| P.S. I can attest that Karelia looks every bit as beautiful in person. - prh, ed. The Intermezzo describes the voyage of the Karelian merchants upstream to pay their taxes. The Alla Marcia part is a description of the Swedish (Finland was a part of Sweden in that time) soldiers marching to take over the town of Käkisalmi in Karelia. That happened in 1572 during the so called "long hate", where the enemy was Russia governed by Ivan IV (the Terrible). Sweden won this war, but it was still a balanced peace of Täyssinä which ended the war. Although Sibelius composed this piece to be joyful, triumphant, and almost euphoric - not at all militaristic - I think that this history has made it so popular. [per Vesa Kaitera, via YouTube] |