The Finnnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) is best known for his symphonies and other orchestral works. However, Sibelius also composed a number of solos songs for voice and piano - altogether 92 - many of which bear witness to his highly personal style.(Some of the songs have been orchestrated for a large orchestra). Sibelius´s mother-tongue was Swedish. Thus it was natural for him to write most of the songs to texts by Finnish-Swedish or Swedish poets.
The Swedish texts have made Sibelius´s songs ideal to perform for Scandinavian singers; Kirsten Flagstad, Jussi Björling and Birgit Nilsson e.g. very often included Sibelius songs in their recitals. It is nice to know that most wellknown Scandinavian singers active today continue this tradition.
Listen here to Kirsten Flagstad sing "Svarta Rosor" ("Black Roses") by Ernst Josephson.
Tell me, why are you so sad today,
You, who are always so happy and joyful?
I am no more sorrowful today
Than when I found you happy and joyful.
For sorrow has night-black roses.
A rose tree ís growing in my heart
which will never leave me in peace.
Thorn upon thorn gros on its stems
Causing me perpetual pain and rancour;
For sorrow has night-black roses.
But it has a whole host of roses,
Some as white as death, some as red as blood.
It grows and grows. I believe I shall faint away,
There ís wrenching and throbbing in the roots;
For sorrow has night-black roses.
Jussi Björling here sings "Säv, säv, susa" ("Sigh, rushes, sigh") by Gustaf Fröding
Sigh, rushes, sigh; beat, waves, beat;
Are you telling me what befell young Ingalill?
She cried like a wounded duck
When she sunk into the lake,
Last year when spring was green.
The were jealous of her at Östanålid,
She took that very badly.
They were jealous of her belongings, her gold
And of her young love.
They stuck a thorn into a jewel,
Theu threw dirt into a lily´s dew.
So sing, sing your sorrowful song
You melancholy little waves,
Sigh, rushes, sigh; beat, waves, beat!
Listen here to Birgit Nilsson sing "Flickan kom från sitt älsklings möte" ("The Tryst") by
J.L. Runberg
The girl came from her lover´s tryst
She came with red hands. Her mother said:
Why are your hands red, o daughter?
The girl said; I have been picking roses,
And I pricked my hands on the thorns.
Again she returned from her lover´s tryst,
She came with red lips. Her mother said:
Why are your lips red, o daughter?
The girl said: I haven eating raspberries,
And coloured my lips with their juice.
Again she returned from her lover´s tryst,
she came with pale cheeks. Her mother said:
Why are your cheeks pale, o daughter?
The girl said: Prepare a grave, o Mother.
Hide me there, and place a cross above it,
And, on the cross, carve what I tell you:
Once she came home with red hands,
For they had reddened between her lover´s hands:
Once she came home with red lips,
For they had reddened from her lover´s lips.
Finally she came home with pale cheeks:
For they had paled through her lover´s infidelity.
PS
Flagstad´s Sibelius songs are available at amazon.
Birgit Nilsson´s recordings can be obtained here.
