led to the Trojan War.
For Gluck's librettist, Calzibigi, this is only a fragment of this story. Enough, however, for a five-act opera that premiered in Vienna in 1770.

He was raised by shepherds and, during his stay on Ida, judged a beauty contest between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, awarding first prize to the latter, who then promised him Helen, wife of the Spartan Menelaus, as his bride; the subsequent developments of this "Judgment of Paris”

Before experiencing this opera, it might be wise to pay some attention to Homer's Iliad and Virgil's Aenead to reacquaint yourself with the fate of Paris, the Trojan prince's son, exposed by his mother Hecuba.

“Imagine a work of such magnitude that it truly represents the entire world.
My Third Symphony will be something never heard before.
In this music, all of nature finds a voice”

Gustav Mahler.

While it would have been rather fashionable, as well as appropriate for the occasion, to capture the mechanical features of the mill, Sibelius' greatest inspiration was nature, and the work features a tone of almost sacred solemnity.

First written for a string quartet and later arranged for a string orchestra and timpani ad libitum, it has a musical vocabulary in almost complete opposition to the prevailing trends in art and music at the time.

Most of his works, however, are arrangements of works composed in other media that were more easily publishable and might be familiar to listeners in other guises.
In 1922 Sibelius composed Andante Festivo for the 25th anniversary of the Saynatsalo plywood mill.

continuous stream of similar melodic phrases that flow into and out of each other.
Despite the rejection of the string orchestra repertoire by several major publishers of his day, including the extremely influential Breitkopf & Härtel, Sibelius was drawn to the medium throughout his lifetime.

Andante Festivo is a single movement composition by Jean Sibelius, originally scored for string quartet in 1922.
In 1938, the composer rescored the piece for string orchestra and timpani.
Full-throated and hymnic, this piece of work is constructed as a smooth,

Thanks Lisa 👌🎵