5 suffered through three iterations before achieving completion, the first dating from 1915. Also like Mozart, the next link in the Sibelius chain provided some welcome triumphal medicine. Much like Mozart had done with his 24th Piano Concerto, Sibelius had courted disfavor with his dark and misunderstood 4th Symphony. It was commissioned for the celebration of Sibelius’ 50th birthday which, given his status as the most importantly “international” Finn alive, promised to be a big event. Predominate among the works that came out of that meditative reverie was the 5th Symphony. Many of his late creations shared an earthbound spirituality that, according to biographer James Hepokoski, reflected the composer’s secluded forest retreat at Ainola. THE HISTORY – During his last meaningfully productive period, Sibelius was concerned with a deepening of the connection between music and nature. For his part, Sibelius was changing but not in a way that would register quickly to either side. Though he had never intentionally aligned himself with either side of the conservative/progressive debate, the progressives had essentially decided the matter for him and often made him the model-opposite of their preferred “modern” sound.
THE COMPOSER – JEAN SIBELIUS (1865-1957) – Sibelius was confronting a crisis of compositional faith in the middle 1910s. Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, strings.
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