Finnish Music, 1917
Even more than in painting, the soul of the nation is mirrored in its music. It has already been pointed out that the “Kalevala" is but the co-ordination into an…
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From Finland and the Finns by Arthur Reade, 1917.
Even more than in painting, the soul of the nation is mirrored in its music. It has already been pointed out that the “Kalevala" is but the co-ordination into an epic poem of a vast number of songs, handed down from generation to generation. The old runo singer is fast dying out, but the love of song remains, and shows itself in the extraordinary wealth of folk-song which exists among the Swedish as well as among the Finnish-speaking population. As in other countries, it was gradually being forgotten, but of recent years much has been snatched from the jaws of time with commendable energy.
The Finnish folk-songs are not purely Finnish in origin. Modern research shows that the popular melodies of most countries have wandered about from one land to another, and those of Finland are no exception to the rule. In them we do but find Finnish characteristics stamped on to what was originally a common European stock. Nevertheless the national note is strong in them. It is both grave and gay, seeming in the one case to embody the surging joy of the summer on which no darkness ever falls; in the other, the long snow-lit twilight of the winter, when for months on end the sun scarcely peeps above the level of the frozen earth. Among the Finnish-speaking population especially, the sad note predominates, sorrow and loneliness being the favourite themes.
“In this country,” said Lonnrot, “people often dwell far apart from one another and therefore seek friends and companions in the whole of Nature. They imagine that all things in Nature have life, feeling and the power of speech. If any one goes to a foreign land, the sun and the wind are his old friends. If the young bride leaves her home and grieves that all there will forget her, she knows that at least the osiers and wattles will recognize her when she returns.... But the glad and happy also seek Nature's companionship. Joyous girls beg the cuckoo to sing them silver and gold. Mountains, trees and animals express their thoughts to each other and to human beings."
The ancestral love of song is also clearly expressed in the actual life of to-day, and one cannot help realizing that it springs out of the inmost heart of the people. In the long summer evenings people sit together and sing. On anniversaries, choirs sing before the statues of Finland's great men. At dinners given to honoured guests, singing is often part of the entertainment offered. The Finns imprisoned in Russia for defending the constitution have often been sent off with singing and welcomed with singing on their return. From emigrant ships upon the Atlantic floats the sad cadence of Finnish song, and in the new world the Finns meet together and sing their country's immemorial songs in a strange land.
Modern music is a very recent growth in Finland, and its development has been extraordinarily rapid. It may be said to have commenced with the foundation of the very interesting Musical Society at Abo in 1790. The ''father of Finnish music," Frederic Pacius (1809-91), was German by origin and made German influence, notably that of Mendelssohn and Spohr, strongly felt. Richard Faltin (born in 1835), who did a great work in introducing more modern music into Finland, was also born in Germany. The first distinctively Finnish composer was Karl ColIan, Pacius' son-in-law (1828-71). He was followed by Martin Wegelius and Robert Kajanus, the latter of whom founded the Philharmonic Orchestra at Helsingfors, and is in his composition a worthy forerunner of Sibelius. He did much to give Finnish music the national direction it has since taken. Of other present-day composers, beside Sibelius, the most interesting are Selim Palmgren, Erkki Melartin, Oscar Merikanto and Armas Jarnefelt, all young men.
Finnish composers have, as might be expected, turned mainly to folk-song and the “Kalevala" for their themes. The latter, with its vast indefiniteness, is full of suggestion to musicians, and, if Finland develops a national opera, will no doubt furnish its heroes and heroines, as Homer did for Greek tragedy. In this way Finnish legend may become more widely known to the rest of Europe.
Among Finnish composers Jean Sibelius is by far the greatest. While transcending the limits of nationality and forming part of the main current of European music, he is yet distinctively Finnish in his love of Nature and his patriotism. The latter is discernible in his choice of subjects, both for orchestral music and for songs, but it is best described as an atmosphere pervading all his work. Not only did he often turn to the “Kalevala" for his inspiration, but also to that other great source of national feeling, the poems of Runeberg. He is a great lover of Nature and there seems to be something peculiarly Finnish in his way of apprehending her, the Finnish landscape in all its moods being often brought most vividly into the mind of the hearer. There is a keenness of perception that reveals the composer as gifted with highly developed physical senses, his works sometimes giving one the effect of bracing days spent in the country. He also rejoices to portray in his music the crashing of storms through the forest and over the water. He excels in depicting poignant moments, especially in his songs, which are among the finest of modern times.
It is appropriate that a nation in whose music the song has always played so great a part should be unusually rich in fine voices. Their quality is clear and metallic, like the physical atmosphere of the country. Finnish singing is rich in spontaneous feeling and has a fine primitive quality. Probably we shall hear much of Finnish singers in the future. Compared with the best German singers, they are perhaps deficient in the highest gifts of style, polish and culture, and lieder singing has been but little developed among them. It is rather in opera and folk-song that they shine, where finesse is less requisite and their simplicity and strength tell. When they sing the songs of their native country really well, one has the impression, not of exquisite art, but of the simple utterance of nature, heartfelt and inevitable, the sublimation of peasant song. Choral singing is a great feature of Finnish life and sometimes reaches a very high level, as in the choir Suomen Laulu.
Thanks to Mme. Aino Ackte, who needs no introduction to British readers, Finland has initiated a musical festival which may come to have a national importance. It is held in the summer at Nyslott, in the heart of Finland. Here the ruins of a noble castle rise from a rocky island in the great Saima chain of lakes, and thither go up the lovers of Finnish music to listen to Finnish choirs, a Finnish opera, and native compositions of all kinds. It is a wild romantic spot, and the castle with its grounds an ideal setting for Finnish opera. It remains to be seen whether the festival will have any effect in developing musical talent; it certainly gives local composers a chance of bringing their works before a wider public.
Reade, Arthur. Finland and the Finns. Dodd, Mead & Company, 1917.
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