One of the last and notably best symphonic inventions of the orchestra is the tone poem. This invention is a single movement, usually for symphonic orchestra that has the meter and rhythm of a poem. One of the most famous composers of this inventive style of writing is none other than Jean Sibelius. One of the most famous of his works of the tone poem is Finlandia. This was originally written in commemoration to his glorious homeland of Finland. Finnish people have even designated a day to celebrate his life and music.
Finlandia is a tone poem that really captures the crystal-clear beauty of the country after it had successfully escaped from the oppressive rule of Russia. This is so referenced in the first few chords of this symphonic poem. The deep brass chords F sharp minor and either F sharp diminished (or D major 7th) chords crystalizes this cold relationship between the two nations. The repeated nature of these before going to A major is particularly astounding. This chord structure is carried out further once A major is reached. It lurks its way over to C major through a serious of dominant and subdominant chords and passes the baton over to the woodwinds and strings. Then, more dominant and subdominant relationships leaves the texture in F minor and oscillating back and forth between the former and D flat major.
One of the various characteristics learned from the symphonic and tone poems are the wide variants in tempo which are the things that mimic the varying speech in reading a poem. The majority of the striking music rests in A-flat major with fluctuations of diminished chords within the texture. This makes the whole composition immensely colorful. The mood goes from highly striking in the brass and woodwinds to this nice, luscious Romantic passage that beckons the ear to it. The thunderous nature of the last few bars is the part that is as much a tribute to home as any other moment in the piece. It is definitely a piece to look for and to study immensely for theory purposes and for orchestration. In these two subjects, one could learn a lot.
The brass then culminates the Romantic mood with a blossoming fanfare that translates into a intense respect for the homeland. It is a moving tribute the country that birthed him and where he made his mark as a prolific and dazzling composer.
