However, before he was done he would take it much further than that. Sibelius had quickly cottoned onto the fact that formal discipline lends strength and clarity. He produced a string of works – including the Four Lemminkainen Legends (1893-9), Finlandia and the First Symphony (1899) – that were all far shorter and much more tautly constructed than Kullervo. That might have seemed a simple knee-jerk reaction, were it not for what happened next. Clearly, Sibelius took this as a roundabout way of telling him that Kullervo was an over-ambitious, confusing sprawl, because he immediately retracted it. As early as 1892, the successful première of his epic Kullervo Symphony prompted Robert Kajanus to ask for another symphonic work, to appeal to general listeners without overstretching their powers of concentration and understanding. Like Tchaikovsky, or indeed Mahler, Sibelius was sensitive to criticism and, much more to the point, severely self-critical. His formal distinction had rather more mundane beginnings. Bearing in mind the highly distinctive qualities of both speech and Nature in Finland, “all” it needed was someone capable of expressing them musically to ensure content of distinction. whose essence shall pervade everything I compose”. Secondly, there was the profound and extensive influence of Nature, to which Sibelius made countless references: “Nature is coming to life: that life which I so love, . . . Firstly, in the late 1800s, Finland’s struggle to escape the Russian yoke inspired the young composer to express the vital Finnish mythology (notably the Kalevala) through melody deliberately voiced in natural Finnish speech-rhythms and inflections. The content of his music was governed by two factors. That’s one reason why Sibelius was a writer of great music.
That much is fairly obvious, but it prompts a more interesting proposition – that to be admitted into the hallowed halls of the “greatest”, a musical work must excel in both content and form. Even those who claim to be “all heart” have some regard for form – they can’t help it, because the human brain is inherently fascinated by puzzles and patterns. We all listen with both our minds and our hearts, but the proportions vary between individuals. In music, which matters more – form or content? We could argue the toss ’til the cows come home, but we’d never resolve it.
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