United Praise under the Messiah's Universal Role

United Praise under the Messiah’s Universal Rule
ROMANS 15.7-13

The great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius brought the art of writing symphonies to a new glory. His first six were each splendid in their own way, developing the form which previous composers had used and flooding it not only with new themes but with new ways of developing and combining them. But in his seventh symphony he moved into a different mode again. If we listen carefully, we can trace elements of the traditional four-movement structure. The music passes through different moods that correspond in some ways to the regular pattern. But Sibelius has woven the whole thing together into a single great movement, far more tightly knit together than anything he or anyone else had attempted previously. It remains one of the most sublime pieces of music ever written...