TODAY’S ALMANAC:
by Daniel Hathaway
Finnish composer Jean Sibelius was born on December 8, 1865, an event The Cleveland Orchestra staff marked in an amusing little 2019 video. “Things got a little crazy as you can see.”
The composer’s symphonies have been played frequently by the ensemble over the years. Here’s a rare performance of the four-movement version of the Fifth from December, 1941 led by Artur Rodzinski (taken from 78 rpm discs with side breaks left intact).
There’s also a recording of a live performance of the Second led by George Szell in May, 1970 in Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan Hall. More recently, here’s a rehearsal snippet for a performance of the Second led by Dalia Stasevska in March, 2024.
Finland — which didn’t yet exist as a country when Sibelius was born — celebrates the composer’s legacy each year on December 8 with “A Day of Finnish Music.” Although, rather like Rossini, he stopped composing in mid-life, he has inspired a widespread national educational initiative which has produced a distinguished list of musicians, classical, folk, and popular.
Celebrate Sibelius’ birthday with Fifteen Fun Facts from Classical FM.
Other celebrities blowing out the candles today include composers Manuel Maria Ponce (1882), and Bohuslav Martinu (1890), American singer Sammy Davis, Jr., (1925) and French baritone Gerard Souzay (1918). On a more somber note, the Beatles’ John Lennon was shot to death on this date in 1980 outside his apartment in New York, shortly after a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz.
