The University Philharmonia invites you to join them for their first performances of 2018 on Friday, February 16 and Saturday, February 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Opperman Music Hall. Under the direction of Dr. Alexander Jiménez and assistant conductor Aaron King Vaughn, the UPO will present works by Jean Sibelius and Edvard Grieg.
Jean Sibelius: Finlandia
Music scholars who study the rich musical traditions of Finland speak of Finnish music history as two grand epochs: “Before Sibelius” and “After Sibelius.” Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) has become a national hero in his homeland, and although many of his works are considered standard repertoire for orchestras internationally, his most important contribution to the Finnish people was his relatively short tone poem, Finlandia.
Sibelius conceived Finlandia as the final piece of a set of works to be played as background music for a staged depiction of Finnish history at a December 1899 celebration of free press in Finland, just as Sibelius was beginning to rise in prominence as a composer. The Finnish public became immediately enraptured by the work, and in the following year Sibelius extracted it from the set and named the movement Finlandia. The famous (and singable) hymn from the tone poem became an unofficial national anthem and a musical symbol of the Finn’s long struggle against the oppressive Russians.
Edvard Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No. 1
Just as Sibelius had been to Finland, Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) was a major cultural force for his native Norway, his country’s most respected promoter of its music to the rest of Europe. Additionally, just as Finland had been for years under the control of Russians, Norway had long been occupied either by Sweden or Denmark, its native music considered second-class. From that context it is easy to see how a gifted composer such as Grieg might feel inclined towards musical expressions of nationalism, perhaps with even a tinge of personal obligation to his beloved country.
In 1874, Grieg was asked to provide incidental music for the play Peer Gynt, a satirical view of human nature, told through the fantastical misadventures of the anti-hero title character and his saintly love interest, Solveig. Grieg was initially hesitant, claiming that he found the protagonist to be “the most unmusical of all subjects.” But over the course of the next year, Grieg composed and orchestrated 23 separate numbers for the play. A decade later Grieg extracted eight numbers to be used in two different orchestral suites. The order of movements in the first suite does not correspond to the plot of the play; Grieg instead reordered the music to make for a more compelling suite:
1. Morning Mood
2. The Death of Åse
3. Anitra's Dance
4. In the Hall of the Mountain King
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 43
If Finlandia set Sibelius up to be Finland’s most famous composer at the time, the symphonic output with which he followed his rise to stardom ensured that his prominence as a brilliant composer would continue long after his death.
As much as the Second Symphony is rife with its expression of Sibelius’s homeland, he conceived of the work in an entirely contradistinctive environment: Italy. Given the ongoing tensions Finland was experiencing with Russia at the time, it is no wonder that many Finns were quick to ignore the Italian genesis of the Second Symphony and claim it as their own, a rousing anthem for liberation. Whether or not Sibelius intended the work as protest music (which he adamantly denied), the symphony is bold in its striking grandeur and in the composer’s clever orchestration.
This is a ticketed event. Please see http://www.music.fsu.edu/Concerts-and-Events for information on ticketing and the College of Music venues.
Saturday, February 17, 2018 at 7:30pm to 9:00pm
Opperman Music Hall (OMH)
Kuersteiner Music Bldg, 114 N Copeland St, Tallahassee, FL 32304
$10 general admission; $7 seniors/nonFSU students; FSU students free with ID.