The Kalevala is frequently referred to as the Finnish national epic. Its fantastic and heroic tales informed the work of Finland’s greatest artists at a time when the country began its surge toward independence, after 700 years of Swedish rule and another century as a duchy of the Russian Empire.
This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” with Kalevala Day right around the corner (celebrated in Finland with great pride on February 28), we’ll have music inspired by this disparate collection of long narrative poems.
Robert Kajanus was the first great champion of Jean Sibelius. He conducted first performances of many of the composer’s major works and led the Helsinki Philharmonic for 50 years. He also wrote over 200 pieces himself. “Aino” was composed in 1885 for the Kalevala Society, to mark the 50th anniversary of the poem’s publication.
One of the Kalevala’s central figures, Väinämöinen the wizard, always seems to be plagued by bad luck. He wins a singing contest, plunging his rival, Joukahainen, into a swamp, but when the latter promises him his sister’s hand in marriage if he will save him from drowning, the sister, Aino, drowns herself rather than submit to this seemingly intolerable fate. She returns to taunt the grieving Väinämöinen in the form of a salmon.
Uuno Klami, one of the most important Finnish composers after Sibelius, brought a degree of French polish back from his studies in Paris, where he fell under the irreverent sway of Les Six. This led to the composition of an unusually anti-heroic take on the “Kalevala” legends, “Lemminkäinen’s Island Adventures.” Despite the Gallic influence on his music, Klami grew into one of Finland’s most respected composers. Sibelius recognized his talent and even lobbied for a small lifetime stipend for him from the Finnish government.
Unlike Sibelius’ better-known “Four Legends from the Kalevala,” Klami’s “Kalevala Suite” scrupulously avoids the more swashbuckling elements of the epic’s narrative. Klami opts instead to paint on a much broader canvas, with movements titled “The Creation of the Earth,” “The Sprout of Spring,” “Terhenniemi” (replete with the sounds of nature and the sunny bliss of a summer’s day), “Cradle Song for Lemminkäinen” (Lemminkäinen’s mother’s song sung over the body of her son, soon to be resurrected), and “The Forging of the Sampo” (a kind of talisman everyone seems to want).
Of course, no composer had more success drawing on the Kalevala legends than Sibelius himself. We’ll conclude the hour with a Sibelius rarity, “A Song for Lemminkäinen,” from 1896. This inspiring work for male chorus followed on the heels of the composer’s “Lemminkäinen Suite” (also known as “Four Legends from the Kalevala”), written earlier in the decade.
I hope you’ll join me in acquiring some “Epic Finnish.” That’s music inspired by the Kalevala, this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
“Väinämöinen Sings Joukahainen into a Fen,” by Joseph Alanen (1885–1920)
