Spring Song (Sibelius)
Tone poem by Jean Sibelius
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Spring Song (in Swedish: Vårsång; in Finnish: Kevätlaulu),[3] Op. 16, is a single-movement tone poem for orchestra written in 1894 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.
| Spring Song | |
|---|---|
| Tone poem by Jean Sibelius | |
The composer (c. 1895) | |
| Native name | Vårsång |
| Opus | 16 |
| Composed | 1894, rev. 1895 |
| Publisher | Fazer & Westerlund (1903)[1][a] |
| Duration | 8 mins. (orig. 10 mins.)[3] |
| Premiere | |
| Date | 21 June 1894[4] |
| Location | Vaasa, Grand Duchy of Finland |
| Conductor | Jean Sibelius |
| Performers | Orchestra of the Song Festival |
History
The piece was initially composed as Improvisation for Orchestra, in the key of D major. It was premiered on 21 July 1894[5] at an outdoor festival in Vaasa, organized by the Society for Popular Education (Kansanvalistusseura). Short, lyrical, and delicately scored, Sibelius's piece was ill-suited for the open-air concert, and the audience received it less enthusiastically than another work on the program: Korsholm, by Sibelius's brother-in-law and friend Armas Järnefelt. Shortly therefore, Sibelius withdrew Improvisation for revision. In 1895, he recast it in F major and retitled the work Spring Song (Vårsång), appending the subtitle "The Sadness of Spring" to that (unpublished) version.[6]
Instrumentation
Spring Song is scored for the following instruments,[1] organized by family (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):
- 2 flutes (each doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B♭), and 2 bassoons
- 4 horns (in F), 3 trumpets (in F), 3 trombones, and tuba
- Timpani and tubular bells ("glocken")
- Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, and double basses
The piece contains an optimism that is relatively rare among Sibelius' works. It is known for its prominent use of tubular bells at the end of the song.[7]
Structure
Spring Song takes about 8 minutes to play.
![{
ew PianoStaff {<<
ew Staff
elative c' {set Staff.midiInstrument=#"clarinet" ime 3/4 set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t empo "Tempo moderato e sostenuto" 4=100 autoBeamOff ransposition bes clef treble key g major ^markup {Clarinet I}|mp r4 d4( e4)|d4. ( c8[( e8 c8])|d4) g4--(fis4--|g4) d2|e4-- ( fis8[> ( e8] fis4! e4.) ) < d8[( > ( fis8 d8]! ) e2.) < e2.*5/6 s8!|}
ew Staff
elative c' {set Staff.midiInstrument=#"cello" ime 3/4 set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t empo "Tempo moderato e sostenuto" 4=100 autoBeamOff clef bass key f major ^markup {Cellos I}|mp r4 c4( d4)|c4. ( bes8[( d8 bes8])|c4) f4--(e4--|f4--) c2|d4-- ( e8[> ( d8] e4! d4.) ) < c8[( > ( e8 c8]! ) d2.) < d2.*5/6 s8!|}>>}}](http://upload.wikimedia.org/score/9/1/91twj1w3ykzl80yyxljrhht603smra8/91twj1w3.png)
Discography
The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of Spring Song:
