kaberett | two observations on unwelcome developments with respect to (the composer) Sibelius (Reply)

For some godsforsaken reason, the horn (and, it transpires, timpani parts) for the edition of Pelleas and Melisande we were playing from... featured bars with things like "15 mal", i.e. "fifteen times", written crammed into the stave under the tempo marking so they were easy to miss the first time until you found yourself wondering how on earth you'd ended up quite so far ahead. I found myself muttering NEVER! IN MY WHOLE CAREER! HAVE I ENCOUNTERED THIS BEFORE! to myself the first rehearsal we came across it.
Having, for the majority of my existence, been at best indifferent to and at worst actively irritated by Sibelius' music every time it came up as repertoire I was to play (it was all formless mush! what was the POINT of it! why did people CARE!) I am Decidedly Alarmed to discover that I've apparently got old enough to find it... affecting? Moving? Pleasant? My inner fifteen-year-old is screaming.

(I really need to take a suitable photo of my horn and iconify it.)