Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957)
Finlandia

Finlandia is probably the most well-known and popular of all Sibelius’s works. It is certainly the most political. For many centuries Finland was a province of Sweden, but in the early 19 century had been ceded to Russia, and by the latter part of the century was a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire, with a considerable amount of self determination. However in the 1890s the Russians tightened their control over Finland, and removed some of the autonomy the country had enjoyed. There was a strong backlash from all parts of society, and in 1899 the Helsinki press association presented a historical pageant celebrating the story of Finland from prehistoric to current times. Sibelius wrote incidental music to accompany the proceedings.

The final scene was called Finland awakes” and illustrated the last hundred years of the country, including its recent literature, the growing use of its own language, and its resources and technology. The music that accompanied this scene, with a little reworking the following year, is Finlandia. The message in the music is as clear as it was on the stage, illustrating the journey from the growling repression of the opening, through energetic striving for freedom, to the joyful and triumphant hymn of celebration at the end.