Lessons for Scotland from Finland's connection to its music

That in a nutshell is why Dalia Stasevska, BBC Symphony Orchestra principal guest conductor, accepted the job of chief conductor with an orchestra in Lahti – a small city with a massive international reputation since deciding to become the musical home of Jean Sibelius, the composer who helped propel Finland to independence in 1917.

And curiosity about that connection, with a long-standing love of Sibelius’s nature-based music, took me to Lahti this month to see how his music has helped transform a modest Dundee-sized city into a real cultural capital and is still inspiring Finns.

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Sibelius was an unlikely champion of Finnish culture. He was born into a Swedish-speaking family – a common phenomenon since Finland was run as a Swedish province from 1323 till it became a Russian Grand Duchy in 1809. Life changed dramatically when Janne (renamed Jean after a favourite uncle) met Aino Janefelt – soon to become his wife – along with her activist, artistic family.

According to Tuomas Kinberg, former manager of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra: “Aine had three brothers – one a celebrated painter, another a composer and the other a writer. Their mother Elisabeth was a strong feminist determined to fight for Finnish independence. She didn’t speak Swedish and gathered a Finnish-speaking, pro-independence circle around her.” Including Sibelius.

He was originally a violinist but found inspiration in Finland’s myths, sagas, and folklore – particularly the Kalevala, a 19th-century work of poetry based on Finnish oral folklore which told a story about the creation of the Earth. An abridged version was published in 1862 – just three years before Sibelius’ birth. It’s thought the Kalevela influenced JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth mythology. But it certainly influenced Sibelius, who honeymooned with Aine in Karelia – the area where the Kalevela was based.

He produced a cantata based on Kullervo (one hero from the epic poem) and four symphonic poems inspired by another hero – Lemminkainen. That suite of music includes the famous Swan of Tuonela.

All this folklore-based work helped Finns believe they inhabited a distinct nation, with its own language (denied by Russian-controlled officialdom) and Norse traditions quite distinct from the mythology of Asgard.

Still, it wasn’t easy.

In 1899, under a renewed crackdown by Tsar Nicholas II (below with King George V), Sibelius was asked to compose music for a fundraiser to support newspaper workers’ pensions.

But the concert’s real purpose was to finance a secret Finnish free press.

That work – Symphony No. 1 in E minor – ended with the rousing finale Finland Awakes, quickly adopted by the National Awakening independence movement and revised by Sibelius as a standalone piece with the defiant title Finlandia – though initially performed under inoffensive names like Happy Feelings At The Awakening Of Finnish Spring and A Scandinavian Choral March to avoid Russian censorship. The concert also included his first “protest composition” Song Of The Athenians with the opening lines: “It is sweet to die a hero in the front line, fighting for your country and tribe.”

Sibelius was apparently disappointed that this, not his first symphony, prompted standing ovations, armed resistance and the status of national hero.

But when the Finnish Parliament declared independence from Russia in 1917, Sibelius acknowledged the part his music had played. “We fought 600 years for our freedom and I am part of the generation that achieved it. My Finlandia is the story of this fight. This is the song of our battle, our hymn of victory.”

But the battle had only begun.

After a disastrous civil war, Russia again invaded Finland during the First World War Despite offers of sanctuary abroad, Sibelius refused to flee the country, hunkering down at his forest home Ainola where he lived with his wife Aine and five daughters until his death in 1957.

In many ways though, that’s where the modern story of Sibelius begins.

The composer had forbidden any performance of Kullervo or other early folklore-based work during his lifetime.

According to Tuomas Kinberg: “It was partly because he didn’t want to be dismissed as a local composer playing only ‘nationalist’ music. Partly because he was a perfectionist.

“In the 1980s, his family gave the original sheet music to Helsinki University library, and biographers were given permission to examine them. Sibelius was 91 when he died, so he controlled things for a very long time.”

Bizarrely, that tight control also meant Finland had no concert hall bearing the name of its most famous composer until the Lahti Symphony Orchestra decided to build on the link of family fishing holidays nearby and construct the country’s first Sibelius Hall – completely from wood. It was a masterstroke.

Kinberg recalls: “In 1996, with 28% unemployment, it was politically hard to justify a new concert hall. But the government was pleased because it would produce a prestigious building for their ‘Year of Wood’.

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“They had failed with other big projects – a promised wooden ice hockey hall was finally built from steel. And although the city of Lahti was not keen – voting seven times before success by a single vote – the government needed this project. The orchestra also had sponsorship from the huge companies Metsa and UPM – who needed to advertise more sophisticated uses for wood than just sawn timber.”

With the country’s first Sibelius Hall in a large, impressive wooden building, Lahti Symphony could complete its mission to record everything Sibelius had ever written. In 2000 they announced an annual Sibelius Festival – four days playing no one but Sibelius, including those early unperformed works.

Critics dismissed the idea, suggesting the repertoire would become repetitive. But 22 years later, the festival is going strong, and Sibelius Hall has been named one of the top 10 in the world for acoustics.

The Hall has also changed the city. It was built in an old industrial area, 2kms from the city centre. But once complete, a marina, housing, restaurants and paths sprung up in the reclaimed stunning lakeside location, which is now the “living room” of Lahti.

Lahti Symphony continued to innovate, becoming the first orchestra in the world to livestream concerts in 2007 – so they were well equipped to cope with pandemic lockdowns. The Sibelius Hall success gave local politicians the confidence to back other big arts projects, including the newly opened Lahti Museum of Visual Arts Malva.

According to Lahti City’s director of education and culture Tiina Granqvist: “After the Sibelius Hall was built and the orchestra became internationally relevant, Lahti [became] an important, international cultural actor. This definitely [boosted] the politicians’ courage to invest in a new museum. They liked the idea of ‘sisterhood’ between the Sibelius Hall and Malva – both old industrial buildings, but now, both havens for culture.”

And all of this gave the Symphony Orchestra in remote Finland’s seventh city the confidence to welcome rising star Dalia Stasevska as their first female chief conductor.

Why does this matter to Scots?

Well, it’s always good to know more about our Nordic neighbours; good to be reminded that art and culture shape the destiny of any nation and important to realise that a truly remote country without Kings and castles can become the world’s happiest when it has sisu (resilience and courage) aplenty.

With thanks to Finnair, Visit Finland. Sokos Hotels and Sibelius Festival. A podcast is also available https://www.nordichorizons.org/podcast-jean-sibelius-finlands-musical-genius/