I discovered Sibelius kind of late in life, because I never listened to side two of my Finlandia album (see post #38). This piece starts out sounding very menacing, and continues in a serious note until it gets about halfway through. Then things start to get kind of excited, and finally we get this very hopeful tune. We have a hymn to this tune in Voices United, the United Church hymn book, and the words (most of them) really fit the sound of the music, I think.
All praise to you, O God of all creation: you made the world, and it is yours alone.
The planet earth you spun in its location amid the stars adorning heaven's dome.
We lease the earth but for a life's duration, yet for this life it is our cherished home.
With wondrous grace you clothed the earth in splendour; with teeming life you filled the sea and land.
Instil in us a sense of awe and wonder when we behold the bounty of you hand.
Then when we hear the voice of bird or thunder, we hear the voice our faith can understand.
All praise to you, O God of all creation: you made the world, and it is yours alone.
The planet earth you spun in its location amid the stars adorning heaven's dome.
We lease the earth but for a life's duration, yet for this life it is our cherished home.
With wondrous grace you clothed the earth in splendour; with teeming life you filled the sea and land.
Instil in us a sense of awe and wonder when we behold the bounty of you hand.
Then when we hear the voice of bird or thunder, we hear the voice our faith can understand.
I don't approve of words like "lease" in a hymn, but I like the imagery of creation and nature.
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