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9 mm. after reh. B - 4 mm. before reh. C
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Skills & Techniques: Loud Playing, Low Register, Phrasing, Slurring Flexibility
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Horn 2 (F)
Horn 4 (F)
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London Symphony Orchestra (1994)
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St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (2022)
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13 mm. after reh. Q - reh. S
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Skills & Techniques: Endurance, Loud Playing, Marcato Style
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Horn 1 (F)
Horn 2 (F)
Horn 3 (F)
Horn 4 (F)
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London Symphony Orchestra (1994)
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St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (2022)
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Composer & Composition Information
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
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Jean Sibelius was born in Hämeenlinna, Finland, on 8th December 1865, the second of three children. His father died when ‘Janne’ was only two. Although the language spoken at home was Swedish, Janne attended Hämeenlinna’s pioneering Finnish-speaking grammar school. Music was encouraged at home, and before long Janne was improvising and composing pieces of his own. Vattendroppar (Water Drops) for violin and cello (c. 1875) is believed to be his first surviving composition. In 1885 Janne finished school and moved to Helsinki, nominally to study law, although he also enrolled at the Music Institute. It was not long before the law studies were quietly dropped, and he started official composition studies under Martin Wegelius. His music from these years displays a seemingly inexhaustible melodic fecundity as well as an increasingly secure and original sense of form.
It was during his student years in Helsinki that Janne – now using the ‘music name’ Jean – met and fell in love with Aino Järnefelt. He numbered many future luminaries of Finnish culture among his friends, among them the authors Adolf Paul and Juhani Aho. He also befriended the composer and conductor Robert Kajanus and the pianist and composer Ferruccio Busoni. In 1889 Sibelius left Finland to pursue his studies abroad – first in Berlin and then in Vienna. In both cities he lived far above his means and enthusiastically nurtured a taste for fine wines and cigars. It was at this time that he became fully aware of the potential of the Finnish epic poem, the Kalevala, as a source of musical inspiration. He was soon hard at work on a massive five-movement piece for soloists, male choir and orchestra with a Kalevala text: Kullervo. Back in Finland, Sibelius conducted Kullervo to great acclaim in April 1892. The work marked his breakthrough and smoothed the way to his marriage to Aino that June. The text & image are reprinted from Sibelius One where more information about the composer can be found. |
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En Saga
An element of uncertainty surrounds the creative impulse that led to Jean Sibelius's tone poem En Sag[a]. In 1892, Sibelius scored a conspicuous success with his symphonic poem Kullervo. Based on a Finnish epic legend, this ambitious work deeply affected many listeners when the composer conducted its premier in Helsinki, but its great length (nearly 90 minutes) and complexity augured poorly for widespread performances. Accordingly, Robert Kajanus, director of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and a longtime champion of Sibelius' music, suggested that the composer write a shorter and more accessible piece.
Sibelius recalled that he was "not at all disinclined to write [such] a piece," and in the autumn of 1892 he composed a single movement work for orchestra, using thematic ideas he has sketched a year or two earlier, mostly in connection with an octet for woodwinds and Strongs he had begun but abandoned. But late in his life, the composer denied that he had be swayed by Kajanus. "Nothing came of it [the conductor's suggestion], " he asserted. "Instead I completed the orchestral work that I had started and to which I gave the name En Saga. This tone poem was by no means the result of Kajanus' request to write a popular piece. I never complied with that request." It remains uncertain which of these contradictory accounts accurately reflect the genesis of the composition.
The text is written by & reprinted from Paul Shiavo (St. Louis Symphony Orchestra) where more information about the composition can be found.
Sibelius recalled that he was "not at all disinclined to write [such] a piece," and in the autumn of 1892 he composed a single movement work for orchestra, using thematic ideas he has sketched a year or two earlier, mostly in connection with an octet for woodwinds and Strongs he had begun but abandoned. But late in his life, the composer denied that he had be swayed by Kajanus. "Nothing came of it [the conductor's suggestion], " he asserted. "Instead I completed the orchestral work that I had started and to which I gave the name En Saga. This tone poem was by no means the result of Kajanus' request to write a popular piece. I never complied with that request." It remains uncertain which of these contradictory accounts accurately reflect the genesis of the composition.
The text is written by & reprinted from Paul Shiavo (St. Louis Symphony Orchestra) where more information about the composition can be found.
Notable Performances/Recordings:
Boston Symphony Orchestra (1980)
Vienna Philharmonic (1950)
Berlin Philharmonic (1943)
London Philharmonic Orchestra (1938)
Boston Symphony Orchestra (1980)
Vienna Philharmonic (1950)
Berlin Philharmonic (1943)
London Philharmonic Orchestra (1938)