Jean Sibelius was the composer of seven numbered symphonies that stand like granitic monoliths at the heart of 20th century music. Less well known, perhaps, is the abundant music he wrote for the stage.
This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll mark the anniversary of Sibelius’ birth with a selection from his incidental music.
Born on this date in 1865, Finland’s most celebrated composer was known to agonize over every aspect of his large-scale compositions. He wound up burning the unfinished manuscript to what would have been his eighth symphony and composed nothing of consequence for the last three decades of his life.
Any opportunity to work in the theater must have come as an enormous relief. Here, Sibelius could act as a kind of sketch artist, setting scenes or creating moods in the most succinct fashion. Of course, he also would have written music for the entr’actes and interludes, which could have satisfied a desire for a bit more development.
His output for the stage was fairly substantial, and yet – with the exception of the ever-popular “Valse triste” (from the play “Kuolema,” or “Death”) and perhaps some selections from “Pelleas and Melisande” or “The Tempest” – it remains stubbornly unfamiliar. When is the last time anyone heard music from “The Lizard?”
In 1905, Hjalmar Procopé wrote a play on the subject of “Belshazzar’s Feast,” dramatizing the well-worn episode from the Book of Daniel, about a Babylonian tyrant who literally sees the writing on the wall. We’ll hear a 1932 recording of a selection from Sibelius’ music, conducted by the composer’s good friend and drinking buddy, Robert Kajanus.
“Jedermann” (or “Everyman”) was the product of Strauss librettist Hugo con Hofmannsthal, an updated version of a medieval morality play. Sibelius worked at his contributions to a 1915 production, alongside substantial revisions to one of his greatest works, the Symphony No. 5. We’ll sample from the world premiere recording of incidental music to “Jedermann,” conducted by Osmo Vänskä.
That’s “Sibelius, Incidentally” – Jean Sibelius treads the boards – this Sunday night at 10:00 EST on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.