Chanelling Howard Hanson?

Among several CDs I picked up on a recent Amoeba Records binge, I think I’ve stumbled across a musical ancestor. This 1989 Seattle Symphony recording of Howard Hanson‘s Symphonies 1 and 2 was sitting there staring at me from the clearance bin, so I idlely grabbed it, thinking ‘what the heck’.

Having never paid any attention to Hanson before, I listened to it for the first time with great interest. About two thirds of the way through the final movement of Symphony No. 1, I heard something that made me stop and rewind.

Keep in mind that I’ve never heard this Hanson symphony before in my life, and check this out. It’s an excerpt from my 2000 orchestra piece Misterium Tremendum.

It’s funny to me, because a review of a 2003 performance of Misterium picked on it for ripping off Sibelius, and I actually wasn’t familiar with Sibelius when I wrote the piece. I eventually got to know and love Sibelius, partly thanks to that review (which was actually quite fair and astute).

Turns out I was ripping off Hanson without realizing it. Hanson, I found out from the liner notes, was a Sibelius fan himself. What’s particularly interesting is the news that one of Hanson’s students was William Bergsma who taught my last teacher, Conrad Susa. I suppose that makes him a musical great-grandfather of sorts.

Sebelius and Sibelius

So, Alex Ross wonders whether Kansas Governer Kathleen Sebelius is related to composer Jean Sibelius.

I haven’t had time this week for my planned “real” post, so ok, I’ll bite. Being a bit of a genealogy nerd, I have access to some resources, and here’s the answer:

I don’t know.

But, I do know these things:

1. Jean Sibelius, although known as a Finnish composer, was ethnically Swedish (as many Finns are today; Finland is a bilingual Finnish/Swedish-speaking country).
2. Governor Sebelius’ husband Gary is the great grandson of a Christian Sebelius, who identifies Sweden as his birthplace in the 1900 Census
3. Gary Sebelius’ grandfather, Carl, was a dentist. No real value here, but isn’t it kind of creepy that I can find that out?

No luck figuring out where in Sweden Christian came from. But, he was a contemporary of Jean Sibelius (whose real name, interestingly, was Johan Julius Christian Sibelius). Jean Sibelius was born in Hämeenlinna, which was part of Russia at the time, not Sweden.

Still, dollars to doughnuts, they are related, if distantly. That’s my educated hunch. Regardless, I agree with Mr. Ross that it would be lovely to have a president named Sebelius.

I do loves me some Sibelius.