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Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor (Part I)

© Yen Loong Teoh

Early 20th century marked the birth of many different forms of music. Terms like 'Minimalism' and 'Impressionism' have been used to describe the forms of music created. Immortals in classical music such as Debussy, Ravel and Satie had developed new paths of music composition which lead to new depth of feelings. Gustav Mahler is another reformist -- his towering symphonies reached the complexity of feelings and passion for humanity never before achieved in symphonies in the Classical and Romantic period. While everyone seemed to be struggling in their respective original ways, Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957) was an exception among them. He was an inborn Romantic, but what makes him different from other composers in classical music is that -- he was a Romantic in a Finnish way. He was the national hero of Finland, and his compositions represent Finnish culture and heritage. Besides his symphonies, his Violin Concerto in D minor serves as one of the best examples of portraying Sibelius's ardent patriotism for his country.

In 1902, Sibelius went to Berlin and possibly met a violin virtuoso, Willy Burmester there. It might be that this particular meeting inspired Sibelius to write a violin concerto dedicated to the virtuoso. He started working on the concerto throughout the year 1903, and Burmester supported him enthusiastically, and even compared the concerto's musical value to Tchaikovsky's violin concerto in D. Originally, the concerto was to be premiered by Willy Bermester in March 1904 since he was the dedicatee. Yet Sibelius was broke before the premiere, and he needed to hold a concert that should present his new composition (the violin concerto) as the main item. So instead of waiting for another month, the premiere was held on 8th, 10th and 14th of February 1904, directed by Sibelius with the Helsinki Orchestra. The soloist was Czech-born professor of violin at the Helsinki Musical Academy, Viktor Novacek. Unfortunately, the soloist could not cope with the sheer technical demands of the concerto, and the premiere was mauled badly. One critic, Karl Flodin reviewed,

"... his [Novacek] playing offered a mass of joyless things. From time to time there were terrible sounds and it was impossible to fathom the composer's meaning, so great was the cacophony..."

To make matter worse, Flodin was also very critical of the virtuosic composition of the violin concerto -

"... the new Violin Concerto will not form a link in the chain of genuinely significant modern creations in this artistic form...; ... the concerto is, to be honest, boring, something which could not hitherto be said of a composition by Jean Sibelius."

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