Sauna, sisu and Sibelius. The three things we Finns are known for. Sauna (pronounced [ˈsɑunɑ] in Finnish) is a classic of course and some of my ex-boyfriends might call Finnish sisu as plain stubbornness. Jean Sibelius, on the other hand, is without a doubt one of our greatest and most famous composers, especially known for his seven symphonies, Finlandia and Valse triste.
There are, however, some pieces of his work that are less well known - even to us Finns. I recently discovered one of those rarely heard gems, a piece called Luonnotar. It's a tone-poem for soprano and orchestra, composed by Sibelius in 1913. The work is based on Kalevala, our national epic, and it recounts the creation myth: Luonnotar, the Daughter of the Ether, tired of wandering alone in the space, descends to the sea where she swims for 700 years. Then a seabird, looking for a place to nest, lands on her knee and starts hatching eggs. Feeling the heat on her knee, Luonnotar shakes her limbs, making the nest and the eggs fall into the sea, breaking into pieces. These pieces then turn into the heavens, the moon and the stars in the sky.
The tone poem is an absolute delight to listen to. There is something very primeval and organic, mysterious and visionary about it. The work was first performed by a great Finnish soprano, Aino Ackté, and it has acquired a reputation as being an extremely challenging song to sing, with its wide range and different leaps and drops. See for yourself: here it is performed by another great Finnish lyric soprano, Helena Juntunen.
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