In Finnish music national forests and international urban culture meet in an original way. Around the last turn of century, composers believe they had discovered their spiritual roots in nature and especially in the forests. The universal musical language of Jean Sibelius, for example, is based on a deep Finnish identity, the atmosphere of Kalevala. Sibelius’ Tapiola is, thus, among our century’s most powerful musical interpretations of feelings about nature. Nature inspired music is, generally, associated with such positive qualities as beauty, peace, softness, light and joy. A great deal of forest music is based on literature, where natural images have almost always had a positive interpretation.
The paper is based on a lecture given in the seminar ‘The forest as a Finnish cultural entity’, held in Helsinki in 1986. The PDF includes a summary in English.
According to universal primitive beliefs, there was a huge pole or tree in the centre of the universe to support the sky. These beliefs gave rise to innumerable customs where both trees and wood have been used to promote health and good luck. Even today, many such customs exist: the Christmas tree, maypole, Midsummer birches, birch whisks in the Finnish sauna, ritual tree plantings etc. In addition to the tree, also the forest as both a protecting and a frightening maternal symbol can be considered as an archetype. Intensive forestry diminishes the archetypal contents of forests, which may be one reason behind critical attitudes towards modern forestry.
The paper is based on a lecture given in the seminar ‘The forest as a Finnish cultural entity’, held in Helsinki in 1986. The PDF includes a summary in English.
Forstästhetik is a programme for forest management, resembling an art manifesto. Forest managers are programme executors. Forest aesthetics is forest investigation from the point of view of beauty. In the case of managed forests, it is possible to ask, what is the manager’s programme and his skill to achieve personal solutions. In forests, the functioning and sustainability of the ecosystem are basic principles affecting all other values. On this basis it is possible to evaluate the competence of taste systems and the logic of their application.
The paper is based on a lecture given in the seminar ‘The forest as a Finnish cultural entity’, held in Helsinki in 1986. The PDF includes a summary in English.
This publication consists of 16 papers on importance of forests to Finns, mainly from the viewpoint of various social and humanistic sciences. The articles are based on lectures given to a seminar organized in Helsinki, December 18-19, 1986.
This paper includes preface and list of the speeches in English.