Sunday Morning Concert: Chopin & Sibelius

What are you going to listen to?

Many countries have their musical heroes. In Finland, for example, Sibelius is still the symbol of national pride and independence. Poland honors Chopin as their national composer, even though he lived in France for most of his life. Perhaps some of that honor should go to Grażyna Bacewicz, the first female Polish composer to gain international recognition. 

Nocturne in love 

Frédéric Chopin began his career as a child prodigy. At just seven years old, he gave his first concerts, and in the years that followed, his fame as one of the first piano virtuosos grew to unprecedented heights. Playing was one thing, but composing was another. He was perfectly capable of playing pieces for piano, but as a virtuoso, he needed to shine with his own solo concertos. So, in 1829, Chopin began work on hisPiano Concerto in F minor. It proved to be no easy task. The piano part was easy to write, but the orchestral part caused him a lot of headaches. He even enlisted the help of some former fellow students from the Warsaw Conservatory to bring it to a successful conclusion. But even then he was not sure of himself. That is why he decided to give a private trial performance first. However, he had not counted on the press. A journalist got wind of it and managed to sneak in. He promptly wrote a rave review in which he proclaimed Chopin the 'Paganini of the piano'. For the official premiere shortly afterwards, the Warsaw Concert Hall was Concert Hall sold out and the audience was wildly enthusiastic. 

With this work, Chopin had developed a completely new type of solo concerto. Whereas in earlier times the solo part largely followed the development and elaboration of the music, it now went entirely its own way. The orchestra mainly served as a backdrop to allow the soloist to shine in virtuoso fireworks. The second movement, for example, is a typical dreamy nocturne in which the orchestra plays only a minor role. And this movement had an even deeper meaning. Chopin wrote it with a young opera singer in mind with whom he was deeply in love. He did not dare to express his feelings for her in words, but all the more so in music. 

National symbol 

Jean Sibelius appeared on the Finnish music scene at a turning point in his country's history. For more than a century, Finland had been ruled by Russia and the country was striving for independence. Sibelius also expressed his sense of national pride in compositions based on stories from Finnish mythology. But nationalism was not his only motivation. In 1899, he composed hisFirst Symphony, a work that was torn between two ideas. On the one hand, the influence of the German Romanticism of Brahms and Bruckner was clearly noticeable, but on the other hand, Sibelius allowed himself a great deal of freedom, especially when it came to the design and development of themes. And although the composer regarded the music as absolute, unrelated to any extra-musical factors, the audience at the premiere thought very differently. They heard the beauty of Finnish nature with its lakes and forests, but also the Finnish resistance to the Russian occupiers. Against his will, Sibelius quickly became the hero of Finnish nationalism. And when his symphonic poemFinlandia premieredshortly afterwards, all hell broke loose. Sibelius became the symbol of Finnish resistance. He would remain so until his death in 1957, even though Finland had been independent for years after gaining independence in 1918. 

Kees Wisse