En saga (Satu)

The first version of En Saga, destined to become a lasting favourite with audiences, got an excellent reception according to Päivälehti: “The audience’s standing ovation clearly showed that they had enjoyed it and that they had gradually come to understand Sibelius’s music.” Karl Flodin, in Nya Pressen, nevertheless sighed: “If only his musical intuition were a little less unrestrained and Baroque-like, so that the listener might form a picture of what he was hearing and not, as in this case, stand wondering and asking in the face of this chain of riddles.”

Text: Timo Virtanen
Picture: The National Library of Finland