Word: sibelius
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...banquet given by intimate friends, that he tried to express his gratitude. As he stood up, however, emotion overcame him. Dumbly, the fierce-faced old man clasped his wife in his arms, expressed in a long embrace feelings he could not utter. The old man was Jean Julius Christian Sibelius, most famous of present-day composers and "Uncrowned King of Finland"; the occasion was his seventieth birthday...
That was two years ago. Next week Sibelius has another birthday. This time there will be no speeches, no receptions, no disquieting crowds of idolaters. That birthday belonged to Finland. This belongs to Sibelius. Full of years and honors, he will pass the day at his villa, "Ainola," in the forests some 30 mi. north of the capital, not expecting a visit from even one of his five married daughters. Yet for him his 72nd birthday will be more important than his work. A good part of his day will be spent "working in undisturbed peace." His Eighth Symphony...
Cold Water. Though his eminence is still somewhat grudgingly conceded in Central Europe, for Central Europeans have a firm faith that only a Central European can write a good symphony, little Finland's great man Sibelius is regarded by many a musician as the lineal successor of Beethoven and Brahms. His present fame has arrived slowly and late. His music, individual, serious, austere and sometimes forbidding, contains no trace of modernistic tricks or formulas. As he once remarked to his publisher (in Swedish) "Här i utlandet fabricemr ni cocktails i olika külorer, och nu kommer...
Only a decade ago Sibelius' cold water was considered a drink for connoisseurs to sip. But of late the public taste for his invigorating music has reached the proportions of thirsty demand. In 1935 a poll of the Columbia Broadcasting System's U. S. and Canadian listeners gave him first place in popularity (Beethoven was second) among all composers, past and present. This autumn Manhattan's Radio City MusicHall Conductor Erno Rapee unhesitatingly undertook to broadcast Sibelius' entire set of seven symphonies. The Boston Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra play them far oftener than the once-popular...
...Koussevitzky is to lead the Boston Symphony in Sanders Theatre tomorrow night and is presenting a highly interesting program. Roussel's fine Third Symphony is to be repeated from last week's concerts, and Sibelius's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor is also to be played with Orrea Pernel as soloist. In addition, Philip Emanuel Bach's Concerto in D major for Stringed Instruments (arranged by Steinberg) and the Prelude to "Die Meistersinger" will be heard...