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Jules's avatar

Such a pleasant experience reading an informative article, looking at the beautiful illustrations and listening. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon? Thank you!

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Felicity Pitcher's avatar

I am a huge lover of Jean Sibelius' works. I have had the absolute delight of performing the Swan of Tuonela twice as the soloist (Cor Anglais of course).

I think if I was an animal, a swan or a duck is most like my personality and temperament. Above the surface of the water, there is serenity, the only thing you see is the wake on the water... Below the surface though, the swan or the duck are moving strenuously through the water - rapidly moving to get to where they want to go...

And it helps that they are beautiful animals...

I suggested to someone on Facebook they use the Tuonela work as the soundtrack to his video of a swan emerging from a deep fog... as I watched it I could imagine the beginning of the work. I think the timing of the emergence of the swan was fits with the beginning of the Cor solo...

Thankyou for posting this information. I had already researched the backstory, but the extra knowledge is great.

There is a beautiful quote from the Kalevala about the Swan. It goes as follows...

At the top of the score for The Swan of Tuonela Sibelius writes:

“Tuonela, the land of death, the hell of Finnish mythology, is surrounded by a large river of black waters and a rapid current, in which the swan of Tuonela glides majestically singing.”

The whole page, published by Alex Burns on 24th March 2020, is here: https://classicalexburns.com/2020/03/24/jean-sibelius-the-swan-of-tuonela-gliding-into-darkness/

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