1,550 words
Among the vast array of sources that influenced Tolkien in the creation of his legendarium was the Kalevala, a collection of Finnish folk poetry compiled and edited by the Finnish physician and philologist Elias Lönnrot. Much scholarship exists on Tolkien’s Norse, Germanic, and Anglo-Saxon influences, but his interest in the Kalevala is not as often discussed. (more…)
1,332 words
English original here
Je suis un grand admirateur du compositeur finnois Jean Sibelius, qui avec Richard Strauss et Ralph Vaughan Williams, fit partie de la dernière génération (jusqu’ici) des grands compositeurs romantiques européens. Ainsi mon attention fut attirée par un article du 29 novembre 2009 sur Sibelius dans la Chronicle of Higher Education, « A Composer’s Ties to Nazi Germany Come Under New Scrutiny » (more…)
Jean Sibelius, 1865–1957
1,437 words
English original here
Tapiola est la dernière œuvre majeure composée par Jean Sibelius. Elle fut commandée par le chef d’orchestre de New York, Walter Damrosch, au début de 1926, et fut jouée pour la première fois le lendemain de Noël de la même année. Damrosch avait demandé un poème symphonique, le choix du sujet étant laissé au compositeur. Pour trouver l’inspiration, Sibelius se tourna, comme il le fit si souvent, vers le Kalevala, le recueil de folklore finnois qui transparaît si souvent dans son œuvre. (more…)
Jean Sibelius, 1865–1957
1,361 words
French translation here
Tapiola is the last major work composed by Jean Sibelius. It was commissioned by the New York conductor Walter Damrosch at the beginning of 1926 and was premiered on Boxing Day of the same year. Damrosch asked for a symphonic poem with the choice of subject left to the composer. For inspiration Sibelius turned, as he so often did, to the Kalevala, the collection of Finnish folklore that looms so large in his work.
time: 8:13 / 13 words
1,285 words
French translation here
I am a great admirer of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, who along with Richard Strauss and Ralph Vaughan Williams, was one of the last generation (so far) of great European Romantic composers. Thus my attention was drawn to a November 29, 2009 article about Sibelius in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “A Composer’s Ties to Nazi Germany Come Under New Scrutiny,” by Peter Monaghan.