Sibelius was born in 1865 in a small town in Finland. His father was a surgeon in a regiment stationed there. As a young boy, Sibelius loved structuring music on the piano and later wrote short works for piano and other solo instruments. When he was fifteen, he took violin lessons from the band teacher of that regiment.

In the summer, he often liked to disappear into the woods all day and night with his violin - in those strange Nordic summer nights, the sun didn't set until late at night, and it was dark. Never darker than the mysterious light of dusk. He would endeavor to express on the violin what he felt about the beauty of nature—the fragrant woods with those tall "whispering" trees, the silent lakes and cheerful brooks, and the songs of the silvery birds. He also played violin in the school orchestra and chamber music family concerts with his brother and friends.

Like many other musicians, Sibelius wanted to be a lawyer and spent some time studying law at the University of Helfers in Finland. Finally, he decided to devote his entire life to music. He was only twenty-four years old when he first left his country to study music in Berlin. Later he went to Vienna, where he would make a great name for himself. By the time he returned to Finland three years later, he was already famous for his first great tone poem, "En Saga," a title that means "from an ancient legend."

2. The Soul of Finnish National Music

Perhaps the greatest nationalist music work is "Ode to Finland" - a song composed of Finnish folk songs, stories and melancholy melodies Tone poetry, its composer is the great Finn Sibelius. He and Richard Strauss were once called the two great "S"s of modern music.

"Ode to Finland" begins with a solemn, dissonant sonorous chord that calls the people to arms. As long as the Russians occupied Finland, they would not allow this work to be performed for fear that it would incite the Finns to revolt. When Finland finally gained its freedom, the government gave Sibelius an annual pension, allowing him to devote his life to composing music.

In Sibelius's time, people in Finland had collected all the ancient Finnish legends from some folk artists and ordinary people in the countryside, and compiled them in a book titled "Kalevala" A rich collection of Finnish legends. Sibelius used authentic folk tunes and permeated the spirit of Kalevala into all his works, even the great symphonies. Most of his tone poems make some tone pictures of various parts of "Kalevala" - for example, his "The Swan of Tuonera" describes the area of ??death, surrounded by a black river, with a A swan always sings its sad song. The great nationalist tone poem "Ode to Finland" tells in notes something about the brave gods and heroes who lived in those dark forests long before man could remember, but it tells much more. It is the love and pride in every country person's heart.

Thanks to the subsidies from the Finnish government, Sibelius was able to devote his long quiet years to composing symphonies and tone poems, and the works were permeated with the spirit of ancient Finnish folklore. He lives on his lovely rural estate twenty miles from the Finnish capital. He always worshiped Beethoven above all other composers. Many believe that in the future his name will be placed among the truly great figures of all times, next to Beethoven.