Finlandia (This Is My Song) Sibelius

The St. Paul's Concert Chorale, conducted by John Smedstad, performs This Is My Song (Finlandia), Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). St. Paul's School for Boys is a private day school located in Brooklandville, MD. Approximately 1/3 of all upper school boys sing in a choral ensemble. The premiere ensemble tours extensively; their most recent tour was to Iceland where the boys shared performances with an Icelandic choir.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Men's Choir
• John Smedstad
• Men's Chorus
• Choir
• Male Chorus
• Jean Sibelius
• High School Choir
• St. Paul's School
• Baltimore
• Mannerkor

[kosketa]

Sisu,

Sauna.

Sibelius.

-

Suomi  ?

[Pertinax71]

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 (though Maamme is the national anthem). With different words, it is also sung as a Christian hymn (Be Still, My Soul), and was the national anthem of the short-lived African state of Biafra (Land of the Rising Sun).

[morna45]

@sgibbonsmock Our high school choir sang those lyrics exactly, too. Yet, I cannot find any choir that sings these words on youtube, can you?

[MetallicaFIN]

O,Finland,behold,your day is dawning,The threat of night has been banished away,And the lark of morning in the brightness sings,As though the very firmament would sing.The powers of the night are vanquished by the morning light,

Your day is dawning, O land of birth.

O, rise, Finland, raise up high

Your head, wreathed with great memories.

O, rise,Finland, you showed to the world

That you drove away the slavery,

And that you did not bend under oppression,

Your day has come,O land of birth.

[MrAyrhead]

@kpasi70 Lloyd Stone, 1934. From the beginning many different lyrics had been written for the stand-alone piece that Sibelius later re-worked from the original symphonic poem (that of course was a patriotic piece, albeit had no lyrics). He never had any problems with this - Sibelius himself propably sang it in free masons' meetings with Wäinö Sola's lyrics, that have somewhat esoteric twist in meaning.

[brassspitoon]

@jjroder If you mean Roman Catholic, you're wrong about the hymn, the composer and the school which is Episcopal (Anglcan communion).

[kpasi70]

Beautiful performance, but who on earth invented this "this is my song" thing??? It is so far from the meaning of the song! br A True Finn

[jjroder]

nice and catholic !! go with the tradition!!

[Greendayfreak7]

Absolutely beautiful.

[Ferrariman601]

Sibelius is one of my favorite composers, and this hymn (and the larger composition in which it features) is one of Sibelius' best works in my opinion. If I were to hear this being sung in public, I would give it the same respect that I would to a national anthem.