Sibelius' symphonic poem FINLANDIA was written in 1899 as the Finns chafed under the domination of Czarist Russia. It was wildly popular as a nationalistic anthem and was promptly banned. This had the opposite of the desired effect for the Czarist authorities, as Sibelius' fame grew and the piece became his most famous work. The great music, like the Finns themselves, rose up and by the 1930's FINLANDIA had crossed over and become a popular hymn tune, most often sung in English with a lyric by Catharina von Schlegel, translated by Jane Borthwick. It is in this context that we present this arrangement.

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Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.


Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.


Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.


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MP3 sound sample: Entire Piece (synthesizer/midi).



FINLANDIA, by Jean Sibelius, arranged by Tom Kirkland for a quartet of two trumpets, a tenor trombone, and a bass trombone, comes in a pdf file of 280K, with an five-page score, four two-page parts, and a license page, fourteen pages in all. Performance time should be slightly less than three minutes.