Whether it was due to human error or a technical glitch, my “Kalevala” program did not air as announced on December 9. Now that the holidays have (mostly) passed, we can return, like steadfast old Väinämöinen, to the world of Finnish legend and lore for a second shot at claiming the Sampo and maintaining our stoicism in the face of star-crossed love.
This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll have music inspired by this disparate collection of long narrative poems. “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.
Robert Kajanus was Sibelius’ first great champion. 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 heroes, 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.” However, in spite of his occasionally Gallic disposition, Klami grew into one of Finland’s most respected composers. Sibelius recognized his talent and even lobbied for a small lifetime stipend for Klami 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. He 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 her son’s dead body, 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 Jean Sibelius. We’ll conclude the hour with a Sibelius rarity, “A Song for Lemminkäinen,” from 1896. This follows on the heels of the composer’s “Lemminkäinen Suite” (also known as “Four Legends from the Kalevala”), written earlier in the decade.
It’s a second chance to aquire some “Epic Finnish,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
IMAGE: “Väinämöinen Sings Joukahainen into a Fen,” by Joseph Alanen (1885–1920)
