The Lost Symphony of Jean Sibelius

April 20, 2024 1:55 PM

A century ago saw the premiere of Jean Sibelius’ Seventh Symphony, the culmination of decades of experimentation and refinement of the form, as Alex Ross explains (with musical examples). A few years later, he started work on an eighth symphony, which he never completed to his satisfaction, and eventually he burned his manuscripts of it. In 2011, after sifting through the Sibelius manuscript archive, it was possible to record roughly two and half minutes of the thirty minute work. Despite some subsequent hints from correspondence with Sibelius’ copyist, no further fragments have been uncovered, and the Eighth Symphony remains lost.
posted by Kattullus (13 comments total)

The phrase “after sifting through the Sibelius manuscript archive” was meant to link to this story by Vesa Sirén. He also wrote the pieces linked as “correspondence” and “copyist”. Incidentally, the copyist’s name was Paul Voigt.

And since I’m crediting writers, I should complete the set. The first link is written by Phil Hebblethwaite, “never completed to his satisfaction” by Kari Kilpeläinen, and “burned his manuscripts of it” by Emily E. Hogstad.
posted by Kattullus at 2:01 PM on April 20

Sibelius is my jam. Have adored hom for many years.
posted by Czjewel at 2:06 PM on April 20 [3 favorites]

I can understand the curiosity around unpublished works, but in most cases I think it's best to defer to the author. If they weren't satisfied with the quality (especially going so far to destroy all their work) it seems disrespectful to try to listen in.

I did make an exception for Go Set a Watchman, because Harper Lee had initially submitted it for publication, and I thought the quality was excellent and it explained a lot about her abbreviated career.
posted by rikschell at 2:11 PM on April 20 [2 favorites]

Thanks for this, Kattullus! Sibelius Symphony #2 is one of my favorite works ever, and my cat is even named Sibby as a nod to him. I used to be a violinist and encountered Finlandia in high school, a piece that still gives me chills. (It helps that my family has Finnish heritage!)
posted by leftover_scrabble_rack at 3:27 PM on April 20 [5 favorites]

A fun Sibelius fact: the musical notation software Sibelius has nothing to do with Finland. It was originally written by Ben and Jonathan Finn.
posted by madcaptenor at 6:04 PM on April 20 [3 favorites]

I only learned about Sibelius after I'd found a freeware music composition suite for the Mac called "Sibelius". That led me to the library, and then to Napster... But yeah, Sibelius was on the speakers in my house a lot during the covid-lockdown times! Thanks for this.
posted by not_on_display at 6:31 PM on April 20 [2 favorites]

Kitchen.

hi gram....
👆
(quiet ensues, quietly takes off winter scarf and coat placed upon 6 peg stand in foyer)

Sibelius.
who
Sa-bey-le-us.
When ...
👆
qui est-ce
A composer and violinist.
était une symphonie?

était-ce une symphonie.
perhaps I was lucky that my grandmother was a music and French teacher. she also knew I had a terrible pitch for a very Good ear and couldn't play a damn instrument. remember the smell of coffee and toast, her kitchen was basically unchanged from 1945, quiet music on the radio or the Hi-Fi which is just probably a jazzier speaker for a record player in 1971. the point, my grandma would love this post and historical context.
I give the dude a break for burning. His work, he can do what he wants with it, after he's gone, what remains in public domain is ours. which takes me to the 5th grade, when one of the students in our school went overseas to advanced study in violin, a great honor. I saw her perform in Mozart's violin concerto number 3, my favorite, at the age of 12.
my sister used to babysit her when her parents had concerts and I'd go for a little while and I always insist that she play something and this was my favorite. I swear to God I was the only kid that would go to Hill auditorium in Ann Arbor to hear Debussy Saint-Saëns, Sibelius, and Mozart which is a sort of a odd mix with Mozart but I couldn't wait for the Mozart.
I seriously blame 135 BPM.
posted by clavdivs at 9:22 PM on April 20 [6 favorites]

Czjewel: Sibelius is my jam. Have adored hom for many years.
I had a glonous keming moment there and went for horn.
Preciousss says: 7/8 Sibelius symphonies saved surpasses Sophocles 7/123 stage shows.
Thanks for the heads up, off to get a Violin Concerto fix now.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:52 AM on April 21 [2 favorites]

Thanks for this. I love Sibelius. Many mornings in ricklandia have begun in the shimmering light of his Sixth Symphony.
posted by dutchrick at 6:02 AM on April 21 [1 favorite]

Sibelius is awesome, my high school drama teacher turned me on to him.

There's a Sibelius Monument in Helsinki, a modern sculpture with dozens of pipes welded together (first pic at the link). Nearby there's a bronze face sculpt of Sibelius (second pic at the link), maybe 4' tall, with an expression that makes him seem disappointedly resigned to the design of the monument.

If you like videos where people rant about bad software design, Sibelius has you covered. Watch the whole thing if you're inclined, otherwise here's the funniest bit: Sibelius crashed!
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 6:41 AM on April 21 [1 favorite]

That's the resting facial expression for most Finns. If you want to call it disappointedly resigned, you're probably not far off the basic emotional state of most Finns. (I married one.)
posted by seanmpuckett at 6:49 AM on April 21 [2 favorites]

The opening of the 2nd symphony is my current alarm clock sound.
posted by neuron at 10:29 AM on April 21 [1 favorite]

Symphony No. 2, Bernstein, Vienna Philharmonic 1986. For years you could watch the whole televised piece posted on YouTube and it never failed to evoke tears. I have the cd now but the performance is what got me hooked…the cello player really digging in at the end…and if there were ever a time machine… Anyway, it got yanked and now only the 1st & 2nd parts and then the 4th are up and there’s something wrong with the frame rate, ugh. I’d buy the video but I can’t imagine one exists? Or is it streaming somewhere else (cough) aside from YouTube?
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:04 AM on April 22 [1 favorite]