Sibelius, Bartók, and the “Anxiety of Influence” in Post World War II Finnish Music

Ilkka Oramo

doi:10.1556/smus.47.2006.3-4.19

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Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae

Volume/Issue:: Volume 47: Issue 3-4

Sibelius, Bartók, and the “Anxiety of Influence” in Post World War II Finnish Music

Author:

Ilkka Oramo

Ilkka Oramo Sibelius Academy, P.O. Box 86, FI-00251 Helsinki, Finland

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Pages:: 467–480

Online Publication Date:: 21 Aug 2006

Publication Date:: 01 Sep 2006

Article Category:: Research Article

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1556/smus.47.2006.3-4.19

Keywords:: Jean Sibelius; Joonas Kokkonen; influence of Bartók; Finnish music; Béla Bartók

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Jean Sibelius and Béla Bartók, two composers from the fringe of Europe, had to create space for themselves in the midst of Austro-German dominance of turn-of-the-century music. Both encountered in the hitherto unknown folk music of their respective countries an “Other” that enabled them to develop an idiom different from the mainstream but equally coherent. Sibelius became in Finland's a national hero due to his patriotic music from the turn-of-the-century. As a consequence, his figure grew into mountainous dimensions, and many of his successors were doomed to live under his shadow. After World War II a new beginning was needed. Anxious of the influence of Sibelius and searching for a new starting point young composers encountered the music of Bartók, Prokofiev and Shostakovich, the otherness of which enabled them to “misread” the Sibelian tradition in a creative manner. Especially important was Bartók, notably for Joonas Kokkonen (1921-96). Some later composers, for whom Sibelius was not a problem anymore, were looking in Bartók's works for new patterns of misprision.

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Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae

Print ISSN:: 0039-3266

Online ISSN:: 1588-2888

Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
Language	English French German
Year of Foundation	1961
Publication Programme	changed title
Founder	Magyar Tudományos Akadémia
Founder's Address	H-1051 Budapest, Hungary, Széchenyi István tér 9.
Publisher	Akadémiai Kiadó
Publisher's Address	H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Responsible Publisher	Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN	0039-3266 (Print)
ISSN	1588-2888 (Online)