Finlandia - Jean Sibelius

Montgomery County Concert Band
Charles H. Neidhardt DIRECTOR
Ryan Pongras ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Bret Mascaro ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Finlandia - Jean Sibelius
arr. by Mark Hindsley

Finlandia-Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) In the 1890s, Sibelius was recognized by Finland as its greatest composer; after 1900 he became world famous. Finlandia marked the turning point. Its popularity surprised no one more than Sibelius, who had agreed to contribute some music for a political demonstration in Helsinki. But 1899 was a time of heightened political tensions, as the Russian hold on Finland was growing tighter, and so a simple and brief, but stirring composition called Finland Awakes, crowned by a big singable tune, struck home like a thunderbolt. The following year, Sibelius revised the score and gave it the title Finlandia, before the Helsinki Philharmonic, then only eighteen months old, took it on its first major tour, carrying Sibelius’s name and music throughout Europe (the tour ended at the Paris World Exposition). Despite the narrow political circumstances of its creation, Finlandia turned out to have universal appeal, and in very little time it made Sibelius the best-known living Finn in the world