Symphony No. 5 in E-flat Major Jean Sibelius
On April 21, 1915, Jean Sibelius exulted in his diary over his sighting that day of sixteen swans in flight: "One of the great experiences of my life! God, how beautiful!" He jotted down a magnificent thematic sequence, which was to become the swaying "swan theme" introduced by the brass in the final movement of his Fifth Symphony. Sibelius was already waist-deep in the composition of the symphony, commissioned by the Finnish government in honor of his imminent 50th birthday. With early works such as his Finlandia having established the composer's reputation as the defiant voice of Finland, Sibelius was seen as a hero in the late 19th-century struggle against Russian oppression, and his 50th birthday was to be a national holiday.
Hurrying to finish the work in time for his birthday on December 8, 1915, Sibelius led the Helsinki City Orchestra in a much-feted premiere. But for the famously self-critical Sibelius, this would be only the first incarnation of the Fifth Symphony, for which the ultimate birthing in the form heard tonight required a tortuous gestation through two more versions over four more years. A year later, again on his birthday, the composer led his second version of the symphony, in which the first two movements were fused into one, the slow movement reportedly received some significant (though no longer examinable) changes, and a section of the finale as well as four of the famous six strokes that concluded the original and present versions of the work were removed. Critical reaction was mixed, and Sibelius went back to work on the symphony yet again.
But it was not only dissatisfaction that tormented Sibelius in the creation of this symphony. By 1917, the world was at war, and Finland itself endured a civil war, events that isolated Sibelius in his country retreat, Ainola until an eventual forced exile to Helskinki (where he lost 45 pounds). Moreover, the composer, who had abstained from smoking and drinking for seven years following a throat cancer scare in 1908, found himself now lapsing into the dissipated ways of his youth. His revived binge-drinking led to quarrels with his long-suffering wife, Aino, and Sibelius began contemplating divorce, though reminding himself in his diary, "And our life after the divorce! What would it be?" Apparently given to seasonal affective disorder as well - which must have been particularly bleak in the endless winters of Finland! - he found himself, by the end of 1917, filling one and a half pages in his diary with dark ruminations and even considering suicide.
Thus, the final revision of the Fifth Symphony proceeded only in fits, but on April 22, 1919, Sibelius finally wrote in his diary that the work was finished, noting, "Been struggling with God." Six days later, he was back at it, with a thought to cut the 2nd and 3rd movements altogether. Luckily, a week later, he changed his mind yet again and, rewriting the finale for one last time, he at last laid down his pen. Sibelius led the Helsinki City Orchestra in this final version - with the final six, triumphant chords restored - on November 24, 1919. "Now it is good," he wrote in his diary.
With its evocations of the Finnish landscape via trademark Sibelius effects - horn calls painting the sunrise, woodwinds capturing birdsongs, string tremolos hinting at portentous, elemental forces - or, elsewhere, the flapping of swan wings! - the Fifth Symphony is one of the composer's most popular. Two more symphonies would follow, but perhaps because Sibelius could no longer satisfy his demanding inner critic, his eagerly-awaited Eighth Symphony met its fate in a famous "burning party" at Ainola in 1948, and indeed, his last significant orchestral work, a suite of incidental music for The Tempest, was submitted to the publisher in 1927. Sibelius, the voice of Finland, was virtually silent for the last thirty years of his life.
Symphony No. 5 in E-flat Major
