Tapiola (Sibelius)

When asked by the publisher to clarify the work's program, Sibelius responded with a prose explanation converted by his publisher (Breitkopf & Härtel) into a quatrain prefixed to English language editions of the score:

Tapiola was premiered by Walter Damrosch and the New York Symphonic Society on 26 December 1926.^[3][4] The program opened with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which was followed after the interval by Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F, played by the composer. Tapiola closed the concert.^{[citation needed]}

The first performance in Finland on 25 April 1927 was conducted by Robert Kajanus, when the overture to The Tempest and the Seventh Symphony were also introduced to Finland. The composer Leevi Madetoja noted, "At times we hear the melancholy, repeated call of an elf, at times a lonely wanderer in the woods is giving vent to the pain of life. A beautiful work, technically close to the seventh symphony."^[4]

The piece was given its British premiere on 1 September 1928 at the Promenade Concerts, conducted by Henry Wood, a Queen's Hall.^[5]

The original publisher was Breitkopf & Härtel, who published most of the composer's works. Tapiola was Sibelius's last major work, though he lived for another thirty years. He began working on an Eighth Symphony, but he is said to have burned the sketches after becoming unhappy with the work.^{[citation needed]}

Tapiola is scored for the following instruments,^[2] organized by family (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):

• 3 flutes (the third doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes, 1 cor anglais, 2 clarinets (in A), 1 bass clarinet (in B♭), 2 bassoons, and 1 contrabassoon
• 4 horns (in E♭), 3 trumpets (in B♭), and 3 trombones
• Timpani
• Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, and double basses

A typical performance of Tapiola lasts between fifteen and twenty minutes.

The opening gesture from which the whole piece develops is:

Karl Ekman wrote in the Hufvudstadsbladet: "Indeed, Tapiola is a monothematic whole – although there has been disagreement as to whether the core motif can actually be considered a theme. Erkki Salmenhaara argues that it is not. In his view, the 'core' motif gives rise to at least four central, interconnected basic motifs. These, in their turn, produce 'around thirty highly characteristic, original and inimitably Sibelian musical motifs'."^[4]

The Finnish conductor Robert Kajanus and the London Symphony Orchestra made the world premiere studio recording of Tapiola in June 1932,^[2] which appeared on Volume 1 of HMV's The Sibelius Society series (C 507, 1933). Since Kanajus's pioneering example, three conductors—in terms of superlatives—have made four recordings each: Sir Thomas Beecham (1946, 1954, 1955, and 1955); Herbert von Karajan (1953, 1964, 1976, and 1984); and Paavo Berglund (1968, 1972, 1982, and 1987). The table below lists these and other commercially available recordings: