Russian-Finnish Cultural Connections: The Case of Jean Sibelius

FAIN: FB-52204-06

Glenda Dawn Goss
Helsinki University Library (Helsinki 00014 Finland)

The project is twofold: to explore Finland's cultural connections to Russia and their importance for Sibelius; and to construct a bridge of understanding across which to communicate findings about the inner workings of a "high-context" culture (Finland) to readers from a very different, "low-context" culture (many Anglo Europeans). Because the foundation of Finland as a nation meant defining its cultural separateness, emphasis has traditionally been placed on unique, national aspects of the country's history and "heroes." Opening a wider line of inquiry reveals the continuities Finns shared with their Nordic and European contemporaries and illuminates the broad and complicated base of Sibelius's music as well as of the roots of modernism.

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