Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) was a composer who, like many of his contemporaries, drew deep inspiration from his natural environment. His passion for his home country of Finland runs like an unbreakable thread through his career.
Sibelius entwines his love of nature with a rich interest in the folklore of Finland, weaving them together into emotionally charged musical tapestries that form a central part of contemporary orchestral repertoire.
Nature Influence in Jean Sibelius’ Compositions
From a young age, Sibelius is found out in his environment, engaging gently with nature, perhaps capturing butterflies or collecting plants to cultivate. Many accounts of the boy Sibelius highlight his fascination with nature, especially that of the trees and forest.
It is important to acknowledge that in his compositions that followed, Sibelius was not attempting to represent nature but to channel its energy and vital life-giving power through his work.
Sibelius’s imagination and inspiration were constantly fed and nourished by his surroundings, which is why he and his family spent 50 years in the same house, miles away from the nearest city, Helsinki.
Personal Challenges
Given the tumultuous turmoil that Sibelius and his family lived through, it is hardly surprising that he remained at Ainola for so many years.
The Great War of 1914-18 brought significant challenges to the Sibelius family, including rationing, but thanks to the diligence of his wife Aino, their vegetable garden saw them through.
Then came the Finnish Civil War (1918) and the Second World War (1939-45), which again saw Russia and Finland in conflict. Yet while the world raged, Sibelius continued to compose, never losing sight of the wonders of nature and perhaps offering a sense of hope to a beleaguered world.
Its Connection to Nature
Throughout Sibelius’s long life, there are examples of his direct influence on nature in his music. His diary frequently provides us with a clear line of sight into Sibelius’s marriage to the natural world. Here are a few selected examples:
“If I am asked,” Sibelius confesses, “what interested me most at school, I can say with a clear conscience: nothing. I must, however, make an exception in favour of natural science, which coincided with my love of nature.”
“I should like to compare the symphony to a river. It is born from various rivulets that seek each other, and in this way, the river proceeds wide and powerful toward the sea.”
As you would expect, many of Sibelius’s compositions bear titles that support the theme of this article. During the sketching process of the 6th and 7th Symphonies, Sibelius added titles to movements like “The Spirit of the Pine Tree” and “The Moon Goddess and the Clouds.” The inspiration derived from both a sense of the mystical and the marvel of nature abound.
Overlooked Works
Often Sibelius’s piano works are overlooked in favour of his orchestral ones, but there is a treasure trove of wonders contained inside. Here amongst the jewels are the Cinq Morceaux (Op.75), which date from 1914-19.
In these five pieces, we have titles reflecting Sibelius’s adoration of trees such as When the Rowan Blossoms, The Solitary Pine, and The Spruce.
Likewise, Sibelius’s Op.85, bearing the same title as Op.75, focuses on flowers as opposed to trees; The Daisy, The Carnation, for example. Both sets of pieces are lighter in mood than many but are meticulously composed and beautiful as the natural things they portray.
Sibelius’s final collection of pieces for piano finds him returning to the themes of nature. Five Esquisses Op. 114 from 1929 are mature Sibelius.
Their tonal organisation is highly sophisticated and chromatic, and some feel that at this late stage of his life, Sibelius finally found a soundworld that he was pleased with on the piano.
There are echoes of his later symphonic works in these piano pieces. Again, the titles reflect nature: Landscape, A Winter Scene, A Woodland Pond, A Song in the Woods, and A Vision in Spring.
Orchestral Works and Mythical Influences
Moving towards Sibelius’s extraordinary array of orchestral works, we uncover the entrenched mysticism coupled with nature’s colouration. Op. 22 Lemminkäinen (Four Legends) was completed in first versions by 1895.
They represent a return to the orchestral, symphonic music that he had given over to a challenging and ultimately unsuccessful operatic project called The Building of The Boat. Lemminkäinen is a symphonic suite, fiercely ambitious and intricately connected.
Inspired by the Kalevala, considered to be one of the most important epics from Finland, Sibelius’s music is as epic as poetry, rooted in legend and myth, linked between sections motivically; this would have made fine film music had the possibility existed then.
His other tone poems equally encompass a nationalistic spirit with the myths and nature fused into powerful forms. Sibelius’s final symphonic poem was Tapiola (Op.112), completed in 1926.
The work was commissioned by New York conductor Walter Damrosch. Interestingly, Sibelius had given the composition the working title of The Wood.
Here is the stanza provided by Sibelius when asked by his publisher to explain the programmatic element of the work. It speaks volumes about his influence on mythology and nature:
“Wide-spread they stand, the Northland’s dusky forests,
Ancient, mysterious, brooding savage dreams;
Within them dwells the Forest’s mighty God,
And wood-sprites in the gloom weave magic secrets.”
The Symphonies and Their Connection to Nature
It would be impossible to leave out the seven symphonies of Sibelius. These, a little like the piano works, were composed throughout his lifetime and illustrate Sibelius’s development as a composer.
They also demonstrate the unbreakable link between the composer and nature. From his diary, Sibelius comments on his initial thoughts for his First Symphony (1899-1902). The motif for the opening movement, for example, was to be “A cold, cold wind is blowing from the sea.”
The second movement’s inspirational motif was “The Pine of the North is Dreaming of the Palm of the South,” while the third movement was “A Winter’s Tale.” As it transpired, Sibelius didn’t use these ideas, but the inspirational thought process is a potent one.
The Second and the Fifth Symphonies often compete for first place amongst Sibelius aficionados. Both are monumental works, but for this article, I’ll briefly discuss the Fifth. This is because of its direct connection to the natural world; perhaps more than the Second Symphony.
In the early days of its conception, Sibelius was in a buoyant mood. “The autumn sun is shining. Nature in its farewell colours. My heart is singing sadly – the shadows grow longer.”
As the work develops, Sibelius continues to mention both Divine inspiration and that absorbed from his encounters with nature. The thematic material arrived with Sibelius after he expressed his elation at seeing sixteen swans. “One of my greatest experiences! Lord God, what beauty!
They circled over me for a long time. Disappeared into the solar haze like a gleaming silver ribbon.” This resulted in the swan theme that gives rise to the climactic moment in the Finale.
Summary
It is often a fatuous task to summarise the work of any artist, but I find the quote below effortlessly encompasses Sibelius’s innate relationship with nature as expressed through his output of music:
“His intensely felt response to nature and environment was not merely a well-worn trope in his critical reception; it was a more drastic way of rethinking human subjectivity and our relationship with the natural world.” (‘Life, Music, Silence’ by Daniel M Grimely).