Finland's Jean Sibelius is perhaps the most important
composer associated with nationalism in music and one
of the most influential in the development of the
symphony and symphonic poem.
Sibelius was born in southern Finland, the second of
three children. His physician father left the family
bankrupt, owing to his financial extravagance, a trait
that, along with heavy drinking, he would pass on to
Jean. Jean showed talent on the violin and at age nine
composed his first work for it, Rai...(+)
Finland's Jean Sibelius is perhaps the most important
composer associated with nationalism in music and one
of the most influential in the development of the
symphony and symphonic poem.
Sibelius was born in southern Finland, the second of
three children. His physician father left the family
bankrupt, owing to his financial extravagance, a trait
that, along with heavy drinking, he would pass on to
Jean. Jean showed talent on the violin and at age nine
composed his first work for it, Rain Drops. In 1885
Sibelius entered the University of Helsinki to study
law, but after only a year found himself drawn back to
music. He took up composition studies with Martin
Wegelius and violin with Mitrofan Wasiliev, then
Hermann Csillag. During this time he also became a
close friend of Busoni. Though Sibelius auditioned for
the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, he would come to
realize he was not suited to a career as a
violinist.
During the early years of the twentieth century, Jean
Sibelius' reputation outside his home country of
Finland rested almost exclusively on the widespread
fame of just a single piece: the "Valse Triste" from
his incidental music to the play Kuolema (Death).
Sibelius was keenly interested in the theater, and when
asked in 1903 by his brother-in-law Arvid Järnefelt,
the author of Kuolema, to supply some music to support
the drama, he happily responded with six numbers scored
for strings and percussion. Over the next few years,
two pieces were extracted from the original six and
published as Op. 44; two additional numbers, published
as Op. 62, date from 1911.
"Valse Triste," a 1904 reworking of the first musical
scene, has the dubious honor of being one of the most
truly overplayed pieces in musical history; yet it is
still rather easy to imagine the seductive, sparkling
effect that this five-minute piece must have had on
European coffee-house audiences of the day. The work,
cast in the traditional three-part dance form, paints a
striking picture. Paavali waits at the bed-side of his
dying mother, who dreams of having gone to the ball. As
Paavali goes to sleep himself, Death comes to take his
mother, who, believing the figure to be her own dead
husband, proceeds to dance the "Valse Triste" with him;
the mother has expired by the time Paavali wakes up
again. The interplay of melancholy, nostalgia, and
resignation in the music of the outer two sections of
this miniature tone-poem remains fresh even a hundred
years after it first appeared; the middle portion,
admittedly somewhat less outstanding, allows for some
appropriately heated dance.
In 1906 Sibelius recomposed the third and fourth
musical scenes into a single number, called "Scen med
tranor" (Scene with Cranes) and published as Op. 44/2.
For the new version Sibelius augmented the original
string ensemble with two clarinets and thoroughly
rewrote much of the musical material. The result is a
tender portrayal of the bird-life that Sibelius loved
so dearly and was so deeply influenced by in later
works.
The two numbers published as Op. 62 were not put
together until almost a decade after the original
composition of the Kuolema music (added for a new
production of the play in 1911). The Canzonetta, Op.
62/1, retains the original scoring for muted strings;
it is a delicate -- one might even say fragile -- piece
that far outshines the rather disappointing "Valse
Romantique," Op. 62/2, the scoring of which -- although
supplemented by flutes, clarinet, horns and timpani --
still somehow manages to come across as bland. The
primary idea is promising enough, however, and in the
hands of a skilled ensemble the work makes a lush
impression.
Source: Allmusic
(https://www.allmusic.com/composition/kuolema-death-inc
idental-music-for-orchestra-i-op-44-mc0002360580).
Although originally composed for Orchestra, I created
this interpretation of the Kuolema (Death), Incidental
Music for Orchestra (Op. 44 No. 1) for Winds (Flute,
Oboe, Bb Clarinet, French Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2
Violins, Viola, Cello & Bass).
SHEET MUSIC