Jean Sibelius composed the King Christian II Suite in 1898. The concert suite is a selection from Sibelius's own incidental music—originally composed for the Scandinavian historical play King Christian II (written by his friend Adolf Paul).
The original play deals with the love of King Christian II, ruler of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, for a Dutch girl Dyvecke, a commoner.
A complete performance of the suite takes about 25 minutes.
Read more about King Christian II Suite: Movements
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—Pierre Corneille (1606–1684)
“If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)