Johan Julius Christian Sibelius (1865-1957)

Johan Julius Christian (Jean) Sibelius

Born 8 Dec 1865 in Hämeenlinna, Suomi

Ancestors

Son of Christian Gustaf Sibelius and Maria Charlotta Borg

Brother of Christian Sibelius

Husband of Aino (Järnefelt) Sibelius — married 10 Jun 1892 in Vaasa, Finland

Father of Jeanne Margareta (Sibelius) Blomstedt and Heidi Kristina (Sibelius) Blomstedt

Died 20 Sep 1957 at age 91 in Järvenpää, Suomi

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Profile last modified 10 Jan 2024 | Created 30 Jul 2014

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1 Biography
- 1.1 Childhood
- 1.2 Music
2 Sources

Biography

Jean Sibelius is Notable.

Jean Sibelius was born on 8 Dec 1865 in Hämeenlinna, Suomi,^[1] son of Christian Gustaf Sibelius (1821 - ) and Maria Charlotta Borg (1841 - ).^[2] He was a composer and Musikern (musician).

Johan Julius Christian married Aino Järnefelt (1871 - 1969) on 10 Jun 1892 in Vaasa, Finland,^[3] where Aino lived with her parents. ^[4]

Their children were:^[5]

Eva
Ruth
Kirsti
Katarina
Jeanne Margareta (Sibelius) Blomstedt (1908 - 1988)
Heidi Kristina (Sibelius) Blomstedt (1911 - 1982).

He died on 20 Sep 1957 in Järvenpää aged 91.^[5]

Jean Sibelius is considered to be the greatest Finnish Composer, and Influenced not only music in the early 20th century but also the development of Finland's national identity during its struggles for independence from Russia.^[6]

Childhood

When he was about three years old, Sibelius's father died from Typhoid, leaving considerable debts. As a result, his mother had to sell their house and the family moved in with her widowed mother, also in Hämeenlinna. His uncle, Pehr Ferdinand Sibelius, took an interest in the boy, giving him a violin and encouraged him in music, while his aunt Julia gave taught him piano from the age of 7. His childhood was filled with playing chamber music, with his siblings and with neighbors.^[6] His family spent summers in Loviisa on the coast where he took long many long walks, finding happiness and developing a life long love of nature.^[6]

Music

His fervently studied applied himself to the violin, practicing from all day from the age of 15. Eventually he was forced to abandon his dream of becoming a virtuoso, realizing that he had began his training too late. In 1892 his first major orchestral work, Kullervo about a doomed young man from the Finnish national epic, Kalevala brought him instant recognition. His second work, En Saga, was not received well at first though after he made revisions in 1902 it secured a place in the repertoire. Through the 1890's Sibelius continued writing Tone Poems, drawing inspiration from the Tone Poems of Franz Liszt, but celebrating Finnish heritage. In 1899, he began work on his First Symphony. Sibelius began to explore a completely new way of organizing the form of his music. Since the time of Haydn, classical music was organized around several different forms, Sonata Allegro for the first movement, with ternary form with a trio, Variation Form, Rondo Form as options for the other movements. Sibelius approached his music from a more organic through composed style, with contrasts coming from different short motives juxtaposed against each other with additional emphasis coming from using the various sections of the orchestra also pitted against each other. ([Analysis by composer Scott Michal .) The first performance of his first symphony in Helsinki in 1899, but it was overshadowed by his first performance of the blatantly patriotic Song of the Athenians, which brought him the instant status of a national hero. His Symphony No. 2 written after the death of his daughter, became another instant hit. Merikanto felt it exceeded "even the boldest expectations," while Evert Katila qualified it as "an absolute masterpiece". Flodin, too, wrote of a symphonic composition "the likes of which we have never had occasion to listen to before".^[6] Sibelius by 1903 found himself spending most of his time in Helsinki. drinking excessively, and running up large bills at numerous restaraunts. His Violin Concerto, written in 1904 left audiences perplexed, though after revisions in 1906 it has taken its place as one of the great violin concertos. His most popular Symphony was Symphony No. 5, and Finlandia instantly made him a household name amongst the Finns, eventually becoming the Finnish national anthem.

After 1926, Sibelius quit composing. No one is completely sure of his reasons, but there are several factors that I feel had an impact.
Sibelius led a complicated life. He found himself staying away from home, esentially abandoning his wife and children while he stayed in Helsinki, or traveled around the world, composing, but drinking and spending too much. I suspect that Sibelius was never entirely comfortable with his status as one of the great composers, and like many artists, struggled with a hidden lack of self belief.
After the Great War, the nature of art changed dramatically. Just as the visual arts became more symbolic and reflective of the vast disconnect between the ideals of beauty and the perceived cruelty of man evidenced during the war, music turned from melody and tonal construction to serial and eventually aleatoric effects. Sibelius increasingly found himself out of the mainstream and left behind by the changes in musical expression. Sibelius was not alone in this regard, a great many composers and artists either abandoned their art or seriously curtailled their ouput in the years after World War I.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION
02:45, 20 September 2014 (EDT)