Hello Again Kats & Kittens, Friend & Fiend,
Check out Bon Appetit for your appetite. Made this yestermorn…Triple-Threat Onion Galette Bon Appetit Mag. April 2020 Edition. YUMMY for your TUMMY (Button below)
ONWARD!
We travel to FINLAND……A visit with JEAN SIBELIUS…the father of classical music……in Finland. Funny thing happened on the way to democracy…lots of ups, “We’re Sweden!” (Mid-Evil times, not the restaurant) & downs “No, We’re Russia!”(you’re now the Grand Duchy of Finland, but part of Russia) This area of the globe bounced from one feudal/Tsarist reign to the next as neighbors do…. A real “Push-Me—Pull You”.
FINLAND as we know it became a country 1917, after the RUSHKA “February Revolution” took out Tsar Nick Romanov II…since the Finn area was ruled by said Tsar & Russia was now Nick-less…the social democrats of FIN saw an opening…took it upon themselves to called themselves FINLAND an independent nation…whew! We know, oversimplified, right? Yes we know.
JEAN SIBELIUS lived through all that…Ups-composing, Downs-drinking heavily, smoking…all the healthy stuff. Helped create a national identity for Finland through his music, while it wrestled Rushka for independence.
Best known is SIBELIUS’ very flag waving, yay us, “Finlandia”, November 1899
Die hard fans of Die Hard Movies might notice Sibelius’”Finlandia” in Fan-Fav Fin Flixter RENNY HARLIN’s “Die Hard 2, Die Harder” fil’em, 1990.
Fins can’t get enough SIBELIUS, a Sibelius Museum, the Jean Sibelius Violin Competition, a Sibelius Monument in Helsinki's Sibelius Park, the Sibelius Concert Hall in Lahti, the Finnish 100 Mark Coin has his image(until the Euro took over), the Sibelius Society of Finland( secret hand shakes we’re sure) even an Asteroid!, 1405 Sibelius. OK we get it, you like him.
TONE POEM…orchestral music in a single continuous movement. Evoking a poem or short story, inspiring listeners to imagine places, moods, nature. SIBELIUS was very good at this, wrote over a dozen of them…the above “Finalandia” is one.
NEXT “Snöfrid”. The story goes like this… female protagonist appeals to pals “We must fight for freedom it’s better than markka, stardom & hedonism”.
SIBELIUS had grand urges…spending huge sums for bubbly champagne & hot buttered lobster..which in turn had disastrous effect on wifey AINO who was driven to retire to a sanatorium. May 1908, throat cancer, SIBELIUS to Berlin, tumour removing surgery. Brushing death changes SIBELIUS, vows to quit the ciggies & hooch once and for all.
The last 25 years or so of his life SIBELIUS rarely made music…this stunning & perplexing decline is known as "The Silence of Järvenpää", his home town. Passed away September 1957.
The “Karelia Music”, one of the composer's earlier works, 1893
End of today’s roadshow….
Thanks for listening, until tomorrow.
Peace & Distance.
