Finlandia sung by Joan Baez - wouldn't this make a wonderful, wonderful national anthem?

[Douglas Carpenter]

[longship]

1. Interesting fact about Finlandia.

From the Wiki:

Finlandia, Op. 26 is a symphonic poem by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The first version was written in 1899, and it was revised in 1900. The piece was composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the Russian Empire, as the last of seven pieces, each performed as an accompaniment to a tableau depicting episodes from Finnish history.[2]

The premiere was on 2 July 1900 in Helsinki with the Helsinki Philharmonic Society conducted by Robert Kajanus.[3] A typical performance takes anywhere from 7½ to 9 minutes.

A recurrent joke within Finland at this time was the renaming of Finlandia at various musical concerts so as to avoid Russian censorship. Titles under which the piece masqueraded were numerous, a famously flippant example being "Happy Feelings at the awakening of Finnish Spring."

I am half Suomilainen (Finnish to English speakers). My mother was a Finn. I always knew the country as Suomi, not Finland.

Sisu!

[BeyondGeography]

2. Love Sibelius

Symphonies 2 and 5 (the swans!), of course. The Finns love their singing, too, don't they? I once found this obscure clip of everyday Finns hanging out in this very drab apartment that had about 400-500 views. The men rose up, sung this gorgeous folk tune in unison that was like something from a Verdi chorus, and sat back down like there was nothing to it. I'd love to find that again...

[gopiscrap]

3. I have used this song at peace vigils and services

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

4. I've always thought the American national anthem should be "America the Beautiful"

Especially as sung by Ray Charles

[GreenEyedLefty]

5. My grandmother was Finnish and Finlandia made her weep. Every time.

It is so beautiful.

Sisu!

[formercia]

6. A Composer's Ties to Nazi Germany Come Under New Scrutiny


 
 
 
 
 


November 29, 2009



By Peter Monaghan
The composer Jean Sibelius is arguably as important to early 20th-century music as Ezra Pound was to literary modernism. Now, more than 50 years after the Finnish composer died, in 1957, at the age of 91, a musicologist in Texas is claiming that Sibelius was culpably entangled with Nazi Germany, and should join Pound, Richard Wagner, and Louis-Ferdinand Céline in the select group of artists who have been cast into anti-Semitic ignominy.
Sibelius's associations with National Socialism amount to active support of Nazism and its propaganda efforts in Germany and the Nordic countries, says Timothy L. Jackson, a professor of music at the University of North Texas.
Other Sibelius experts say Jackson is making a Nazi out of a man who needed to deal with the Third Reich to earn his living, and who, along with most of the world, was perhaps too complacent about the rise of Hitler.

More at the link:

http://chronicle.com/article/A-Composers-Ties-to-Nazi/49256/

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. Such a beautiful message in a beautiful song sung by a beautiful advocate for peace.

Thanks for posting this

[joanbarnes]

8. SO beautiful! Thank you for posting. I had never heard all the lyrics.