Symphony No. 7 in C Major

At its first performance, conducted by Sibelius himself in Stockholm in 1924, his Symphony No. 7 did not have this title; instead it was programmed as Fantasia sinfonica No. 1. Probably Sibelius at first felt it was risky to describe an abstract orchestral work consisting of a single movement, rather than the traditional three or four, as a symphony. The experience of the Stockholm premiere evidently reassured him, because the work was published a year later as “Symphony No. 7 (in one movement)”. In an exceptional feat of creative mastery, Sibelius here combined the individual movements of a standard symphony into a single integrated 25-minute design. The most prominent theme is a magnificent trombone solo, occurring at three key moments in the work. The first is at the climax of the opening “Adagio” section; the second arrives as the ensuing fast scherzo-like episode broadens out in tempo and darkens in mood. The theme’s final appearance, after a longer “Allegro moderato”, marks the arrival of the symphony’s closing stages with a return to the opening “Adagio” tempo. Sibelius seems to have felt that the work’s epic scale and richness of invention were qualities that his music would subsequently struggle to match. Symphony No. 7 turned out to be one of his last major works; during the next two decades, he worked on and apparently completed a Symphony No. 8, but he later destroyed it.