Jean Sibelius

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(1865 – 1957)

Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) was a Finnish composer. Sibelius was one of the most popular composers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Sibelius was born on 8th December 1865 into a Swedish-speaking family in Hämeenlinna in the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland. He was given the name Johan Julius Christian Sibelius, and known as Janne to his family, but during his student years he started using a French form of the name, Jean.

His most popular compositions include Finlandia, Valse Triste, the violin concerto, the Karelia Suite, and The Swan of Tuonela (a movement from his Lemminkäinen Suite), but he is most respected for his symphonies, of which he wrote seven, and various works based on the Finnish epic, the Kalevala. He also wrote over 100 songs for voice and piano, incidental music for thirteen plays, an opera (Jungfrun i tornet, which remains unpublished), chamber music (including a piece for a string quartet), piano music, twenty-one volumes of choral music, and Masonic ritual music.

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  • prince-paradox

    oh, look at this! Wikipedia makes an exciting claim: "according to Tino Virtanen, the editor-in-chief of the collected edition of Sibelius, the archives donated by Sibelius's family to the University of Helsinki contain extensive drafts which are likely to relate to the missing symphony. Extracts from these were given an orchestral rehearsal in October 2011, and a reconstruction of all or part of the symphony may be possible from them."

    18 May 9:45am Reply
  • prince-paradox

    I agree with MonarchKingdom, it's a pity.. I read from a book that numbers are a big deal for Freemasons and were that to Sibelius as well and the reasons behind burning the notes would've been tied to this sacred numerology and the divinity of number 7, the "perfect cycle" of 1-7 would've been ruined by the 8th piece.. then again, who really knows? apparently he included something from these burned sketches into his opus 111b, so all is not totally lost...

    18 May 9:39am Reply
  • MonarchKingdom

    What a pity he burnt all the sheets of his Eighth. I'm sure it would've been a masterpiece.

    22 Apr 10:09am Reply
  • Biscuit1978

    The Swan of Tuonela and his Violin Concerto are unmatchable for me.

    16 Apr 11:33pm Reply
  • Remas0

    His piano works are underappreciated.

    22 Mar 8:18pm Reply
  • artemisia_sia

    Dark and light all at once.. his music conjures a world of its own.

    30 Jan 3:03am Reply
  • mark_grassland

    Can someone explain to me why the photos of Jean Sibelius are so much disliked (thumbs down) here in last.fm There are a total of 21 images, which have been voted a total of 1600 times. Almost 40% of these votes are dislikes. That's more than 600 thumbs down. Few pictures even have more dislikes than likes (thumbs up).

    13 Jan 11:14pm Reply
  • Nattuv

    Oh, a belated birthday to one of the greatest composers ever.

    19 Dec 2012 Reply
  • prince-paradox

    today (8.12) is his birthday and a national day of Sibelius here in Finland.. I celebrate it listening through his symphonies, so that my neighbours hear them too! ♥

    8 Dec 2012 Reply
  • Nattuv

    His seventh symphony is so chillingly beautiful.

    3 Dec 2012 Reply
  • tihsymtae

    Tom Ashbrook sucks.

    24 Aug 2012 Reply
  • Stoeroperator

    The seventh is an epitome of tragedy, hope, hopelessness, crushed and renewed dreams and, after all, unavoidable fate. It's his best symphony and the one that hurts me the most.

    3 Aug 2012 Reply
  • aenimauk

    It's all about the 6th symphony and Tapiola tone poem for me. Those and No. 4 are fantastically evocative.

    28 Jun 2012 Reply
  • Mampato

    Movements 3 & 4 of Symphony No. 4 are INCREDIBLE. I love the way it builds up and up and then whittles down. Also, if I could live the lifestlye of any composer, I'd live like Sibelius. (Large house isolated in a forest, go for walks and get lost in the wilderness, etc.)

    27 May 2012 Reply
  • steal_briefcase

    I wish more music was as dark as the introduction to the 4th symphony.

    5 Mar 2012 Reply
  • MusicHallofFame

    The Music Hall of Fame are delighted to induct Jean Sibelius into the Class of 1952. Congratulations. Please join our group too see the latest inductees into the Music Hall of Fame http://www.last.fm/group/Music+Hall+of+Fame

    8 Feb 2012 Reply
  • douglasC280

    super...

    8 Feb 2012 Reply
  • codypalooza

    The finale of the 2nd symphony is quite probably the most wonderful statement ever made in musical form... [2]

    5 Feb 2012 Reply
  • Tobbessen

    Excellent and my first classical impression. It is so hard not to think about finland when listening to this artist (especially symphony no. 5).

    3 Feb 2012 Reply
  • Tobbessen

    all right. something was mistagged in my collection. I realize that also op. 39 was listed as symphony 4. Also op. 43 and op. 82. Okay, I thought everything would belong to one symphony. I think this will change my perspective

    27 Dec 2011 Reply
  • All 187 shouts

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