The Origin of Fire
Patriotic cantata by Jean Sibelius (1902/1910)
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The Origin of Fire (in Finnish: Tulen synty), Op. 32, is a single-movement, patriotic cantata for baritone, male choir, and orchestra written in 1902 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece, which is a setting of Runo XLVII (lines 41–110) of the Kalevala, Finland's national epic, is chronologically the fourth of Sibelius's nine orchestral cantatas.
| The Origin of Fire | |
|---|---|
| Cantata by Jean Sibelius | |
The composer (c. 1902) | |
| Native name | Tulen synty |
| Opus | 32 |
| Text | Kalevala (Runo XLVII)[1] |
| Language | Finnish |
| Composed | 1902, rev. 1910 |
| Publisher | Breitkopf & Härtel (1912)[2] |
| Duration | 10 mins. (orig. 15 mins.)[3] |
| Premiere | |
| Date | 9 April 1902[1] |
| Location | Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland |
| Conductor | Jean Sibelius |
| Performers | |
It premiered on 9 April 1902 at the opening of the Finnish National Theatre, conducted by the composer. It was later revised in 1910. Some of the sketches for the piece can be related back to 1893 to 1894.
Instrumentation
The revised version of The Origin of Fire is scored for the following instruments and voices,[1] organized by family (vocalists, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):
- Baritone and male choir (TTBB)
- 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, and 2 bassoons
- 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, and tuba
- Timpani, glockenspiel, bass drum, cymbals, and triangle
- Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, and double basses
The original version of the piece is scored identically, with the exception that triangle is omitted.[4]
Discography
The American conductor Thor Johnson and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra made the world premiere studio recording of The Origin of Fire in 1953 for Remington Records (later reissued by Varèse Sarabande); they were joined by the Finnish baritone Sulo Saarits and the YL Male Voice Choir (then the Helsinki University Chorus).[2] The sortable table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:
| No. | Conductor | Orchestra | Baritone | Chorus | Rec.[a] | Time[b] | Venue | Label | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thor Johnson | Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra | Sulo Saarits | YL Male Voice Choir (1) | 1953 | 8:47 | ? | Varèse Sarabande | |
| 2 | Paavo Berglund | Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra | Jorma Hynninen | YL Male Voice Choir (2) Estonian National Male Choir |
1985 | 8:34 | Kulttuuritalo | EMI | |
| 3 | Neeme Järvi | Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra | Sauli Tiilikainen | Laulun Ystävät Male Choir | 1985 | 9:54 | Gothenburg Concert Hall | BIS | |
| 4 | Osmo Vänskä (1) | Lahti Symphony Orchestra (1) | Tommi Hakala (1) | YL Male Voice Choir (3) | 2005 | 9:03 | Sibelius Hall | BIS | |
| † | Osmo Vänskä (2) | Lahti Symphony Orchestra (2) | Tommi Hakala (2) | YL Male Voice Choir (4) | 2005 | 11:20 | Sibelius Hall | BIS |
† = original version (1902)
