Songs lie at the heart of Jean Sibelius’s creative world. Yet for many listeners outside the Nordic countries, he remains an exclusively orchestral composer, whose musical contribution resides solely in his symphonies, tone poems and the violin concerto. This is a poor reflection of the true content of Sibelius’s work and of the role that song played in his artistic life. Sibelius in fact composed songs throughout his professional career: his first published work was a setting of “Serenad” (Serenade) by his favourite poet, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, and among his very final manuscript drafts was an orchestration of “Kom nu hit, död” (Come away, come away, death) from his music for William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. The stylistic diversity and range of his songs is remarkable, from the childlike innocence and naivety of the Christmas songs (to texts by Zacharias Topelius), which Sibelius designated his opus 1, to the windswept grandeur and expansiveness of his response to Viktor Rydberg’s visionary “Höstkväll” (Autumn evening), op. 38 no. 1. Sibelius’s songs can express comforting familiarity, as in “Demanten på marssnön” (The Diamond upon the March Snow), op. 36 no. 6, or the deepest erotic longing and desire, as in “Till Frigga” (To Frigga), op. 13 no. 6. They can offer a penetrating insight into psychological angst and inner turmoil, such as “Aus Banger Brust” (From the anxious heart), op. 50 no. 4, or a glittering, ethereal beauty, such as “Norden” (The North), op. 90 no. 1. Songs hence encompass the full emotional spectrum of Sibelius’s expressive range as intensively as his purely instrumental works.

One of the reasons for the importance of song in Sibelius’s output, as Gustav Djupsjöbacka’s profoundly thoughtful and reflective survey reveals, is his intimate sympathy for the symbolism and language of his poetic texts. Sibelius was an avid reader: the centrality of literature in his grammar school curriculum as a child stayed with him throughout his life, and as an adult Sibelius immersed himself in both classic poetry and the work of avant-garde writers such as Richard Dehmel.