Seventy-seventh Season Grant Park Orchestra and … Notes... · Seventy-seventh Season Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus ... then devoted the next two months to a cantata for soloist,

2011 Program Notes, Book 3 C47

GrantParkMusicFestivalSeventy-seventh Season

Grant Park Orchestra and ChorusCarlos Kalmar, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor

Christopher Bell, Chorus Director

Sibelius: epic FinlandFriday, July 29, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, July 30, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. Jay Pritzker PavilionGRANT PARK ORCHESTRA AND CHORUSHannu Lintu, Guest ConductorJohanna Rusanen, SopranoVille Rusanen, Baritone

RACHMANINOFF Vesna (Spring), Cantata for Baritone, Chorus and Orchestra, Op. 20

Ville Rusanen

SIBELIUS Kullervo for Soprano, Baritone, Men’s Chorus and Orchestra, Op. 7 Introduction: Allegro moderato Kullervo’s Youth: Grave Kullervo and His Sister: Allegro vivace Kullervo Goes to War: Alla marcia Kullervo’s Death: Andante

Johanna Rusanen and Ville Rusanen


Friday, July 29 and Saturday, July 30, 2011 GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL

Finnish soprano JOhANNA RuSANeN, a graduate of the Sibelius Acad-emy in Helsinki, won the Timo Mustakallio Competition in Savonlinna in 1995 and the Lappeenranta Competition in 1996, and in 2001 received the Karita Mattila Prize. From 1998 to 2000, Ms. Rusanen was a mem-ber of the Young Artists Program of the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. She made her operatic debut in Kuopio in 1994 and has since appeared with the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Finnish National Opera, Berlin Deutsche Oper, Nilsiä’s Cava Opera Festival, Opera in Vantaa and Turku, Central Finland Regional Opera, and on tour in Moscow with Savonlinna Opera Festival productions. Her roles include Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Marie in

Wozzeck, Amelia in Un Ballo di Maschera, Mimi in La Bohème, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Margaret in Faust, First Woman in The Magic Flute, Riitta in Kokkonen’s The Last Temptation, Aalo in Pylkkänen’s Wolf Bride and Anja in Merikanto’s Juha. Ms. Rusanen also sang the lead female role in the premiere of Kantelinen’s Paavo Nurmi in 2000, which was tele-vised across Europe. She has performed in oratorios and art song recitals in Europe, Japan, Chile, the United States and Korea. In Finland, Johanna Rusanen is also known as a popular concert and television performer of a diverse repertoire ranging from opera and lieder to operettas, musicals, movie tunes and jazz standards. She has performed with Leningrad Cowboys, Sakari Kuosmanen, Kari Tapio, Trio Töykeiden, Piirpauke and the Lenni-Kalle Taipale-trio.

Finnish baritone VILLe RuSANeN, brother of soprano Johanna Ru-sanen, regularly appears with Finnish National Opera, where he recently sang the title role in Rautavaara’s Aleksis Kivi and Sid in Britten’s Albert Herring. His other roles with the company include Figaro in both Il Bar-biere di Siviglia and Le Nozze di Figaro, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Schaunard in La Bohème, Marco in Gianni Schicchi, Dancairo in Carmen, Ottokar in Weber’s Der Freischütz and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. Mr. Rusanen recently debuted with Scottish Opera as Guglielmo in David McVicar’s production of Così fan tutte. In 2010 he made his debut with De Nederlandse Opera in Alexander Raskatov’s A Dog’s Heart, based on a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov. In concert, Ville Rusanen has performed Fauré’s Requiem, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Bach’s St. John and St. Matthew Passions, Orff ’s Carmina Burana and Sibelius’ Kullervo. He made his London debut at the 2007 BBC Proms in a performance of Sibelius’ The Tempest with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä. First Prize winner of the 2004 Lappeenranta Solo Voice Competition, Mr. Rusanen began his musical studies as an instru-mentalist, playing the double bass at Kuopio Conservatory while also studying singing with Pertti Rusanen. He moved to the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in 1999, where he was a student of Jorma Hynninen and Päivi Nisula. Recipient of a scholarship from the city of Kuopio, Ville Rusanen has participated in master classes with Roger Vignoles and Olaf Bär and studied art song with Ilmo Ranta. He won First Prize in the Lied Duo category (accompanied by Ilmari Räikkönen) at the 2002 Erkki Melartin Chamber Music Competition.



Vesna (spring), CANTATA FOR BARITONe, ChORuS AND ORCheSTRA, OP. 20 (1902)Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)Rachmaninoff ’s Vesna is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp and strings. The performance time is fifteen minutes. The Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus first performed this work on August 25, 1979. Leonard Slatkin conducted and Arnold Voketaitis was the soloist.

The absolute failure of Sergei Rachmaninoff ’s First Symphony at its premiere in 1897 thrust the young composer into such a mental depression that he suffered a complete nervous collapse. His family, alarmed at the prospect of Sergei wasting his prodigious talent, sought professional psychiatric help. An aunt of Rachmaninoff, Varvara Satina, had some time before been successfully treated for an emotional disturbance by one Dr. Nicholas Dahl, a Moscow physician familiar with the latest psychiatric advances in France and Vienna, and she suggested that the family consult him. Rachmaninoff, who began treatments in January 1900, recalled years later, “My relatives had informed Dr. Dahl that he must by all means cure me of my apathetic condition and bring about such results that I would again be able to compose. Dahl had inquired what kind of composition was desired of me, and he was informed ‘a concerto for pianoforte,’ which I had given up in despair of ever writing. In consequence, I heard repeated, day after day, the same hypnotic formula, as I lay half somnolent in an armchair in Dr. Dahl’s consulting room. ‘You will start to compose a concerto — You will work with the greatest of ease — The composition will be of excellent quality.’ Always it was the same, without interruption. Although it may seem impossible to believe, this treatment really helped me. I began to compose again at the beginning of the summer.” The Second Piano Concerto was completed and launched with enormous success within a year, the first music to carry Rachmaninoff ’s name to an international audience. In gratitude, he dedicated the new work to Nicholas Dahl.

Full of confidence and pride, Rachmaninoff immediately followed the Second Concerto with a Sonata for Cello and Piano, written during the summer of 1901 for his long-time friend Anatoli Brandukov and successfully premiered by them on December 2, 1901 in Moscow. Rachmaninoff then devoted the next two months to a cantata for soloist, chorus and orchestra intended for the peerless Russian basso Fyodor Chaliapin, who had sung the title role of Aleko in the opera’s first St. Petersburg performances in 1897 and become a friend of its young composer. For his text, Rachmaninoff chose Zelyonyi Shum (“Green Rustle”) by Nikolai Nekrasov (1821-1878), most wide-ly known as a sympathetic portrayer of Russian peasants in his poems and an early publisher of Dos-toyevsky, Turgenev and Tolstoy; Rachmaninoff called his composition Vesna — “Spring.” Nekrasov’s quintessentially Russian poem tells of a peasant who broods all winter about murdering his wife after discovering that she has been unfaithful to him, but the arrival of spring — All creamy froth and milkiness, The cherry trees stand whispering In sheer delight and joy, And kissed by sunbeams radi-ant, The pines stretch skyward, murmuring — ends his sanguinary plan. Chaliapin was not available for the premiere, on March 24, 1902 at a Moscow Philharmonic concert conducted by Alexander Siloti with Alexander Smirnov as soloist, but he sang the work at its first St. Petersburg performance (January 21, 1905) and again in Paris and Moscow.

Spring begins with an orchestral prologue whose dark colors and subdued nature suggest the iron grip of Russian winter. The music becomes brighter in sonority and more animated in motion as thoughts of spring are summoned by the chorus: Green rushing tides, the tides of Spring, Green tides that trill and chant and sing! The mood darkens again as the baritone recounts how his wife has betrayed his love, and grows angry as he imagines the winter winds, evoked by the wordless chorus, howling for revenge: Kill the faithless one and cut the villain’s throat! But at the decisive moment, just as his fingers clasp the knife, “Spring crept up stealthily.” The chorus announces the arrival of the vernal season and the husband declares, “While love endures, love tenderly, live patiently, be merci-ful.” The chorus echoes his sentiments to bring the work to a peaceful close.



Zelyonyi Shum (“Green Rustle”)Text: Nikolai Nekrasov

Idyot-gudyot zelyonyi shum, Green rushing tides, the tides of Spring, Zelyonyi shum, vesenniy shum! Green tides that trill and chant and sing!Igrayuchi raskhoditsya Down, down the wind leaps suddenly Vdrug veter verkhovoy: From off the trees, and lo! —Kachnyot kusty ol’ khovyye, The bushes touching playfully, Podnimet pyl’ tsvetochnuyu, Great clouds of flower-dust heavenward Kak oblako; vsyo zeleno — It sends: in gauzy coverings I vozdukh i voda. The whole wide world is swathed!Idyot-gudyot zelyonyi shum, Green rushing tides, the tides of Spring, Zelyonyi shum, vesenniy shum! Green tides that trill and chant and sing!

Baritone (with chorus)

Skromna moya khozyayushka, Natalya Patrikeyevna, Natal’ ya Patrikeyevna, My wife, is all sweet modesty, Vody ne zamutit! A paragon, no less! Da s ney beda sluchilasya, But while I was in the town, Kak leto zhil ya v garody ... This summer past, at the end of it, Sama skazala, glupaya, She tripped, and — O, such innocence! —Tipun ey na yazyk! Admitted it, the fool.V izbe sam drug s obmanshchitsey Came frost and snow — ’twas winter time —Zima nas zaperla; And we were forced indoors: V moi glaza surovyye There did we sit, the two of us, Glyadit-molchit zhena. My faithless spouse and I. Molchu ... a duma lyutaya My thoughts were very agony: Pokoya ne dayot: To kill her seemed too harsh; Ubit’ … tak zhal’ serdechnuyu! To spare the jade, impossible —Sterpet’ — tak sily nyet! How bear betrayal’s hurt! A tut zima kosmataya Day in, day out, unceasingly Revyot i den’ i noch’: The winds of winter roared, “Ubey, ubey izmennitsu! Repeating: “Kill the faithless one Zlodeya izvedi! And cut the villain’s throat!Ne to ves’ vyek promaesh’ sya, Don’t waver, do not hesitate Ni dnyom, ni dolgoy nochen’ koy Or yield to magnanimity Pokoya ne naydyosh’ …” Else peace you’ll never know.”Pod pesnyu-vyugu zimyuyu Old winter’s chant was passionate Okrepla duma lyutaya — And bred grim thought and harrowing —Pripas ya ostryi nozh ... My fingers clasped a knife …Da vdrug vesna podkralasya ... Then Spring crept up stealthily.

Chorus

Idyot-gudyot zelyonyi shum, Green rushing tides, the tides of Spring, Zelyonyi shum, vesenniy shum! Green tides that trill and chant and sing!Kak molokom oblityye, All creamy froth and milkiness, Stoyat sady vishnyovyye, The cherry trees stand whispering Tikhokhon’ ko shumya. In sheer delight and joy,Prigrety tyoplym solnyshkom, And kissed by sunbeams radiant, Shumyat poveselyelyye sosnovyye lesa. The pines stretch skyward, murmuring

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A ryadom novoy zelen’ yu Their secrets to the breeze; Lepechut pesnyu novuyu The linden hums a melody, I lipa bledno-listaya, And joining in exultantly, I belaya beryozon’ ka The snowy birch its emerald S zelyonoyu kosoy. Plaits gently, so softly shakes; Shumit trostinka malaya, A maple rustles merrily, Shumit vysokiy klyon … The grass stirs in reply —Shumyat oni po novomu, They sing a song, a haunting one, Po novomu, vesennemu … A song of life reborn.Idyot-gudyot zelyonyi shum, Green rushing tides, the tides of Spring, Zelyonyi shum, vesenniy shum! Green tides that trill and chant and sing!

Baritone

Slabeyet duma lyutaya, My thoughts lose their intensity, Nozh valitsya iz ruk, My knife falls from my hand ... I vsyo mnye pesnya slyshitsya The woods, the fields, the meadowlands Odna — v lesu, v lugu: Resound with eager song: “Lyubi, pokuda lyubitsya, “While love endures, love tenderly, Terpi, pokuda terpitsya, While patience lasts, live patiently, Proshchay, poka proshchaetsya, While mercy calls, be merciful, I — Bog tebe sud’ ya!” And — may God be your judge!”

KuLLerVo FOR SOPRANO, BARITONe, MeN’S ChORuS AND ORCheSTRA, OP. 7 (1891-1892)Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)Kullervo is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion and strings. The performance time is 72 minutes. This is the first performance of Kullervo by the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus.

Kaleva — “Land of Heroes” — is the Finns’ ancient poetic name for their country. It was founded, according to legend, by Väinämöinen, the “eternal sage,” who exerted order over chaos to establish a land centered in Karelia (historically the eastern region of Finland but since the Soviet-Finnish War of 1940 a part of Russia). Tales of Kaleva and Väinämöinen, of the primeval smith Ilmarinen and the reckless adventurer Lemminkainen, of Louhi, the female ruler of Pohjola, the threatening neighbor to the north, and of the tragic hero Kullervo, forced by fate to be a slave from childhood, had been part of the oral tradition for centuries before the physician and folklorist Elias Lönnrot began collecting and organizing them into a single epic poem in the 1830s; his Kalevala was published in 1835 and appeared in a revised and expanded edition fourteen years later.

The Kalevala came to exert a profound influence on Finnish thought, culture and politics dur-ing the late 19th century. The country had been controlled by Sweden for six centuries before it became an autonomous Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire in 1809, and Swedish, dominant in the developed coastal areas, had long been the language of the nobility, government administration, commerce, arts and education; Finnish, though spoken by a majority of the population, was relegat-ed to the interior towns, which had little influence on the country’s affairs. Despite the surprisingly benign rule of the Alexanders for most of the 19th century — Russia eased financial regulations to encourage economic growth following a disastrous famine in 1866-1868; the Finnish language was given equal legal status with Swedish in 1892; universal suffrage was granted in 1904 (Finland was the first nation to allow all adult men and women to vote and women to stand as candidates,

C56 2011 Program Notes, Book 3 2011 Program Notes, Book 3 C57

like Scène de Ballet, and he spent much time on the opening movement of the gestating Kullervo-inspired work that spring. He was back in Finland by June, visiting with Wegelius and the Järnefelts before settling in the coastal town of Loviisa, fifty miles east of Helsinki, where he had spent several idyllic summers as a child visiting his paternal grandmother. He took up Kullervo in earnest again in the autumn, meeting in Porvoo, half-way to Helsinki, with Larin Paraske, regarded as Finland’s most authentic singer of the traditional runes (“poems”), absorbing from her the prosody, rhythms, melodic formulas, expressive inflections and inherent power of the authentic language of the Kal-evala to guide him in shaping his own original themes for the work.

By the time he returned to Helsinki in January 1892, Sibelius had settled on a five-movement programmatic structure for Kullervo that called for large orchestra, soprano and baritone soloists, and men’s chorus. (He thought that the overt sexual nature of the third movement might disturb female choristers.) He courageously arranged with Kajanus and his orchestra to conduct the pre-miere himself on April 28, 1892, and then spent the winter in a creative frenzy finishing the massive score. Word spread among Helsinki’s music lovers and Fennomans alike about what the Finnish-speaking critic Oskar Merikanto promised would be “a huge native composition.” There had never been anything like it in Finland — the only symphony previously written by a Finnish composer was Axel Gabriel Ingelius’ long-forgotten attempt of 1847 — and the work had “the effect of a volcanic eruption” at its premiere, according Sibelius’ student Axel Törnudd: Kajanus presented Sibelius with a wreath bearing a blue-and-white ribbon (the colors of the Finnish flag) imprinted with the motto, “That way now will run the future, on the new course, cleared and ready,” and immediately commissioned him to write another orchestral work (which became En Saga); the Finnish-language newspaper Päivälehti called Kullervo “the first purely Finnish music” and the re-spected Swedish-language critic Karl Wasenious agreed that it was “Finnish from beginning to end”; another performance the following day had to be scheduled to meet public demand. Such was the acclaim for Kullervo that Aino Järnefelt’s parents finally consented to her marrying the suddenly famous 26-year-old musician. The wedding took place on June 10th, after which the newlyweds set off for a honeymoon in the Finnish heartland of Karelia.

Despite the significance of Kullervo in the lives of both its composer and its nation, Sibelius moved quickly beyond the youthful idiom of this, his first significant work for orchestra, and he forbid publication or further performances of it during his lifetime, except for a single hearing of Kullervo and His Sister as part of the celebrations of the hundredth anniversary of the publication of the Kalevala in 1935. The complete work was not performed again until Jussi Jalas, Sibelius’ son-in-law, conducted it in Helsinki in 1958, a year after the composer’s death. The score was published in 1966 and first recorded, by Paavo Berglund and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, five years later. Nearly a dozen other recordings have appeared since, but Kullervo, with its large scale, its challenging language and its overshadowing by Sibelius’ later works, is still rarely encountered in concert. It is, however, not only a splendid work in its own right and a key to the artistic evolution of the man who became Finland’s cultural hero, but also a musical gateway to understanding his nation’s culture and character and its determined quest for independence.

* * *

“In the Kalevala,” wrote Andrew Barnett in his 2007 study of Sibelius, “Kullervo is a tragic and most unfortunate figure. Even before he is born, his uncle Untamo attacks his clan. Believing that Untamo has killed everyone except his mother, the young Kullervo grows up desiring revenge, but his attempts to frustrate Untamo only result in his being sold as a slave to the smith Ilmarinen. He is set to work as a herdsman but, after becoming involved in the death of Ilmarinen’s wife, he escapes and is reunited with his mother. Kullervo’s attempts to work for his family fail, and so he is sent to deliver their taxes. On his way home he meets and ravishes a girl who turns out to be his long-lost sister. His mother persuades him not to kill himself; instead, he goes to war against his uncle and, with a splendid new sword granted him by Ukko, chief of the gods, he slaughters Untamo’s entire tribe. By the time he returns home, however, all of his family is dead. Wandering in the forest, he chances upon the place where he ravished his sister. Consumed by guilt, he throws himself upon his sword.”

though the Czar held effective veto power over the actions of the Finnish parliament) — Lönnrot’s Kalevala helped to ignite the formation of the “Fennoman” movement, which promoted Finnish language, culture and, ultimately, Finnish independence. (“Fennoscandia” is the geological term for the peninsula encompassing Norway, Finland and Sweden.) “Swedes we are no longer,” ran the Fen-noman motto. “Russians we do not want to be. Let us therefore become Finns!”

When Nicholas II ascended the Russian throne in 1894, he saw in Finland a potential enemy and subjected the country to an increasingly harsher governance, restricting the Finns’ freedom of speech and assembly, conscripting them into the Russian army, forcing them to learn Russian as a second (or third) language, replacing them in the Finnish civil service with Russian appointees, and stifling the press. (It was for a so-called “Press Celebration” in 1899, ostensibly a benefit to aid the pension fund of the country’s hard-hit newspapers but really a thinly veiled display of patriotic ferment, that Sibelius composed Finlandia.) After the assassination of a Russian official in 1904, Nicholas eased some of his more onerous restrictions, but the Finns remained politically restive un-til declaring their independence in 1917 in the wake of the Russian Revolution. It was Jean Sibelius who provided the musical lubricant for this hinge of Finnish history. “The powers of darkness menacing Finland have not succeeded in their terrible threat,” declared the narration introducing Finlandia at its premiere in Helsinki in November 1899. “Finland awakes!”

* * *

Johan Christian Julius Sibelius was born into the family of the town physician in Hämeenlinna, sixty miles north of Helsinki, in 1865; he adopted the “music name” of “Jean” when he was twenty and just beginning his formal studies in the capital. Sibelius was raised in a Swedish-speaking house-hold, but when he was ten he was enrolled in a Finnish-language secondary school in Hämeenlinna, the first in the country, and at fifteen began formal music lessons, concentrating at first on violin but also showing interest in composition. In 1885, he went to Helsinki to study at the Music Institute, newly founded by the pioneering Finnish composer, conductor and educator Martin We-gelius (1846-1906). During the next four years, Sibelius not only abandoned his earlier thoughts of becoming a professional violinist to concentrate instead on composition, but also came into close contact with the Järnefelt brothers, composer Armas and painter Eero, both ardent Fennomans; his attachment to the Järnefelt family and their political leanings was strengthened when he fell in love with their younger sister Aino, named after a figure in the Kalevala.

Upon Sibelius’ graduation from the Music Academy in 1889, Wegelius arranged a government stipend for him for a year’s study with the demanding Albert Becker in Berlin, where he not only secured the technique that was to underpin his compositions (while complaining to Wegelius that Becker was “an old fogey from head to toe”) and discovered the big-city temptations of wine, cigars and companionship, but also attended a performance of the 1885 symphonic poem with chorus Aino by the Finnish composer and conductor Robert Kajanus (1856-1933), who had founded Helsinki’s (and Scandinavia’s) first permanent professional orchestra in 1882 and was to become a close friend and devoted champion of Sibelius. Sibelius went home the following summer to try out his newly won knowledge in some pieces for string quartet, and in October, on another state grant, he headed for Vienna for advanced study with Karl Goldmark and Robert Fuchs. Sibelius’ time in Vienna, from October 1890 to early June 1891, proved to be crucial for his artistic development — he began to forge a distinctive idiom through discipline, self-criticism and hard work; he became excited about the expressive potential of the symphony orchestra through exposure to such works as the Third Symphony of Anton Bruckner (whom he called “the greatest of all living composers”) and the tone poems of Richard Strauss; and he immersed himself in Finnish culture, an interest occasioned in no little part by his secret engagement the previous summer to Aino Järnefelt, whose letters to him were consistently in Finnish.

Sibelius studied the Kalevala assiduously in Vienna, writing to his fiancée in April 1891 that “all my moods derive from the Kalevala” and sending her the sketch for a theme for a multi-movement “symphonic poem for soloists, chorus and orchestra” inspired by the tragic tale of Kullervo. He had already turned to writing for orchestra earlier that year with an Overture in E major and a waltz-

GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL Friday, July 29 and Saturday, July 30, 2011 Friday, July 29 and Saturday, July 30, 2011 GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL

2011 Program Notes, Book 3 C59C58 2011 Program Notes, Book 3


The five movements of Sibelius’ work evoke crucial moments in Kullervo’s life: Introduction, Kullervo’s Youth, Kullervo and His Sister, Kullervo Goes to War and Kullervo’s Death.

The sonata-form Introduction sets the work’s mythic mood and paints Kullervo’s impetuous character in broad strokes. The arching main theme, announced by clarinet and horns, recalls the modal melodic leadings of Finnish folksong; the second theme comprises two motives — a close-interval, long-note melody first chanted softly by the horns and a strain in broad triplet rhythms introduced by the strings. The development section begins with the clarinet’s recall of the main theme, which is varied and woven together with the broad triplet rhythms of the second subject to reflect different aspects of Kullervo’s personality. After the development reaches its climax with a chain of stentorian chords in brass, the music becomes hushed, waiting for the clarinet to sing again the theme of Kullervo to begin the recapitulation. The close-interval second theme is sounded by the horns and the motive in broad triplet rhythms is treated with added weight and breadth before the winds and then the full orchestra proclaim Kullervo’s theme in the coda. The movement ends with quiet, isolated chords separated by long, expectant silences, as though preparing for the curtain to rise on the drama that follows.

Sibelius described Kullervo’s Youth as “a lullaby with variations which increase in emotional in-tensity.” The opening theme’s dark coloring, closely bound intervals and insistent pulsing portray Kullervo as a brooding child whose tragic fate was set even before his birth, though the varied, expansive returns of the music later in the movement suggest more vigorous and assured aspects of his childhood. The two intervening episodes, with their shepherd’s-pipe melody and drone-like bass, may be the remnants of a movement titled “Kullervo as Herdsman” that Sibelius projected for the work but eventually abandoned.

Kullervo and His Sister is the crucial incident in the title character’s life and the expressive heart of Sibelius’ work. The male chorus, a Nordic analog to the narrating chorus of Greek drama, tells of Kullervo’s paternity and his winter journey to pay the family’s taxes. Kullervo tries to seduce one maiden and then a second, but he is rejected by both. His blood up, he takes a third maiden by force. When they share their stories before parting, Kullervo is appalled to realize that he has raped his own sister, whom he thought long dead. Sibelius distilled the searing emotions of this fateful encounter into music of expressive immediacy and distinctive national character.

Sibelius set Kullervo Goes to War for orchestra alone, but prefaced it with a verse from the Kal-evala explaining its subject: Kullervo, son of Kalervo,/Old man’s son in blue stockings,/Went off piping to the war,/Went rejoicing to the battle./He sang and piped on marsh and moor,/High-hallooing on the heather,/Quaking, shaking grass and greensward,/Booming over stump and stubble. The music, almost cinematic in its brilliant scoring and forceful energy, suggests Kullervo’s swagger and his ultimate victory over his murderous uncle.

Kullervo’s Death begins with a dream-like summoning of the chorus as fragments of earlier themes rise from the orchestral mists. The chorus recounts how Kullervo returns to the place of the seduction, how he determines to die a warrior’s death by falling on his own sword, and how, accom-panied by music of almost elemental power, he commits his final act. The theme that opened the work returns as a fanfare of apotheosis, Sibelius’ musical symbol that the fated Kullervo had found redemption through repentance and death.

©2011 Dr. Richard E. Rodda

KULLERVO AND HIS SISTERText: Kalevala XXXV: 69-286, passim

CHORUSKullervo, Kalervon poika, Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,Sinisukka äijön lapsi, With the very bluest stockings,Hivus keltainen korea, And with yellow hair the finest,

Kengän kauto kaunokainen And with shoes of finest leather,Läksi viemähän vetoja, Went his way to pay the taxes,Maajyviä maksamahan. And he went to pay the land-dues.Vietyä vetoperänsä, When he now had paid the taxes,Maajyväset maksettua And had also paid the land-dues,Rekehensä reutoaikse In his sledge he quickly bounded,Kohennaikse korjahansa; And upon the sledge he mounted,Alkoi kulkea kotihin, And began to journey homeward,Matkata omille maille. And to travel to his country.Ajoa järyttelevi And he drove, and rattled onward,Matkoansa mittelevi And he travelled on his journey,Noilla Väinön kankahilla, Traversing the heath of Väinö,Ammoin raatuilla ahoilla. And his clearing made aforetime.Neiti vastahan tulevi, And by chance a maiden met him,Hivus kulta hiihtelevi With her yellow hair all flowing,Noila Vaïnon kankahilla, There upon the heath of Väinö,Ammoin raatuilla ahoilla. On his clearing made aforetime.Kullervo, Kalervon poika, Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,Jo tuossa piättelevi, Checked his sledge upon the instant,Alkoi neittä haastatella, And began a conversation,Haastatella, houkutella: And began to talk and wheedle:

KULLERVO“Nouse, neito korjahani, “Come into my sledge, O maiden,Taaksi maata taljoilleni!” Rest upon the furs within it.”

FIRST MAIDEN“Surma sulle korjahasi, “In the sledge may Death now enter,Tauti taaksi taljoillesi!” On thy furs be Sickness seated.”

CHORUSKullervo, Kalervon poika, Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,Sinisukka äijön lapsi, With the very bluest stockings,Iski virkkua vitsalla, With his whip then struck his courser,Helähytti helmivyöllä. With his beaded whip he lashed him,Virkku juoksi, matka joutui, Sprang the horse upon the journey,Tie vieri, reki rasasi. Rocked the sledge, the road was traversed.Neiti vastahan tulevi, And by chance a maiden met him,Kautokenkä kaaloavi Walking on, with shoes of leather,Selvällä meren selällä, O’er the lakes extended surface,Ulapalla aukealla. And across the open water.Kullervo, Kalervon poika, Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,Hevoista piättelevi, Checked his horse upon the instant,Suutansa sovittelevi, And his mouth at once he opened,Sanojansa säätelevi: And began to speak as follows:

KULLERVO“Tule korjahan, korea, “Come into my sledge, O fair one,Maan valo, matkoihini!” Pride of earth, and journey with me.”

C60 2011 Program Notes, Book 3 2011 Program Notes, Book 3 C61


SECOND MAIDEN“Tuoni sulle korjahasi, “In thy sledge may Tuoni seek thee,Manalainen matkoihisi!” Manalainen journey with thee.”

CHORUSKullervo, Kalervon poika, Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,Sinisukka äijön lapsi, With the very bluest stockings,Iski virkkua vitsalla, With his whip then struck his courser,Helähytti helmivyöllä. With his beaded whip he lashed him,Virkku juoksi, matka joutui, Sprang the horse upon his journey,Reki vieri, tie lyheni. Rocked the sledge, the way was shortened.Neiti vastahan tulevi, And by chance a maiden met him,Tinarinta riioavi Wearing a tin brooch, and singing,Noilla Pohjan kankahilla, Out upon the heaths of Pohja,Lapin laajoilla rajoilla. And the borders wide of Lapland.Kullervo, Kalervon poika, Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,Hevoista hillitsevi, Checked his horse upon the instant,Suutansa sovittelevi, And his mouth at once he opened,Sanojansa säätelevi: And began to speak as follows:

KULLERVO“Käy, neito rekoseheni, “Come into my sledge, O maiden,Armas, alle vilttieni, Underneath my rug, my dearest,Syömähän omeniani, And you there shall eat my apples,Puremahan päähkeniä!” And shall crack my nuts in comfort.”

SISTER“Sylen, kehno, kelkkahasi, “At your sledge I spit, O villain,Retkale, rekosehesi! Even at your sledge, O scoundrel,Vilu on olla viltin alla, Underneath your rug is coldness,Kolkko korjassa eleä.” And within you sledge is darkness.”

CHORUSKullervo, Kalervon poika, Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,Sinisukka äijön lapsi, With the very bluest stockings,Koppoi neion korjahansa, Dragged into his sledge the maiden,Reualti rekosehensa, And into the sledge he pulled her,Asetteli taljoillensa, And upon the furs he laid her,Alle viltin vierietteli. Underneath the rug he pushed her.

SISTER“Päästä pois minua tästä, “From the sledge at once release me,Laske lasta vallallensa Leave the child in perfect freedom,Kunnotointa kuulemasta That I hear of nothing evil,Pahalaista palvomasta, Neither foul nor filthy language,Tahi potkin pohjan puhki, Or upon the ground I’ll throw me,Levittelen liistehesi, And will break the sledge to splinters,Korjasi pilastehiksi, And will smash your sledge to atoms,Rämäksi re’en retukan!” Break the wretched sledge to pieces!”

CHORUSKullervo, Kalervon poika, Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,Sinisukka äijön lapsi, With the very bluest stockings.Aukaisi rahaisen arkun, Opened then his hide-bound coffer.Kimahutti kirjakannen, Clanging raised the pictured cover,Näytteli hope’itansa, And he showed her all his silver,Verkaliuskoja levitteli, Out he spread the choicest fabrics,Kultasuita sukkasia, Stockings too, all gold-embroidered,Vöitänsä hopeapäitä. Girdles all adorned with silver.Verat veivät neien mielen, Soon the fabrics turned her dizzy,Raha muutti morsiamen, To a bride the money changed her,Hopea hukuttelevi, And the silver it destroyed her,Kulta kuihauttelevi. And the shining gold deluded.

SISTER“Mist’olet sinä sukuisin, “Tell me now of your relations,Kusta, rohkea, rotuisin? What the brave race that you spring from,Lienet suurtaki sukua, From a mighty race it seems me,Isoa isän aloa.” Offspring of a mighty father.”

KULLERVO“En ole sukua suurta, “No, my race is not a great one,Enkä suurta enkä pientä, not a great one, not a small one,Olen kerran keskimmäistä: I am just of middle station,Kalervon katala poioka, Kalervo’s unhappy offspring,Tuhma poika tuiretuinen, Stupid boy, and very foolish,Lapsi kehjo keiretyinen; Worthless child, and good for nothing.Vaan sano oma sukusi, Tell me now about your people,Oma rohkea rotusi, And the brave race that you spring from,Jos olet sukua suurta, Perhaps from a mighty race descended,Isoa isän aloa!” Offspring of a mighty father.”

SISTER“En ole sukua suurta, “No, my race is not a great one,Enkä suurta enkä pientä, Not a great one, not a small one,Olen kerran keskimmäistä: I am just of middle station,Kalervon katala tyttö, Kalervo’s unhappy daughter,Tyhjä tyttö tuiretuinen, Stupid girl, and very foolish,Lapsi kehjo keiretyinen. Worthless child, and good for nothing.Ennen lasna ollessani When I was a little infant,Emon ehtoisen eloilla, Living with my tender mother,Läkson marjahan metsälle, To the wood I went for berries,Alle vaaran vaapukkahan. Neath the mountain sought for raspberries,Poimin maalta mansikoita, On the plains I gathered strawberries,Alta vaaran vaapukjoita Underneath the mountain, raspberries,Poimin päivän, yön lepäsin. Plucked by day, at night I rested,Poimin päivän, poimen toisen: Plucked for one day and a second,Päivälläpä klmannella And upon the third day likewise,En tiennyt kotihin tietä: But the pathway home I found not,Tiehyt metsähän veteli, In the woods the pathways led me,Ura saateli salolle. And the footpaths to the forest.

Siinä istuin, jotta itkin, There I stood, and burst out weeping,Itkin päivän, jotta toisen; Wept for one day, and a second,Päivänäpä kolmantena And at length upon the third day,Nousin suurelle mäelle, Then I climbed a mighty mountain,Korkealle kukkulalle. To the peak of all the highest,Tuossa huusin, hoilaelin. On the peak I called and shouted,Salot vastahan saneli, And the woods made answer to me,Kankahat kajahtelivat: While the heaths re-echoed likewise:Elä huua, hullu tyttö, Do not call, O girl so senseless,Elä mieletöin, melua! Shout not, void of understanding,Ei se kuulu kumminkana, There is no one who can hear you,Ei kuulukotihin huuto! None at home to heat your shouting.Päivän päästä kolmen, neljän, Then upon the third and fourth days,Viien, kuuen viimeistäki Lastly on the fifth and sixth days,Kohenihin kuolemahan, I to take my life attempted,Heitihin katoamahan, Tried to hurl me to destruction,Enkä kuollut kuittenkana, But by no means did I perish,En mä kalkinen kaonnut! Nor could I, the wretched, perish.Oisin kuollut, kuja raukka, Would that I, poor wretch, had perished,Oisin katkennut, katala, Hapless one, had met destruction,Äsken tuossa toisna vuonna, That the second year thereafter,Kohta kolmanna kesänä Or the third among the summers,Oisin heinänä helynnyt, I had shone forth as a grass-blade,Kukoistellut kukkapäänä, As a lovely flower existed,Maassa marjana hyvänä, On the ground a beauteous berry,Punaisena puolukkana, Even as a scarlet cranberry,Nämä kummat kuulematta, Then I had not heard there horrors,Haukeat havaisematta.” Would not then have known these terrors.”

KULLERVO“Voi, poloinen, päiviäni, “Woe my day, O me unhappy,Voipa, kurja, kummiani, Woe to me and all my household,Voi kun pi’in sisarueni, For indeed my very sister,Turmelin emoni tuoman! I my mother’s child have outraged!Voi isoni, voi emoni, Woe my father, woe my mother,Voi on valtavanhempani! Woe to you, my aged parents,Minnekä minut loitte To what purpose have you reared me,Kunne kannoitte katalan? Reared me up to be so wretched!Parempiolisi ollut Far more happy were my fortune,Syntymättä, kasvamatta, Had I never been born or nurtured,Ilmahan sikeämättä, Never in the air been strengthened,Maalle tälle tätymättä. Never in this world had entered,Eikä surma suonin tehnyt, Wrongly I by death was treated,Tauti oike’in osannut, Nor disease has acted wisely,Kun ei tappanu minua, That they did not fall upon me,Kaottanut kaksiöisnä.” And when two nights old destroy me.”



KULLERVO’S DEATHText: Kalevala XXXVI: 297-346

CHORUSKullervo, Kalervon poika, Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,Otti koiransakeralle, At his side the black dog taking,Läksi tietä telkkimähän, Tracked his path through trees to forest,Korpehen kakoamahan, Where the forest rose the thickest.Kävi matkoi vähäsen, But a short way had he wandered,Astui tietä jikkaraisen; But a little way walked onward,Tuli tuolle saarekselle, When he reached the stretch of forest,Tuolle pailalle tapahtui, Recognized the spot before him,Kuss’oli piian pillannunna, Where he had seduced the maiden,Turmellutemonsa tuoman. And his mother’s child dishonored.Siin’itki hana nurmi, There the tender grass was weeping,Aho armihin valitti, And the lovely spot lamenting,Nuoret heinät helliteli, And the young grass was deploring,Kuikutti kukat kanervan And the flowers of heath were grieving,Tuota päan pillamusta, For the ruin of the maiden,Emon tuoman turmelusta. For the mother’s child’s destruction.Eikä moussut nuori heinä, Neither was the young grass sprouting,Kasvanut kanervan kukka, Nor the flowers of heath expanding,Ylennyt sijalla sillä, Nor the spot had covered over,Tuolla paikalla pahalla, Where the evil thing had happened,Kuss’oli piian pillannunna, Where he had seduced the maiden,Emon tuoman turmellunna. And his mother’s child dishonored.Kullervo, Kalervon poika, Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,Tempasi terävän miekan, Grasped the sharpened sword he carried,Katselevi, kääntelevi, Looked upon the sword and turned it,Kyselevi, tietelevi, And he questioned it and asked it.Kysyi mieltä miekaltansa, And he asked the sword’s opinion,Tokko tuon tekisi mieli If it was disposed to slay him,Syoä syylistä lihoa, To devour his guilty body,Viallista verta juoa. And his evil blood to swallow.Miekka mietti miehen mielen, Understood the sword his meaning,Arvasi uron pakinan, Understood the hero’s question,Vastasi sanalla tuolla: And it answered him as follows:“Miks’en söisi mielelläni, “Wherefore at my heart’s desire,Söisi syylistä lihoa, Should I not thy flesh devour,Viallista verta joisi? And drink up thy blood so evil,Syön lihoa syyttömänki, I who guiltless flesh have eaten,Juon verta viattomanki.” Drank the blood of those who sinned not?”Kullervo, Kalervon poika, Kullervo, Kalervo’s offspring,Sinisukka äijön lapsi, With the very bluest stockings,Pään peltohon sysäsi, On the ground the haft set firmly,Perän painoi kankahasen, On the heath the hilt pressed tightly,Kären käänti rintahansa, Turned the point against his bosom,Itse iskihe kärelle. And upon the point he threw him,Siihen surmansa sukesi, Thus he found the death he sought for,Kuolemansa kohtaeli. Cast himself into destruction.Se oli surma nuoren miehen, Even so the young man perished,Kuolo Kullervo urohon, Thus died Kullervo the hero,Loppu ainakin urosta, Thus the hero’s life was ended,Kuolema kovaosaista. Perished thus the hapless hero.

C64 2011 Program Notes, Book 3

GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL Friday, July 29 and Saturday, July 30, 2011

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Seventy-seventh Season Grant Park Orchestra and … Notes... · Seventy-seventh Season Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus ... then devoted the next two months to a cantata for soloist,