麻豆社

鈥淭oday at ten to eleven I saw 16 swans. One of my greatest experiences! Lord God, what beauty! They circled over me for a long time.鈥� An entry in Sibelius鈥檚 diary, 21st April 1915.

All of Sibelius鈥檚 symphonies carry the unmistakeable imprint of the Nordic landscape. This final movement of his Fifth Symphony was always referred to by the composer as his 鈥楽wan Hymn鈥�, in tribute to the experience noted above which clearly stirred him to the very core. The symphony builds to the final movement where the noble and radiant Swan theme emerges in full flight.

Sibelius wrote in his diary at the time of working on the Fifth Symphony: 鈥淭he Swans are always in my thoughts鈥�strange to learn that nothing in the whole world affects me 鈥� nothing in art, literature or music 鈥� in the same way as do these swans and cranes and wild geese.鈥�