Ross on Sibelius' Eighth
Oct. 7th, 2009 08:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylToday's obligatory quote from The Rest is Noise describes Sibelius' rapidly changing feelings about his never-to-appear 8th Symphony:
The following June, the Eighth is back on its feet. "It would be good if you could conduct my new symphony at the end of October." The comes a fresh panic. "Unfortunately I have named October for my new symphony", the composer writes just one week later. "This is not certain, I am very disturbed about it. Please do not announce the performance." Eventually, it is promised for December 1932. Koussevitzky sends a "restless" telegraph on New Year's Eve, as if he has been checking the mailbox every day that month. Two weeks later, he receives yet another telegram, yet another postponement. There are a couple more tentative mentions of the Eighth in subsequent correspondence, then nothing.
