Jean Sibelius Quotes

Jean Sibelius , born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius , was a Finnish composer and violinist of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely recognized as his country's greatest composer and, through his music, is often credited with having helped Finland to develop a national identity during its struggle for independence from Russia.

The core of his oeuvre is his set of seven symphonies, which, like his other major works, are regularly performed and recorded in his home country and internationally. His other best-known compositions are Finlandia, the Karelia Suite, Valse triste, the Violin Concerto, the choral symphony Kullervo, and The Swan of Tuonela . Other works include pieces inspired by nature, Nordic mythology, and the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, over a hundred songs for voice and piano, incidental music for numerous plays, the opera Jungfrun i tornet , chamber music, piano music, Masonic ritual music, and 21 publications of choral music.

Sibelius composed prolifically until the mid-1920s, but after completing his Seventh Symphony , the incidental music for The Tempest and the tone poem Tapiola , he stopped producing major works in his last thirty years, a stunning and perplexing decline commonly referred to as "The Silence of Järvenpää", the location of his home. Although he is reputed to have stopped composing, he attempted to continue writing, including abortive efforts on an eighth symphony. In later life, he wrote Masonic music and re-edited some earlier works while retaining an active but not always favourable interest in new developments in music.

The Finnish 100 mark note featured his image until 2002, when the euro was adopted. Since 2011, Finland has celebrated a Flag Day on 8 December, the composer's birthday, also known as the "Day of Finnish Music". In 2015, the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth, a number of special concerts and events were held, especially in the city of Helsinki. Wikipedia

✵ 8. December 1865 – 20. September 1957

Jean Sibelius photo

Jean Sibelius: 12 quotes1 like

Famous Jean Sibelius Quotes

“Sibelius has an acutely developed sense of identification with nature and a preoccupation with myth that at one and the same time define his unique strength and his basic limitation. These preoccupations override his involvement in the human predicament, except in so far as it affects man’s relationship with nature.”

Robert Layton Sibelius (London: J. M. Dent, [1965] 1971), ch. 16, p. 153.
Criticism

“It is so difficult to mix with artists! You must choose business men to talk to, because artists only talk of money.”

Bengt de Törne Sibelius: A Close-Up (London: Faber and Faber, 1937), p. 94.
Usually quoted as "Musicians talk of nothing but money and jobs. Give me businessmen every time. They really are interested in music and art."

“The framework of a symphony must be so strong that it forces you to follow it, regardless of the environment and circumstances.”

To Jussi Jalas, October 1, 1939. http://www.sibelius.fi/english/omin_sanoin/ominsanoin_16.htm

“Art is the signature of civilizations.”

Beverly Sills, interviewed on NBC TV, May 4, 1985.
Misattributed

“Whereas most other modern composers are engaged in manufacturing cocktails of every hue and description, I offer the public cold spring water.”

Cecil Gray Sibelius: The Symphonies (London: Oxford University Press, 1935) p. 56.
Of his Symphony No. 6 (1923).

“In his work a means of escape has been found from outmoded romanticism on the one hand and from a barren objectivity on the other.”

Neville Cardus in the Manchester Guardian, 1935; reprinted in his The Delights of Music (1966) p. 56.
Criticism

Jean Sibelius Quotes

“If we understood the world, we would realize that there is a logic of harmony underlying its manifold apparent dissonances.”

Henry Thomas & Dana Lee Thomas Living Biographies of Great Composers (Garden City (NY): Blue Ribbon, [1940] 1946) p. 309.
Said in 1907, in conversation with Gustav Mahler.

“Never pay any attention to what critics say…Remember, a statue has never been set up in honour of a critic!”

Bengt de Törne Sibelius: A Close-Up (London: Faber and Faber25 october

“If I could express the same thing with words as with music, I would, of course, use a verbal expression. Music is something autonomous and much richer. Music begins where the possibilities of language end. That is why I write music.”

Interview with Berlingske Tidende, June 10, 1919. http://www.sibelius.fi/english/omin_sanoin/ominsanoin_16.htm

“Music is for me like a beautiful mosaic which God has put together. He takes all the pieces in his hand, throws them into the world, and we have to recreate the picture from the pieces.”

Quoted by Jalmari Finne, June 28, 1905. http://www.sibelius.fi/english/omin_sanoin/ominsanoin_16.htm

“I often conduct an orchestra in my sleep; my orchestras are so huge that the back desks of the violas vanish into the horizon. And everything is so wonderful.”

To Jussi Jalas, August 27, 1943. http://www.sibelius.fi/english/omin_sanoin/ominsanoin_13.htm

“Sibelius is unquestionably a leader in the front rank of symphonic composers. He has got out of the ruts worn by his predecessors far more completely than Brahms got away from Beethoven, or even Richard Strauss from Wagner. If someone would only burn Finlandia he would come to our young people as an entirely original inventor of a new art form and a new harmony technique.”

George Bernard Shaw, in the Manchester Guardian, November 1, 1938.
Criticism

Similar authors

John Cage photo

John Cage43

American avant-garde composer None

Elton John photo

Elton John80

English rock singer-songwriter, composer and pianist None

Paul McCartney photo

Paul McCartney50

English singer-songwriter and composer None

Billy Wilder photo

Billy Wilder23

American filmmaker None

Pablo Picasso photo

Pablo Picasso128

Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stag… None

Frank Zappa photo

Frank Zappa129

American musician, songwriter, composer, and record and fil… None

Franco Battiato photo

Franco Battiato4

Italian singer-songwriter, composer, and filmmaker None

Rabindranath Tagore photo

Rabindranath Tagore178

Bengali polymath None

Ayn Rand322

Russian-American novelist and philosopher None

Franz Kafka photo

Franz Kafka266

author None

Similar authors

John Cage photo

John Cage43

American avant-garde composer None

Elton John photo

Elton John80

English rock singer-songwriter, composer and pianist None

Paul McCartney photo

Paul McCartney50

English singer-songwriter and composer None

Billy Wilder photo

Billy Wilder23

American filmmaker None

Pablo Picasso photo

Pablo Picasso128

Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stag… None