Jean Sibelius, known as the composer of Finland, visited America to conduct and to receive an honorary degree from Yale University. “When Mr. and Mrs. Stoeckel [his hosts] asked what he would like most to see in America, he named three things: Niagara Falls, American Indians, and -–a thunderstorm!”
(Bakeless, 42).

We have been reading, slowly, a paragraph at a time, the life of Jean Sibelius. We usually listen to an excerpt from his “Finlandia” and “Valse Triste.” As it was a lovely day, we took our snack outside and I read, after the Gospel, our short excerpt from Katherine Little Bakeless’ book Story-Lives of Great Composers. I allowed the children to mull over Sibelius’ response to this question before giving them the answer. From our slow and steady reading, we knew he was a nature lover and he had the ability to communicate nature’s impressions in music. It was fun for the children to try to guess what three things Sibelius would chose to see in America, especially because we were all seated outside enjoying a spring like day!

Musical Instruments
Evaristo Baschenis d.1677

Another composer post