400 Years of the House of Nobility: En saga The sounds of the grand duchy -- Sibelius and his companions Romberg--Crusell--Sibelius Pauliina Fred, flute Lorenzo Coppola, clarinet FiBO Players: Antti Tikkanen, violin Irma Niskanen, violin Hanna Pakkala, viola Jussi Seppänen, cello Petri Ainali, double bass Irma Niskanen, programme planning The 400th anniversary of the institution behind the House of Nobility continues, as we move on from the jubilee concert in May, which featured music from the 17th and 18th centuries, to the 19th century, the century when the House of Nobility was built. The Swedish House of Nobility was founded in 1626, 400 years ago. The founding of the Finnish House of Nobility became a topical issue during Russian rule, and the neo-Gothic House of Nobility was completed in 1862. What was performed in Finnish concert halls before Sibelius? Of the many Finnish composers, Bernhard Henrik Crusell, the great son of Uusikaupunki, was the most well known, both to his contemporaries and to us. Of course, the Central European repertoire was also performed in the Grand Duchy. A fascinating rarity in FiBO's concert is the reconstruction of the early septet version of En saga by the young Jean Sibelius. The German cello virtuoso Bernhard Romberg (1767--1841) toured Europe as far as the Russian Empire. His symphonies were also performed in Helsinki at concerts of the Academic Music Society. Romberg's Divertimento over a Finnish melody (1817) is lush music from the borderlands between classicism and romanticism. Crusell (1775--1838) did his most important life's work in Stockholm, but even in a letter he wrote to Johan Ludvig Runeberg later in life, he still saw himself as a Finn. Crusell honed his clarinet playing with top international names in Berlin and Paris. During his travels, he met Meyerbeer, Weber and Mendelssohn, and he was still a member of the Royal Court Orchestra in Stockholm when Fredrik Pacius began his career as a violinist in the orchestra.