%0 Article %T Music, forest and man %A Hako, Pekka %D 1987 %J Silva Fennica %V 21 %N 4 %R doi:10.14214/sf.a15494 %U https://silvafennica.fi/article/5337 %X

In Finnish music national forests and international urban culture meet in an original way. Around the last turn of century, composers believe they had discovered their spiritual roots in nature and especially in the forests. The universal musical language of Jean Sibelius, for example, is based on a deep Finnish identity, the atmosphere of Kalevala. Sibelius’ Tapiola is, thus, among our century’s most powerful musical interpretations of feelings about nature. Nature inspired music is, generally, associated with such positive qualities as beauty, peace, softness, light and joy. A great deal of forest music is based on literature, where natural images have almost always had a positive interpretation.
The paper is based on a lecture given in the seminar ‘The forest as a Finnish cultural entity’, held in Helsinki in 1986. The PDF includes a summary in English.