Jean Sibelius’ first “artistic group” was a small circle consisting of students and teachers at the Helsinki Music Institute, who gathered around the piano teacher Ferruccio Busoni from the autumn of 1888 onwards. It was a small miracle that one of the most famous pianists of his time, who later also became one of the leading conductors and composers of the era, found his way to Helsinki as a young man. The admiration and respect between Busoni and Sibelius were mutual.
Ferruccio Busoni
“Among us, ‘the student’ Sibelius, the Järnefelt brothers, Adolf Paul, and I formed an absolutely inspiring circle. After my Newfoundland dog Lesko, we called ourselves the Leskovites,” Busoni later recounted. He was Paul’s teacher, but since Sibelius did not study piano, the future composer was never Busoni’s student.
The Leskovites often gathered at Ericson’s café. In the evenings, they might also go to the Hotel Kämp, which had opened its doors in October 1887, and where the young students could entertain themselves by improvising at the piano, for example, with one hand on the white keys and the other on the black keys. Several decades later, Busoni laughed when the next generation of composers began to seriously experiment with such techniques. “Sibelius and the Järnefelt brothers were stimulating company for me. I also learned certain things from my director Wegelius, who was an exceptionally refined and cultured man,” Busoni praised.
For Sibelius, the most important takeaway from the Leskovites was that he was able to become acquainted with another world-class genius and receive encouragement from him. Sibelius played Schumann’s Piano Quintet with Busoni at the Music Institute’s concert and enjoyed his generosity and encouragement.
“When Busoni was in high spirits, which happened quite often, he would treat all three of us to supper at Kämp. A warm and generous nature who acted on the spur of the moment. He played a lot for us when we were together, either pieces by his favorite composers or free improvisations. He also encouraged us to improvise at the piano, and I took advantage of his tolerance toward the deficiencies in my piano playing. When we weren’t playing, Busoni kept the mood lively by sharing his experiences in various countries; he spoke contagiously vividly and spiced up his stories with excellent descriptions and witticisms. He was unbeatable at wordplay.”
The term “Leskovites” was rarely used after the 1880s, but Armas and Eero Järnefelt, Paul, and Busoni remained Sibelius’ closest friends for decades. For instance, it was thanks to Busoni that Sibelius was able to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic at the beginning of the 1900s, which accelerated his breakthrough in Germany.