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Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Rakastava
Jean Sibelius was born in 1865 in Hämeenlinna, Finland, and died in 1957 in Järvenpää, Finland. He found himself at the center of the Nationalistic Movement in music. He became a central figure by establishing his music as a symbolic part of the Finnish culture and heritage.
The Kalevala was an epic poetic tradition. It was sung in an archaic trochaic tetrameter, which had been part of the oral tradition among speakers of Baltic-Finnic languages for two thousand years. In 1835, the collection of ancient poetry that Elias Lönnrot organized became the first edition of the Kalevala. At that time, did Lönnrot comprehend his contribution to the people of Finland? What does a mythological tradition have to do with the Finnish culture? The answer is found in the act of recording the ancient words of the Kalevala. It resulted in the Finns developing confidence in their own culture. Finland did not even have its own currency until 1860, and in 1863 its own parliament convened where the Finnish language was to be decreed to have, for the first time, equal status with Swedish. Finland was awarded its long awaited independence in 1917.
Sibelius's music became a revered symbol of Finnish Nationalistic music. His well-crafted Rakastava, written in three movements, is an example of music that has a simple and elegant beauty, while also being pictorial. He found through nature the poetic inspiration for Rakastava. The subject of the first movement is "The Lover." The movement begins with syncopation first heard in the second violins and violas, while the melody is being played in the first violins. The syncopation serves to obscure the bar line and the meter. It seems like time has been suspended, and the listener can easily imagine a snowy and frozen landscape. Sibelius's use of timpani in the first movement adds dramatic contrast to the string sound.
In Movement II, "Path to the Beloved" again inspires the imagination of the listener. The softly moving triplets in the strings seem to illustrate "The Lover" walking endlessly in the newly fallen snow. The silvery sound of the triangle punctuates the poetic image of ice and snow. Near the end of the movement, the mood shifts. The listener hears a moment of a Viennese-like waltz. The alludes to the weary traveler having at last found the cozy cabin in the snow. It sounds like his beloved opens the door; the listener can nearly see the roaring fireplace. As the door closed, the music quietly disappears.
Movement III opens with the solo violin playing an exotic and plaintive melody. As the timpani enters in the Vivace section, the dramatic quality of the whirlwind-like mood is enhanced. As the music rushes ahead with an accelerating chromatic passage of sixteenth notes, the timpani roll helps to create tension with a gradual crescendo. The pictorial imagery in Rakastava appeals to most listeners because it depicts the images of the Finnish countryside.
-- program notes by Laurien Jones