Symphony No. 1

Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1 has been performed in its entirety by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic on 89 occasions. The very first time was with the Finnish conductor Leo Funtek, who led the orchestra on March 18 in 1915. The composer himself conducted his first symphony with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra on two occasions, in 1923 and 1924. 

Jean Sibelius

Symphony No. 1 e minor op 39 (1900)

Andante ma non troppo. Allegro energico
Andante (ma non troppo lento)
Scherzo: Allegro
Finale (Quasi una Fantasia): Andante

Duration approx. 40 minutes

The first symphony Sibelius composed was actually Kullervo, op 7 (Kalevala, 1892) – ”Symphony for mezzo soprano, baritone, male choir, and orchestra” – that he began writing during his studies in Vienna in 1891. Even though the premiere in Helsinki the year after was a triumph, Sibelius was quite conscious of the work’s technical weaknesses. He therefore withdrew the symphony and did not allow any further performances during his lifetime.

During the beginning of the 1890s, Sibelius experienced what could be called a ”Wagner crisis.” With plans for an opera (The creation of the boat) in his mind, he traveled to Bayreuth and Munich during the summer of 1894 to see and hear Wagner’s operas.  He was overwhelmed by the enormity of ”Tristan and Isolde” and ”Parsifal,” and came to the conclusion that he should give up composition and take a job in a factory, as he wrote to his fiancée Aino Järnefelt. After having somewhat recovered from the hypnotic influence of Wagner, Sibelius wrote again to Aino with new optimism: ”I believe I have once again found myself in music. Many facts have been revealed to me. What I really am is a tone painter and poet. It is Liszt’s views on music that are closest to me. That is, the symphonic poem (this was what I meant by ’poet’).”

The world of music was divided between proponents of absolute music, and those who believed that the future of music lay in Wagner’s musical drama and Liszt’s symphonic poem, where literary and musical traditions were united. It was therefore logical that Sibelius, after having abandoned his plans for an opera, took on the symphonic poem and wrote the ”Lemminkäinen suite” from 1893–96 (the first version was titled ”Symphonic poems to motives from the Lemminkäinen myth”). But it is clear that these four works (Lemminkäinen and the maidens of the island; The Swan of Tuonela; Lemminkäinen in Tuonela; and Lemminkäinen’s Return) are related to one another as four movements in a symphony. Even though Sibelius saw himself as ”a tone painter and poet,” he was– perhaps unconsciously– moving towards the symphony.

It was first around the years 1898–99 that the time was right for a symphony. Much later in his life, Sibelius explained the difference between his symphonies and his symphonic poems to his German biographer Ernst Tanzberger in the following way: ”My symphonies have always been wholly musical when it came to their birth and inception. When I write ’symphonic poems’ it is of course quite different.” Actually, there was a continuous dialogue in Sibelius’ mind between these two principles; the dialectical relationship between symphony and symphonic poem developed with time towards a synthesis.

Symphony no. 1 in e minor op 39 was written from 1898–1900. The first version (that was withdrawn and lost) was premiered on April 26, 1899 in Helsinki with Sibelius conducting. The following Spring, mindful of the coming European tour with the Philharmonic society, Sibelius updated the work ”during three days and two nights,” and Robert Kajanus conducted the premiere of the final version on July 1, 1900. The symphony is composed for an audience that was versed in the symphonies of Beethoven and Bruckner, and it has four movements in a traditional order.

The first movement (Andante ma non troppo. Allegro energico) has a slow introduction where a solo clarinet, supported only by timpanis, intones a calm melody that evokes thoughts of an ancient invocation.  The unusual opening has a structural function; it contains seeds to several of the work’s most important themes. The second movement (Andante, ma non troppo lento) is a lullaby that goes through a dramatic development. The third movement (Allegro) is a Brucknerian scherzo, where the horns and flutes in the contrasting trio section describe a romantic forest scene. 

The finale (Quasi una fantasia) has been given a introduction by Sibelius that casts new light on the beginning of the first movement. After this, two themes are set against one another, one aggressive Allegro molto and one elegiacal and celebratory Andante assai, perhaps as a farewell to the 19th century.

— Ilkka Oramo
English translation: George Kentros