Jon Gallant wrote:

>In this connection, a woman-friend and I once attended a Seattle
>Symphony concert which began with Sibelius' "Lemminkainen's Homeward
>Journey" from the 4 Kalevala Legends.  My companion, who is enthusiastic
>but naive in regard to classical music, turned to me after the rousing
>conclusion and exclaimed that she could just picture all those lemmings
>hurtling over the cliff.  I pointed out that the hero of the Finnish
>national folk epic was not generally pictured as a small, furry mammal,
>and suggested that we continue this conversation <i>sotto voce</i> in
>case there were any Finns seated within earshot.

The alternative explanation I'd heard was that Lemmin Kainen was some
sort of tart Finnish dessert.  No doubt inspired by all those native
citrus trees thriving north of Turku.....

Bill H.

             ***********************************************
The CLASSICAL mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R)
list management software together with L-Soft's HDMail High Deliverability
Mailer for reliable, lightning fast mail delivery.  For more information,
go to:  http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html