SIBELIUS SYMPHONIES
of Strauss and Mahler that had recently dominated European music . Comparing his Sixth Symphony to them , he commented that instead of elaborate “ cocktails ” he was offering “ a drink of pure spring water .” In this work , he reached back to the pre-tonal system of the medieval modes : scales shaped differently from the familiar major and minor and which still colored the folk melodies of many lands . The Sixth derives its themes and harmonies from the Dorian mode based on the pitch D ; it is the scale one hears when playing all the white keys on the piano between D ’ s an octave apart . The result is music that sounds simultaneously old and new — pure , mysterious and not quite of this world .
By this time , Sibelius was constructing his symphonies according to his own formal principals . Instead of using traditional forms like sonata and rondo , he allowed his thematic material to dictate the form for each movement according to how it needed to grow . “ I am the slave of my themes ,” he admitted . All the themes in the
Sixth tend to follow a common pattern : stepwise scales , first in a descending shape , later ascending .
In the first movement , the music begins with two sections of violins slip-sliding past each other down a modal scale ; they are joined by other violins and violas . Renowned annotator Michael Steinberg has likened this to soprano voices singing in the motets of the Renaissance choral master Palestrina , whom Sibelius admired deeply . Gradually , the delicate sounds of oboes and flutes infiltrate the texture , and they begin to sing descending and ascending phrases antiphonally to each other , like Renaissance double choirs . A flurry of mysterious activity dominates the middle of the movement .
The second movement also begins mysteriously . After a rap of attention on the timpani , flutes and bassoons join together in tracing eerie slow scale patterns , their rhythmic pulse totally obscured . Over the course of the movement , the music gradually grows in speed and rhythmic complexity , leaving all traces of slow movement behind . This is music of delicate activity and shifting luminescent patterns rather than of clear-cut themes .
In movement three , Sibelius continues his exploration of rhythmic energy . Fast hopping rhythms give this scherzo music an airborne quality . Again the melodic ideas are simple rising and falling scales . Sibelius keeps shifting his instrumental colors like the prisms in a kaleidoscope , and at the end he finally unleashes the brass for the first time in this quiet work .
The finale opens like the first movement with violins singing a descending-scale melody ; they are answered antiphonally by low strings on an ascending scale . The pace suddenly shifts upward to Allegro molto . This energetic music is repeated , gaining in force and confidence . However , its climax trails off abruptly for the return of the opening violin music . This too builds , but again Sibelius deflects the climax . He does not want a conventional ending . The tempo slows , and the violins and violas divide lushly , carrying us to their own climax of stinging harmonic power . The timpani rumbles , the violins sing a last descending scale , and the music fades out , maintaining its mystery and beauty .
Symphony No . 7 As Sibelius grew older and his symphonic craft more sophisticated , composing became more difficult for him . Struggling to complete his Seventh — and last — Symphony in the winter of 1924 , he wrote : “ I am on the wrong rails . Alcohol to calm my nerves and state of mind . How dreadful old age is for a composer ! Things don ’ t go as quickly as they used to , and self-criticism grows to impossible proportions .” He composed through the night , and his wife , Aino , would find him in the morning slumped over the score at the dining-room table with a bottle of liquor beside him .
Sibelius suffered from black depressions throughout his life , and heavy alcoholic consumption only
20 OVERTURE / BSOmusic . org