commitment to tonality after the extremely dissonant and perplexing 4th Symphony reassured the Brits that they did not have to follow Teutonic atonality into the abyss; 3) Likewise his innovative use of elongated pedal points as a way of steering harmony and his immediate motive development of thematic material pointed out a different way to organize symphonic form that appealed to the British sense of slow harmonic rhythm combined with their 'get to the point' temperament. Two of the most notable examples of his influence on the British are William Walton's Symphony No. 1 in Bb Minor and Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 5 in D Major, the latter being dedicated to Sibelius who greatly appreciated the gesture.

«Some form of depression and melancholy». It’s called being Finnish.

His Symphonies just get better and better with each listen. 3-6 I love.

I'm so happy you included "Kullervo"! Sibelius kind of forbade performances of it after a certain point, which is a pity because while it's clearly not as taut as his symphonies, it's still a bold, memorable, and well-crafted work. One thing, though: it's pronounced "COOL-lehr-vo" /kúllervo/. Finnish words are nearly always accented on the first syllable, and the two "l"s are pronounced like one long "l". Don't worry, I pronounced it almost the same as you did when I first found read the name.

Love your work man

Karelia suite is my favorite listen to it often!! thanks for posting I learned a lot here.

British composers falling in love with Sibelius is interesting. I dont know that I have to answer for you - but as a Scot there is something in his works that I just adore. As a Scot with a certain constitutional view I have a particular soft spot for his more . . . Political . . . Works. The idea of a small, sparsely populated and deeply, naturally beautiful nation throwing off the shackles of its imperial master . . . I find an intense natural beauty and an intense freedom (or longing for it) in his works. You can almost smell the pine trees and hear the raging torrent of a river emptying itself into a lake when you listen to his works. You can breathe the crisp, frozen air and brilliant sunlight and feel the impending storm build across the landscape.

The largest chunk of the 8th is quite likely Surusoitto, opus 113, a new piece of music he produced almost instantly after he said he couldn’t, for a friend's funeral. It is no lightweight, latent with symphonic possibility and Tapiola like in tone. There is good evidence that the 8th existed, at least 2 movements of it, and typically he rescored it with a choral ending. Anyway, it was consumed in the flames of that big room heater in Ainola and Aino fled the room distraught.

Thanx for the concise candid story of J. Sibelius. I was saddened to hear what a troubled person and hard life he seemingly inflicted on himself. I consider his music to be ‘surrealist classical’ because he often does Not follow rigid rules and patterns of any kind, yet his music compels a majesty of feelings. I think he must have been a spiritual person, though there is No mention of this. Since he rewrote more than once his 7 symphonies, how are we expected to keep track of which he considered the most authentic? Regards.

Thank you!

Sibelius’s wife Aino was very beautiful (6:09)

Love your work. Jean Sibelius is one of my favourite composers (especially his second symphony which you played here). I don't do requests so much but I like to see something on Janáček and Khachaturian. Keep up the good work!

The content is excellent, the editing is exhausting.

13:38 "Other Scandinavian countries".. besides Finland? Finland isn't a Scandinavian country. / 16:07 He was both, speaking both languages.

CN, there is one statue to honor a critic. Sorry, I could not find one in music. There is a statue of Rodger Ebert that sits at a bench in Chicago. But, I doubt we will ever see one for any music critics.sal

Being Dec 8 born myself, have always been a fan of J.S. (and the main Door "Jim")... meanwhile, even bigger nut job concerning that other yet larger than life Sagittarius (although in fact he was only about 5'2") am rather intrigued by that green book to our right of your head about his Scull. Cheers !

I always love these videos! Have you gotten reqursts for Gustav Mahler? If not, allow me to be the first!

Did you ever get a request to do Alan Hovhaness?

Yes, the lack of knowing the age of the composers as you talk about their lives is very much a negative to your excellent videos. I would love you to begin, every so often, ....at the age of....... for instance when you mentioned the fact that he was depressed, it would have been informative at what age. Yes age matters to me.

His 1st symphony sounds a lot like Tchaikovsky to me.

do one about hamelin he composed some pieces i think lol

At what age did he contract cancer?

16:16

Did you cover Richard Wetz yet?

Just found this channel, absolutely love it!

it amazes me how he did not get serious about the violin until age 15 and went on to write a violin concerto like that

For me, Sibelius is the great god of music. As the piano is my favourite instrument, I was disappointed that there was not one single Sibelius piano concerto. Then one day I discovered that he’d written many piano pieces; small, maybe inconsequential, but so touching, simple and Sibelian that it no longer matters about a concerto. I go back to them over and over again

Kullervo is a symphony. Back in the day, its form was daring and unusual. By today's symphonic structures, it is certainly a symphony. Also. Sib regarded his 4 legends a symphony. Some fans and indeed critics, agree.

quality videos thanks

Excellent video! Very informative and interesting, as usual! Thanks!

Have to say I like your video a lot! I'm about to perform "theme and variations for solo cello " ( estimation of the composition year 1887/there is no much info about this work) and wanted to know more about him! thank you very much!

Your videos generally contain some errors in facts and understanding