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performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

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Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

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Concerts are made possible in part through the generosity of donors

to the National Gallery ofArt through The Circle. Reserved seating is

available in recognition oftheir support. Please contact the development 

office at (202) 842-6450 or circle@nga.gov for more information.

The Seventy-first Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,949th Concert

Meri Siirala, soprano

Marja Kaisla, pianist

Presented in collaboration with the

Delegation ofthe European Union to the United States

May 22, 2013

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

Var det en drom? (J. J. Wecksell) op. 37, no. 4

Sav, sciv susa (G. Froding) op. 36, no. 4

Flickan kom ifran sin alsklings mote (J. L. Runeberg) op. 37, no. 5

Toivo Kuula (1883-1918)

Tuijotin tulehen kauan (Eino Leino) op. 2, no. 2

Sinipiika (V.A. Koskenniemi) op. 23, no. 1

Suutelo (A. Kouta) op. 8, no. 1

Sibelius

Nocturne, op. 24, no. 8

Romance, op. 24, no. 9

Sibelius

Illalle (A. V. Forsman) op. 17, no. 6

Kaiutar (L. Kyosti) op. 72, no. 4

Jubal (E. Josephson) op. 35, no. 1

Norden (J. L. Runeberg) op. 90, no. 1

En slanda (O. Levertin) op. 17, no. 5

Varenflyktar hastigt (J.L. Runeberg) op. 13, no. 4

Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952)

From Quatre Instants (Amin Maalouf) 2002

Attente

Parfum de l’instant

Einar Englund (1916-1999)

Introduzione e Toccata (1950)

Erklci Melartin (1875-1937)

Lumpeenkukka (Heikki Rytkonen ) op. 37, no. 1

Oskar Merikanto (1868-1924)

Ma elan (Larin-Kyosti) op. 71, no. 1

Kun paiva paistaa (Hilja Idaahti) op. 24, no. 1
The Musicians

MERI SIIRALA

A graduate ofthe Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, soprano Meri

Siirala made her operatic debut in 2002 as Queen ofthe Night in a highly

acclaimed production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute by the Pori Opera Company. Other operatic roles include Adele in Die Fledermaus, Bubikopfin the 

Finnish premiere of Viktor Ullmann’s The Emperor ofAtlantis, Fiordiligi in

Costfan tutte, Violetta in La Traviata, and Vitellia in La Clemenza di Tito.

Appearing as well in musical theater, she performed the role ofTzeitel in

Fiddler on the Roofin a production at the Alexander Theater in Helsinki, and

on tour in Finland. In 2008 she sang in the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra’s

production of Mozartmaschine. In addition to her opera career, Siirala

performs regularly in recitals, as an oratorio soloist, and with several

baroque orchestras and ensembles.

A frequent soloist at music festivals throughout Finland, Siirala has also

performed in France, Norway, and Switzerland. In Washington, DC, she has

sung at the Finnish Embassy, the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, and 

the Phillips Collection. In addition to Kaija Saariaho, she has collaborated

with and performed works by Ralf Gothoni, Ville Komppa, Olli Kortekangas,

Jaaklco Kortesharju, and Ville Raasalcka.

The recipient of awards and grants for promising young musicians from 

the Finnish Cultural Fund, the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, the

Martin Wegelius Society, and the Pro Musica Foundation, Siirala has performed for the president of Finland and Prince Daniel of Sweden.

5
MARJA KAISLA

Born in Helsinki, Marja Kaisla began piano studies at age three and made

her public debut at five. A chamber musician, recitalist, and concerto soloist,

she has performed in Europe, the former Soviet Union, and the United

States. A piano performance major at the Sibelius Academy and the Saint

Petersburg Conservatory in Russia, she pursued further studies in Switzerland with Gyorgy Sebok and in Philadelphia with Susan Starr.

Since coming to the United States in 1987, Kaisla has enjoyed an active

concert career on stage, radio, television, and film while being an advocate 

for the importance ofmusic education. She made her Carnegie Hall debut

in 2005 as the pianist ofTrio Excelsior, with which she has toured extensively,

and performed more than one hundred concerts with Piano4, a unique

quartet offour pianists.

The former owner and director of a music conservatory and a sheet

music retail store in Philadelphia, Kaisla is also the cofounder ofthe Philadelphia Foundation for World Music and Arts, a non-profit organization that

advocates cultural tolerance fostered by activity in music and other arts. As

artistic and executive director from 2009 to 2011 ofthe Lansdale Center for 

the Performing Arts in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, she was instrumental in the

creation ofits new regional performance center, which includes an educational facility and art gallery. This year she is leading the planning and

implementation of numerous cultural, educational and business events in

Philadelphia for the celebration ofthe 375th Anniversary ofthe Finnish and

Swedish settlement ofthe Delaware Valley in 1638. She was recently named

Performer ofthe Year by the Finlandia National Foundation, an advocacy

organization promoting Finnish culture and Finnish-American artists’ work

in the United States. In addition to her musical career, Kaisla pursues her

interest in animal welfare, sustainable living, history, quantum physics, and

quantum mechanics.

6

Program Notes

This afternoon’s concert continues a series generated by the Delegation

ofthe European Union to the United States in collaboration with the

National Gallery ofArt and the Katzen Arts Center at American University, 

the Kennedy Center, and the Phillips Collection. Dubbing the month of May

as “The European Month ofCulture,” the Delegation is presenting twentynine concerts in the above-mentioned venues that represent all twenty-seven

countries in the European Union. Representing Finland, today’s concert

features Finnish performers and focuses on the music ofJean Sibelius and

his compatriots. On Sunday, at 4 pm, the Gallery will host the next concert

in the series in honor of Lithuania. Pianist Gabrielius Alelcna will perform

music by Lithuanian composers Grazyna Bacewicz and Vytautas Bacevicius 

as well as Gabriel Faure and Franz Liszt.

In addition to being one ofthe most influential composers in the

development ofthe symphony and symphonic poem, Jean Sibelius is widely 

regarded as the embodiment of nationalism in music. He studied composition with Martin Wegelius (1846-1906) and violin with Hermann Csillag 

(1878-1944). In 1889 Sibelius traveled to Berlin and Vienna to study with

composers Albert Becker (1834-1889), Karl Goldmark (1830-1915), and

Robert Fuchs (1847-1927). Returning home after three years to teach music

and compose, Sibelius was soon acknowledged as Finland’s foremost

composer. The 1892 premiere of Kullervo Symphony, based on the Kalevala

legends, created a sensation. During the next decade, his work gained

international recognition, not only for its quality but also for its associations

with Finnish nationalism. Finlandia (1899) and his Second Symphony (1901)

were received by many as calls for Finnish independence from the Russian

Empire, even though Sibelius discouraged attaching programmatic ideas to

his music.

Due to his tragic death at age thirty-four, Toivo Kuula produced fewer

than fifty songs, but they have taken an important place in Finnish vocal

repertoire. His defiant and somber style, marked by dark and elegiac 

melodies inspired by the folk music ofsouthern Ostrobothnia in Western

7
Finland, strikes a chord in the Finnish psyche. Rooted in the tonality of

the nineteenth century, his idiom is colored by modal features and French 

influences.

Kaija Saariaho is a prominent member of a group of Finnish composers 

and performers who are now, in mid-career, making a worldwide impact.

A resident of Paris since 1982, she studied composition in her adopted home

as well as in Helsinki and Freiburg, Germany. Influenced by her studies at

the Paris-based Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique,

she creates lush and mysterious textures by combining live music and

electronics. Although much of her catalogue comprises chamber works,

since the mid-1990s she has turned increasingly to larger compositions and 

broader structures, such as the operas L’Amour de loin and Adriana Mater

and the oratorio La Passion de Simone.

Swedish-speaking Finnish composer, Einar Englund is a composer of

great versatility—a symphonist, a second-generation neoclassicist, and a

reformer of Finnish music. He was the first major representative among

Finnish composers ofthe “lost generation”—young men who had sacrificed

their youth to the war—and the first to seriously challenge the uncritical

idealization of Sibelius and Leevi Madetoja (1887 -1947) as the only important Finnish symphonic composers. In spite of his efforts to guide musical 

trends away from national romanticism, Englund remains, in the judgment

ofhistory, in the shadow ofthe great Jean Sibelius.

Erklci Melartin was the most versatile ofthe Finnish late romantics.

His output can be divided into two main genres: stylistically reformed and

artistically ambitious serious music and lighter salon music, sometimes

termed “utility music.” Best known to the general public through his works

in the latter genre—children’s music, solo songs, short piano pieces, and 

incidental music—his compositions are marked by lyrical melodies, with

thematic materials often drawn from Finnish folk songs.

Instrumental in bringing operatic performances to the stage in Finland,

Oskar Merikanto’s Pohjan neiti (Maiden ofthe North) was the first Finnishlanguage opera ever produced. Active as an educator and church musician

as well as a composer, he typically wrote short works for solo instruments

and voice, but he also produced longer works in the form of operas and 

incidental scores for the theater. He will likely be best remembered for his

songs, many ofwhich have been recorded and are heard regularly in recitals

in Finland. The list of his works includes well over one hundred choral

works and eighty compositions for piano.

Program notes by Danielle DeSwert Hahn, music program specialist, National

Gallery ofArt

9
Upcoming Concerts at the National Gallery ofArt

Gabrielius Alekna, pianist

Music by Bacewicz, Bacevicius,

Faure, and Liszt

In collaboration with the Delegation ofthe 

European Union to the United States

May 26, 2013

Sunday, 4 pm 

East Building Mezzanine

National Gallery ofArt Chamber Players

Music by composers from Luxembourg, Malta,

and other European Union countries

In collaboration with the Delegation ofthe 

European Union to the United States

Sponsored in part by the 

Billy Rose Foundation

May 29, 2013

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

East Building Auditorium

Gabrielius Alekna, pianist

Music by Stravinsky

and other composers

Presented in honor of

Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909-1929:

When Art Danced with Music

Sponsored in part by the 

Billy Rose Foundation

June 2, 2013

Sunday, 6:30 pm

East Building Auditorium

Gjermund Larsen Trio

Norwegian music for violin, bass, and keyboard

Presented in honor of

Edvard Munch: A ljoth Anniversary Tribute

Sponsored by the Royal Norwegian Embassy

June 5, 2013

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building, West Garden Court
Jean Sibelius ( 1865 - 1957 )

Var det en drom? (Was It a Dream)

Was it a dream that once, in a wonderful time,

I was your heart's true love?

I remember it as a song fallen silent,

Of which the strains still echo.

I remember a rose you tossed,

A glance so shy and tender;

I remember a sparkling tear when we parted. 

Was it all, all a dream?

A dream as brief as the life of a cowslip 

In a green meadow in springtime,

Whose beauty soon withers away 

Before a crowd of new flowers.

But many a night I hear a voice 

Through the flood of my bitter tears:

Hide this memory deep in your heart,

It was your best dream!

(J. J. Wecksell)

Saw, saw SUSa (Reeds, reeds, whisper)

Reeds, reeds, whisper;

Waves, waves, lap.

Are you telling me where 

Young Ingalill has gone?

She cried out like a wounded duck when she

sank into the lake.

It was when the spring was last green.

They were envious of her at Ostanalid,

She took it so deeply to heart.

They envied her wealth and worldly goods, 

And her young love.

They pierced an eyeball with thorns.

They spattered filth on a lily's dew.

Flickan kom ifran sin a/sk/ings mote

(The girl came from meeting her lover)

The girl came from meeting her lover,

Came with her hands all red. Said her mother: 

"What has made your hands so red, girl?"

Said the girl: "I was picking roses

And pricked my hands on the thorns."

Again she came from meeting her lover,

Came with her lips all red. Said her mother: 

"What has made your lips so red, girl?"

Said the girl: "I was eating raspberries

And stained my lips with the juice."

Again she came from meeting her lover,

Came with her cheeks all pale. Said her

mother:

"What has made your cheeks so pale, girl?"

Said the girl: "Oh mother, dig a grave for me,

Hide me there and set a cross above,

And on the cross write as I tell you:

Once she came home with her hands all red,

... they had turned red between her lover's 

hands.

Once she came home with her lips all red,

... they had turned red beneath her lover's lips.

The last time she came home with her cheeks

all pale,

... they had turned pale at her lover's

faithlessness."

(J. L. Runeberg )

So sing your lament, 

You small, sad waves, 

Reeds, reeds, whisper; 

Waves, waves, lap.

( G. Froding )
Toivo Kuula ( 1883 - 1918 )

Tuijotin tulehen kauan

(Long gazed I into the fire)

Long I gazed into the fire,

Stilling the sparkling embers,

Thinking ofmy beloved,

Remembering my dark-browed one.

Coals glowed, images passed

Beloved times wandered

Summer birds soared 

Summer days bounced

A cheek glowed, a mouth smiled,

Eyes reminded of others.

Wandered lands, wandered marshes,

wandered large forests

In the forest blue smoke

Under the smoke a beloved cottage,

In the cottage a fair maiden

Weaving a golden cloth,

A cloth of pearls.

For whom the golden cloth?

For the wedding ofthe forest bride.

For whom miss martenbreast?

For the skier ofthe devil's wilderness.

Not good for long for an abandoned one 

to move around the logs in the stove,

Tears flow into eyes

Head falls into hands 

Rattle in the throat.

Palpitations in the heart.

(Eino Leino)

Sinipiika

(The Forest maid)

You stole my soul on a summer's night, 

Bewitching forest maiden bold.

With a song so sweet, a tune so haunting, 

Your eyes of blue and your locks of gold.

The things that once set my heart on fire

Look pale and pallid beside thee.

You carried so much ofme away,

And left only longing inside me.

The youth on whom you cast your spell 

Seeks his lost soul in vain.

He wanders, searching through the dusk,

Never to find it again.

( V. A. Koskenniemi)

Suutelo

(The Kiss)

All through the summer the white lilies 

bloomed,

The flowers of languor, of longing 

And of dreaming minds.

Autumn came,

And nature was enfolded in a chill shroud.

But the lilies still stood white as snow.

Night returned

Beloved ofthe lilies,

Night that had forsaken them for the whole

summer,

Leaving the lilies,

Languishing in sunlight.

Kiss us, kiss us,

The flowers whispered him.

The hoary lips pressed the white petals, 

Stars came out in the autumn sky,

The silvery pearls offrost 

Were tinkling, gold was rumbling,

The steely ice harp was clanging,

The night quivered and the lilies quivered.

But when the morning broke,

The ground was all white,

The snow shone with silvery light.

Everything slumbered

In the deep sleep of winter.

Thy soul was the white lily,

And I was the night.

I chilled thy budding dream

With my kiss under the glittering stars.

The wintry stars 

The cold fires,

Over the grave of dreams.

But let not thy soul fear the winter,

For winter shall bring a new spring.

Thy soul was the white lily,

And I was the night.
(A. Kouta )

Jean Sibelius

lllalle (To Evening)

Welcome, dark, mild and starry evening!

Your gentle fervour I adore 

And caress the dark tresses

That flutter round your brow.

If only you were the magic bridge

That would carry my soul away,

No longer burdened 

By the cares oflife!

And ifit were the happy day

When, overcome with wearyness, I might join

you

When work is over and duty done,

When night unfolds its black wings

And a grey curtain falls over hill and dale,

O evening, how I would hurry to you!

(A. V. Forsman)

Kaiutar(Echo-Nymph)

The fair echo-nymph

Wandered the moors by evening,

And wandering the meadows,

Alone she called out in her grief.

Her lover did not come 

Although he promised

to many her, the fair maid.

Before, they had walked together

Cooing like doves 

On the hot summer day,

In the cold moonlit night.

Then the lover left, with his fine words, 

He left her alone with sad heart.

The beautiful maiden looks 

On the moorlands

To find her lover

She calls, she listens,

She cries; she shouts 

Until her voice is gone.

She gets stiff and cold

And stumbles, frightened,

Through the darkness ofthe forest.

The following morning when she wakes

She walks with mischief in her mind,

To lead hunters astray,

imitating and tempting.

Just as, before,

Her lover led her astray with great words,

And with his windy tales.

(L. Kydsti)

Jubal{Jubal)

Jubal saw a swan flying 

Over the water up into the sky,

And hurriedly drew his bow.

The string rwanged and, like a gust of wind, 

The bird, hit by an arrow,

Fell dying on the wave.

At that moment the sun sank,

Purple flooded the vault of heaven,

The grove was heard to sigh;

And a sweet melodic breeze 

Gently caressed Jubal's cheek

And rippled the wave.

The swan sang: ’’What sweet sound,

Young man, sprang from your weapon

When you so cruelly felled me?

You shall bind string to string,

Play thus for the whole world,

Praise the Creator's dominion.”

Sang Jubal: ’’White swan,

Each evening I shall return here

To hymn your death.

Because you laid to my breast

The sweet solace ofstring music,

And the gift ofsong on my tongue.”

( E. Josephson )
Norden (The North)

The leaves are falling,

The lakes are frozen.

Migrating swans,

Sail mournfully

Toward the South,

Seeking its refuge,

Looking back with longing;

Plowing its lakes,

Homesick for ours!

Then an eye will see you 

From under the palm tree's 

Shadow, and say:

"Wretched swans,

What magical chann

Lies upon the North?

He who would leave

The South can only 

Be longing for heaven!"

(J. L. Runeberg)

En Sianda (A Dragonfly)

O beautiful dragonfly that flew in

As I dreamed over my book with heavy heart,

You brought all summer to my senses.

You came and I forgot my melancholy,

I saw only you that happy day,

O beautiful dragonfly.

But just when I rejoiced that you were mine 

And life's gift in song, worshipped and 

praised,

You flew out the same way you came,

O bewitching dragonfly.

Parting tears ebbed in words offarewell!

There was no bitterness in the cup we 

drained.

We forgot that you were sun, I only shadow.

Fly away, blue light of summer happiness,

My beautiful dragonfly.

( O. Levertin )

varen flyktar hastigt

(Spring is swift to fly away)

Spring is swift to fly away,

Summer is swifter,

Autumn lingers long,

Winter still longer.

Soon, o lovely cheeks,

You will wither

And bloom no more.

The boy answered her back:

On an autumn day

The memory ofspring still makes us happy.

On a winter day

The harvest of summer still suffices.

What ifspringtime is fleeting?

What if cheeks do wither?

For now, let'sjust love,

For now, let'sjust kiss.

( J. L. Runeberg )

Kaija Saariaho ( 1952 -)

Attente (Longing)

I am the boat adrift

My lover is beyond the rift 

And the sea is so vast

I am the boat adrift

My lover is beyond the rift 

And the wind has died down

I have spread all my sails

For the wind to drive me

I have spread all my sails

For my lover to see me 

(Amin Mcialouf)

Blessed and once mine,
Parfum de /'instant

(Perfume ofthe instant)

You are so close to me 

But I close my eyes,

To imagine you

Our lips are united

Our fingers entwined

Our bodies unveiled

But I close my eyes 

To dream of you

You are the perfume ofmy instant

You are the skin of my dream

And already the essence ofmy memories

(Amin Mcialouf)

Erkki Melartin ( 1875 - 1937 )

Lumpeenkukka (Waterlily)

The sweet flower ofthe pond in the forest, 

If only I could be like you:

Above me the endless blue sky,

And beneath me the waves.

And when the autumn would fall, and the 

night,

I would want to die like you.

And the light and warmth of springtime 

would bring me back to life.

I would swing with the waves,

And close my eyes for the night,

And wake up with the sunrise,

And splashing ofthe waves.

( Heikki Rytkonen )

I sing, I sing, I sing,

For the Lord made me for singing!

I could be dead already,

Under the grave-flowers

And the dark night,

But no, I am alive, I can feel it

How my soul aspires through tribulations

To the stars, by its noble work!

I am alive, I am alive, I am alive!

To thee, Life, my highest praise be sung!

May sacred Spring crown my spirit,

Now 1 am the young King of life again,

I sing, I sing, I sing,

For the Lord made me for singing!

(Larin-Kydsti)

Kun paiva paistaa

(When the Day Shines)

The day shines tenderly,

On the ground's cold crust ofsnow!

The flowers still are sleeping,

The waves in icy prison!

Only your warm rays

Give me the promise that

Soon snowdrifts and ice will depart,

Soon spring will dawn.

The day shines tenderly,

Shines on my Finnish woodlands!

Where there is lack and dark sorrow,

[the sun] will send there solace!

Promise with warm rays 

The end of a worry-filled winter.

Hope, in the Creator trust only,

Spring will come in its own time!

(Hilja Haahti)

Oskar Merikanto ( 1868 - 1924 )

Ma elan (I Am Alive)

I am alive, ah, what joy,

What joy and music in my veins,

My heart has never beat like this before; 

What glow and brilliance fills me,