For a short break from the angst and stormy climate pervading our country at the moment, here’s a video I came across on YouTube that combines the majestic tone poem “Finlandia” by Jean Sibelius and excerpts from the award winning nature filming of Wild Scandinavia.
A brief on Finlandia from Wikipedia:
Finlandia was written in 1899 and revised in 1900. The piece was composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the Russian Empire, and was the last of seven pieces performed as an accompaniment to a tableau depicting episodes from Finnish history.[2] The premiere was on 2 July 1900 in Helsinki with the Helsinki Philharmonic Society conducted by Robert Kajanus.[3] A typical performance takes between 7½ and 9 minutes.
In order to avoid Russian censorship, Finlandia had to be performed under alternative names at various musical concerts. Titles under which the piece masqueraded were numerous—famous examples include Happy Feelings at the awakening of Finnish Spring, and A Scandinavian Choral March.
Most of the piece is taken up with rousing and turbulent music, evoking the national struggle of the Finnish people. Towards the end, a calm comes over the orchestra, and the serenely melodic Finlandia Hymn is heard. Often incorrectly cited as a traditional folk melody, the Hymn section is of Sibelius's own creation.[4]
Although he initially composed it for orchestra, in 1900 Sibelius arranged the work for solo piano.[3][5]
Sibelius later reworked the Finlandia Hymn into a stand-alone piece. This hymn, with words written in 1941 by Veikko Antero Koskenniemi, is one of the most important national songs of Finland.
With different words, it is also sung as a Christian hymn (Be Still, My Soul, Hail, Festal Day, in Italian evangelical churches: Veglia al mattino[6]), and was the national anthem of the short-lived African state of Biafra (Land of the Rising Sun).
From the Wild Scandinavia website:
“Wild Scandinavia – Finland” gives us numerous insights of the fascinating life of wild forest reindeers, saimaa seals, flying squirrels, brown bears, wolves, wolverines, lynx, red-throated divers, black woodpeckers, goldeneye ducks, ospreys, capercaillies and shows the whole beauty of the aurora borealis – the magical northern lights.
Though not all of the wildlife mentioned make an appearance in this video, the ones that do are extraordinary, especially the golden eye ducks sequence.