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Symphony No. 1 (Sibelius)

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Symphony No. 1
by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1900)
KeyE minor
Opus39
Composed1898 (1898)–1899, rev. 1900
PublisherFazer & Westerlund (fi) (1902)[1][a]
Duration38 mins.[3]
Movements4
Premiere
Date26 April 1899 (1899-04-26)[4]
LocationHelsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
ConductorJean Sibelius
PerformersHelsinki Philharmonic Society

The Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39, is a four-movement work for orchestra written from 1898 to 1899 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

The work was first performed on 26 April 1899 by the Helsinki Orchestral Society, conducted by the composer, in an original version which has not survived. After the premiere, Sibelius made some revisions, resulting in the version performed today. The revised version was completed in the spring and summer of 1900, and was first performed in Berlin by the Helsinki Philharmonic, conducted by Robert Kajanus on 1 July 1900.

The symphony is characterized by its use of string and woodwind solos; the first movement opens with a long and discursive clarinet solo over a timpani roll; (this idea returns at the start of the fourth movement, fortissimo in the strings, with wind and brass chordal accompaniment), and subsequent movements include violin, viola, and cello solos.

Most performances of the work last between 35 and 40 minutes. Many conductors choose to slacken the speeds suggested by Sibelius's metronome markings, particularly in the fast part (allegro energico) of the first movement. Because of this, many versions of the symphony are about 38–40 minutes long (the publishers suggest the duration is 40 minutes[5]).

Instrumentation

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The First Symphony is scored for the following instruments,[1] organized by family (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):

Movements

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External audio
Performed by the San Francisco Symphony under Herbert Blomstedt
audio icon I. Andante, ma non troppo – Allegro energico
audio icon II. Andante (ma non troppo lento)
audio icon III. Scherzo (Allegro)
audio icon IV. Finale (Quasi una fantasia)

Like most symphonies, it is in four movements:

  1. Andante, ma non troppo – Allegro energico (dotted half note. = 108) in E minor and sonata form with introduction
    This movement starts with a clarinet solo, stating all the basic themes and motifs of the symphony.
  2. Andante (ma non troppo lento) (half note = 54) in E♭ major and ternary form, variation form
    Similarly to the second movement of Sibelius's Symphony No. 2, the slow movement starts quietly, with tragic themes. It then expands into a large and furious passage, followed by a return to the original themes, ending calmly.
  3. Scherzo: Allegro (dotted half note. = 108) in C major and scherzo and trio form
    Like the third movement of Symphony No. 2, this fast movement is not light in tone. It ends with stretto and ends incompletely.
  4. Finale (Quasi una fantasia): Andante – Allegro molto – Andante assai – Allegro molto come prima – Andante (ma non troppo) in E minor and fantasia-like with an orchestrated introduction from the first movement
    This movement contains a number of tones that lead to a rumbling effect due to intermodulation distortion.[6] It starts with a serious and emotional strings unison with brass strikes, using the introduction from the first movement, then soon proceeds into a fantasia with nearly free form.

Discography

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See also: Discography of Sibelius symphony cycles

The Finnish composer Robert Kajanus and the London Symphony Orchestra (credited as the "Symphony Orchestra" for contractural reasons)[7][8] made the world premiere studio recording of the First Symphony on 21–23 May 1930 at Westminster Central Hall, for the Columbia Graphophone Company (Columbia LX 65/69, 1931).[1] (Two years later, in 1932, the British record producer Walter Legge founded the His Master's Voice Sibelius Society, a subscription service that promised to record "all his [Sibelius's] major works and to culminate in the forthcoming Eighth Symphony".[9] Kajanus's pioneering recording of the First Symphony was incorporated retroactively into this cycle.)

Notes

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  1. ^ On 20 July 1905, the Helsinki-based music publisher Fazer & Westerlund (fi) (Helsingfors Nya Musikhandel) sold its Sibelius holdings (the publishing rights and printing plates) to the German firm of Breitkopf & Härtel.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Dahlström 2003, p. 185.
  2. ^ Dahlström 2003, p. xxiv.
  3. ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 184–185.
  4. ^ Dahlström 2003, p. 183.
  5. ^ MusicSalesClassical.com's "suggestion" of the tempo
  6. ^ "How We Reverse Engineered the Cuban "Sonic Weapon" Attack". IEEE. 15 Mar 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-18. For example, in their 1987 book The Musician's Guide to Acoustics, Murray Campbell and Clive Greated note that the last movement of Jean Sibelius's Symphony No. 1 in E minor contains tones that lead to a rumbling IMD. The human ear processes sound in a nonlinear fashion, and so it can be "tricked" into hearing tones that weren't produced by the instruments and that aren't in the sheet music; those subliminal tones are produced when the played tones combine nonlinearly in the inner ear.
  7. ^ Tawaststjerna 1997, pp. 320–321.
  8. ^ Layton 2001, p. 21.
  9. ^ Tawaststjerna 1997, p. 321.

Sources

  • Dahlström, Fabian [in Swedish] (2003). Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke [Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works] (in German). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel. ISBN 3-7651-0333-0.
  • Layton, Robert (2001). "Chapter 2: From Kajanus to Karajan: Sibelius on record". In Jackson, Timothy; Veijo, Murtomäki (eds.). Sibelius Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 14–34. ISBN 978-0-521-62416-9.
  • Tawaststjerna, Erik (1997). Sibelius: Volume 3, 1914–1957. (Robert Layton, English translation). London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-24774-5.
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