Jean Sibelius

Finlandia-hymni aus op. 26

The anthem from the tone poem *Finlandia*, Op. 26, for orchestra is one of Jean Sibelius’s best-known works and, with lyrics by Veikko Antero Koskenniemi (1906–1962), became Finland’s unofficial national anthem. During a time of great uncertainty following the Soviet Union’s attack in 1939, Koskenniemi succeeded in capturing, through these lyrics, the emerging national consciousness and the Finns’ hope for a swift resolution to the conflict. Sibelius had already written an arrangement of the anthem for male chorus based on a different text in 1938, but in 1940 he agreed to the use of Koskenniemi’s text and was also involved in the revision. Later, on the advice of his publisher Roger Lindberg, he decided to write a version for mixed choir using the same text. This version in F major was published in 1949, though Breitkopf & Härtel released it only in a German translation by Hellmuth von Hase. The *Finlandia* hymn with Koskenniemi’s text is thus available for the first time from Breitkopf & Härtel as an Urtext edition in the Complete Works of Jean Sibelius. The two editions contain the version for male chorus in A-flat major as well as the versions for mixed chorus in F major and A-flat major, the latter of which is available for the first time outside the complete works.

Binding: stapled