# 20th Century Symphonic Masterpieces: Part Three - Sibelius' Symphony No. 7



## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

20th Century Symphonic Masterpieces - Part Three: Sibelius' _Symphony No. 7_


















In one movement. Completed in 1924; first performance (under the name _Fantasia sinfonica_) in Stockholm on 24th March 1924 (Konsertföreningen, conducted by Jean Sibelius).

Sibelius was going through difficult times in 1923-1924, when he was completing the seventh symphony. He had gone on a tour of Stockholm, Rome and Gothenburg and conducted successfully. However, before the last concert he had taken alcohol. When the concert started Sibelius thought for a moment that he was at a rehearsal and interrupted the performance. The concert went well after this, but Aino, who was sitting in the audience, was terrified. "Everything was chaos in my ears, I was in a state of mortal terror," she said later. From then on, Aino refused to attend concerts in which her husband was conducting.

Sibelius quite often took alcohol to ease his stage fright and the tremor in his hands, which was getting worse with age. Even at home in Ainola it was difficult for him to continue writing the seventh symphony without taking a few glasses to steady his hand. A prohibition law was in force in Finland at the time, and Sibelius was forced to obtain alcohol as a prescription drug.

But the seventh symphony had been slowly maturing in his head for almost ten years, ever since an adagio motif had appeared in his fifth symphony sketchbook. The motif expanded and took on a life of its own, becoming the root of the seventh symphony. In 1918 he wrote: "The seventh symphony. Joy of life and vitality mixed with appassionato. Three movements – the last of them a 'Hellenic rondo'."

But the three-movement plan changed; it was now a work in one movement, and Sibelius was ready to sacrifice his own health for it. The symphony was the result of ten years of contemplation and nothing could prevent the transfer of the masterpiece from the composer's brain onto paper.

These years were hard for Aino Sibelius too. She reached a point when she chose to write a sharp note instead of discussing the matter: "Do you really value the work you do with artificial inspiration?" she reproached him. "Even if you complete a work or two, they are nothing compared with what you could achieve."

Yet there is no "artificial inspiration" in the seventh symphony. On the contrary, its complexity, concentration and absolute mastery show us that Sibelius had weighed every detail carefully. It seems that alcohol was indeed only necessary to steady the hand of the writer, and that the work was complete in the composer's imagination.

The symphony was completed in March 1924, and Sibelius conducted the first public performance in Stockholm – without Aino, who no longer followed him to concerts. The rehearsal stage is said to have been difficult, but the concert itself went well. "A great success. There is no denying it: my new work is one of the best. Tone and ’colour’ both powerful," he could write to his wife.

At this stage the work was still called Fantasia sinfonica, but in the end Sibelius boldly decided to call the one-movement work his seventh symphony. The reviews were positive, but Sibelius expected much more: "How little they realise what I have put into my new work," he wrote.

The seventh symphony is the culmination of Sibelius's entire symphonic series. The concentration of the material leads to a unique one-movement structure. It is not just the form that is powerful; Sibelius's use of colour is also strong. The strings dominate, as they did in the sixth symphony, but a trombone theme also plays an important role. It was the visions of light in the strings that made the symphony something of a cult composition in the 1980s, among the writers of "spectral" music at Ircam in Paris.

[Article taken from the composers website: Jean sibelius]

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The last symphony from Sibelius and one of the finest symphonies ever penned. Where would have he gone after this? He was so displeased with his sketches for his alleged "Symphony No. 8" that he burned them in a fire. Who could blame him? There isn't a note out-of-place anywhere in this symphony (or really any of his symphonies to be honest). What do you guys think of the work? Any favorite performances? I'd say my favorite performance above all of them is Barbirolli/Hallé on EMI (Warner). There's something about this particular performance just hits me in the right way. I'm not sure why exactly, but there are many fine performances of this symphony on record.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

For some reason I'm not allowed to do any editing...any of the moderators know why? It seems this has affected the entire site.


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## REP (Dec 8, 2011)

A very moving work -- one of the greatest in the repertoire. It is not just a summation of Sibelius's life and work, but maybe even a summation of all human existence and endeavors. Sibelius's 7th stands alongside Beethoven's 9th as one of the most optimistic and uplifting works in the symphonic literature.

For a long time, I thought of the 7th as Sibelius's final musical statement, but that was before I discovered Tapiola, a later work that is just as dark and brooding as the 7th is grand and elegiac. For anyone who hasn't experienced Tapiola yet -- some consider it Sibelius's unofficial 8th symphony -- I highly recommend it as a companion piece to the 7th. It is a soul-rending journey through a dark forest that ends on a similar note as Tchaikovsky's Pathetique -- terrifyingly desolate. But together with the 7th, I think it forms a complete picture of Sibelius the man and of the human condition as a whole -- a mix of dark and light, optimism and pessimism forever vying and unresolved.


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

Neo Romanza write, "The last symphony from Sibelius and one of the finest symphonies ever penned. Where would have he gone after this?"

To Tapiola!, his op. 112. Which is likewise one of his most remarkable works. No composer had ever used an orchestra like that before, as Sibelius did in Tapiola. It's a revolutionary work.














But I completely agree with you that the Sibelius 7th is one of the great symphonies. For me, three performances stand out from the rest of the pack. They are: Paavo Berglund's live 'swansong' performance from the Barbican Centre in London, with the London Philharmonic, and Leif Segerstam's two recordings: the first with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra on Chandos, and the second with the Helsinki Philharmonic on Ondine. While Berglund's Barbican 7th is very special & I love that he gets so carried away that he shouts out to the orchestra during the performance (Berglund's Sibelius was often known to be better live), I wouldn't want to be without any of these three recordings,









Sibelius: Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 105 (Segerstam, Helsingin kaupunginorkesteri)


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Umm...you guys act like I haven't heard _Tapiola_. I know this work incredibly well. My point was mainly about where would he have gone symphonically _after_ the 7th. We'll never know.


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

A fine symphony but not one of my favorite symphonies of his (that would be Nos. 1, 2 and 5 as well as his Violin Concerto which I absolutely adore).


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## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

One of the best pieces of music ever written. I love all of Sibelius' symphonies.


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## Shoskofiev (5 mo ago)

Majestic and phenomenal are short to describe the ineffable beauty of this work. Berglund/Bournemouth Symphony is a great performance that fulfills my expectations.

BTW, I've seen three different avatars from you today. Which one will come next, @Neo Romanza ?


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Shoskofiev said:


> Majestic and phenomenal are short to describe the ineffable beauty of this work. Berglund/Bournemouth Symphony is a great performance that fulfills my expectations.
> 
> BTW, I've seen three different avatars from you today. Which one will come next, @Neo Romanza ?


Yes, I would actually rate Berglund's Bournemouth cycle as my favorite Sibelius symphony cycle of them all. As for my avatar, I don't know! I'm rather indecisive today, but I think I'll just stick with Prokofiev for awhile. 

Edit: I changed it yet again, but this time to Santa Krzysztof. I'll leave this one up until after New Year's. Let's set if I can do it.


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

"My point was mainly about where would he have gone symphonically _after_ the 7th. We'll never know."

Did you know that in 2011 conductor John Storgaards & the Helsinki Philharmonic recorded three sketches that are thought to relate to Sibelius's 8th?


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

The 7th Symphony by Sibelius is my all time favourite piece of music and has been for 26 years.

And this live Bernstein version is the best version I have ever heard. Music does not getter better than this for me!


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

Josquin13 said:


> "My point was mainly about where would he have gone symphonically _after_ the 7th. We'll never know."
> 
> Did you know that in 2011 conductor John Storgaards & the Helsinki Philharmonic recorded three sketches that are thought to relate to Sibelius's 8th?


Sure, but these sketches barely scrape the surface of where the composer would've gone. It'll continue to be a mystery. He was such a perfectionist, but it was _his_ music after all and if he wasn't happy with the work, then perhaps it was for the best.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Sibelius is my number 2 favorite composer, behind only Beethoven. This is in no small part owing to the majesty and mystery of works like the 7th. I've got at least 7 different recordings in my collection, many of them very good, but none have topped the Karajan/BPO 7th for me. They get the swell of the emotion as well as the cosmic mystery, with equal verve.






I think my best complete cycle is Blomstedt/San Francisco.


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## HerbertNorman (Jan 9, 2020)

I rate this as one of my favourite Sibelius works , it's in the top three... I have listened to it intensively throughout the years and it moves me enormously. I would like to give a shout out to the Osmo Vänskä recordings with the Lahti SO and the Minnesota SO ... Many of my other favourite recordings have already been mentioned , but I like Vänskä's interpretation of the piece. It definitely is one of my favourite symphonies...


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Of course, it's a great symphony and it has done very well on record. Most of the (very many) recommendable sets have good accounts of it but there are many really fine and quite out of the ordinary recordings that stand out for me including Barbirolli's, Karajan's, Bernstein's, Beecham's, Rozhdestvensky's, Maazel's ... the list won't end. I particularly rate Barbirolli's because his handling of the trombone theme really sings like a musical drunk in the street. I believe Barbirolli liked a drink and Sibelius, of course, was an alcoholic.


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

It took me a while to fully appreciate the full stature of this symphony but eventually I gave it the nickname "The Miracle" as it seems to be so perfect (and indeed was the inspiration for my own 9th). No other symphony seems to flow so naturally and inexorably towards its overwhelming conclusion - unquestionably one of the greatest in the repertoire. For me, Kurt Sanderling brings out its humanity to the fullest extent -- other good interpreters include Berglund and Segerstam (the latter I've heard live) but there are more poor, superficial ones than successes.


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## Lisztianwagner (2 mo ago)

A truly magnificent piece; it is not clearly divided into movements like the traditional symphonies (although they can be perceived for the different tempi), but more a single formal block, which anyway flows on without solution of continuity with great flexibility, beautifully combining somber and light tones and atmospheres, changes of intensity and tensions; I also find marvelous the use in some passages of a floating pace, through ascending and descending progressions, which almost seem to evoke the impressions of natural elements like the sea, the wind or the waves of the Northern Lights. The ending is so powerful, but also enigmatic, with the climax interrupted abruptly.
How gorgeous there are quotes of _Tristan und Isolde_ in the beginning of the Adagio part_, _the Tristan chord and the desire motive. ☺

My favourite recordings are the Karajan, Ashkenazy and Vänskä, but about the latest versions, Mäkelä's recording is really fine.


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