SIBELIUS SYMPHONY NO . 1
Arroyo reported to Barber ’ s biographer Barbara Heyman , “ the piece is nothing .… The same voice must sing tenderly and beautifully at one moment , talking to a little child directly , and then at the next turn , curse Helen , sustaining the dramatic impact over the full orchestra , over the big orchestral sound . Shift from dramatic outburst , pull back and spin off the high note , then crescendo on it while staying in control throughout … that is the technical challenge … but , at the same time , to become deeply involved with the character — a mother saying goodbye to her son , the wrench of it — and still not lose control technically so that you can ’ t sing .”
Instrumentation Two flutes and piccolo , two oboes and English horn , two clarinets and bass clarinet , two bassoons , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , cymbal , tam-tam , bass drum , snare drum , tenor drum , xylophone , celesta , antique cymbal , tambourine , anvil , whip , woodblock , harp , celesta , and strings , in addition to the solo soprano singer
Jean Sibelius
Born December 8 , 1865 in Tavastehus ( Hämeenlinna ), Finland Died September 20 , 1957 in Järvenpää , Finland
SYMPHONY NO . 1 IN E MINOR , OP . 39 [ 1898-99 ; REV . 1900 ]
Jean Sibelius was 33 years old when he unveiled his First Symphony , in 1899 . He had completed his musical training in Helsinki , Berlin , and Vienna ; he had immersed himself in the folklore of his native Finland ; and he had absorbed influences from leading composers of various nations , forging them into a distinctive voice . Notwithstanding previous orchestral achievements , even very successful ones , it is a signal moment when a composer unleashes his first symphony into the world . By the closing decades of the 19 th century , writing a symphony had become almost a political statement , an affirmation of the symphonic tradition reaching from the time of Haydn , Mozart , and Beethoven to the era of Brahms , Bruckner , and
Tchaikovsky . Though still intact , that tradition was being increasingly challenged by the rivalries of the Liszt-Wagner camp , who were more interested in symphonic poems than in symphonies . Through his several symphonic poems , Sibelius had shown considerable sympathy for Lisztian ideals , but he found that the mainstream symphonic tradition also offered opportunities for his expression .
In this First Symphony a listener may be fleetingly reminded of such German contemporaries as Richard Strauss , but the most striking point of contact seems to be with the late-Romantic Russian composers , and particularly Tchaikovsky . Finland was under Russian dominance at the time , and in terms of musical culture Sibelius ’ Helsinki was practically joined at the hip to St . Petersburg , a mere 200- mile train ride to the east . Tchaikovsky ’ s Sixth Symphony made a powerful impression on Sibelius when it was played in Helsinki in 1894 and again in 1897 , and wags have occasionally referred to Sibelius ’ First Symphony as Tchaikovsky ’ s Seventh .
He also seems to have been inspired by another famous predecessor — Berlioz ’ s Symphonie fantastique . In March 1898 , Sibelius ( traveling in Berlin ) noted in his sketchbook that he had been moved by a performance of that Berlioz piece . “ O santa inspirazione ! O santa dea !” he wrote , and within two months his own First Symphony began to take shape . At one point in his sketchbook we find the notation “ Berlioz ?” jotted above some ideas for his Symphony ’ s finale ; and the fact that Sibelius ended up attaching the words “ quasi una fantasia ” to that very Finale further bolsters the idea that these two “ fantastic ” works shared some kinship in his mind .
Instrumentation Two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , triangle , bass drum , cymbals , harp , and strings .
Maximilian Franz
36 OVERTURE / BSOmusic . org