In memoriam (Sibelius)
In memoriam | |
---|---|
Kristiania, Norway | |
Conductor | Jean Sibelius |
Performers | Kristiania Musical Association |
In memoriam,
History
The work was written to commemorate Eugen Schauman who had in 1904 shot Governor-General Nikolay Bobrikov and then killed himself.[4] Sibelius mentioned on New Year's Day of 1905 "that he intended to write a requiem in memory of Eugen Schauman and that he had already started to work on it. – I just hope it will be worthy of its subject matter! After all, it will be the only monument that we can raise for him!"[4]
Only in 1909, after his throat surgery which made him think of death, he returned to the idea.
Reading the proofs, Sibelius was not satisfied, especially with the instrumentation. He revised the piece, completing the work in March 1910. Sibelius first performed it on 8 October 1910, played by the Musikforeningen, in concerts in Kristiania, Norway.[4]
In memoriam was played at the funeral of Sibelius in 1957.[4]
Instrumentation
In its revised form, In memoriam is scored for the following instruments,[6] organized by family (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):
- 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 1 cor anglais, 2 clarinets (in A), 1 bass clarinet (in B♭), 2 bassoons, and 1 contrabassoon
- 4 horns (in F), 3 trumpets (in B♭), 3 trombones, and 1 tuba
- Timpani, bass drum, snare drum, and cymbals
- Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, and double basses
The original version of the piece called for 1 piccolo in addition to the orchestra forces above.[7]
Discography
The British conductor
No. | Conductor | Ensemble | Rec.[a] | Time | Recording venue | Label | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sir Thomas Beecham
|
London Philharmonic Orchestra | 1938 | 9:03 | Koch
|
||
2 | Jussi Jalas | Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra
|
c. 1975 | 8:51 | [Unknown], Budapest | Decca | |
3 | Neemi Järvi
|
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra | 1986 | 7:57 | Gothenburg Concert Hall | BIS | |
4 | Atso Almila | Kuopio Symphony Orchestra | 1998 | 8:48 | Kuopio Music Centre | Finlandia
|
|
5 | Leif Segerstam (1) | Danish National Symphony Orchestra | 1990 | 13:38 | Danish Radio Concert Hall (old) | Chandos | |
6 | Osmo Vänskä (1) | Lahti Symphony Orchestra (1) | 2000 | 11:21 | Sibelius Hall | BIS | |
† | Osmo Vänskä (2) | Lahti Symphony Orchestra (2) | 2004 | 10:25 | Sibelius Hall | BIS | |
7 | Leif Segerstam (2) | Turku Philharmonic Orchestra | 2014 | 13:15 | Turku Concert Hall | Naxos |
† = original version (1904)
Notes
- ^ Refers to the year in which the performers recorded the work; this may not be the same as the year in which the recording was first released to the general public.
- ^ [ T. Beecham—Koch (3–7061–2 H1) 1991]
- ^ J. Jalas–Decca (482 331–1)
- ^ N. Järvi–BIS (CD–372) 1987
- ^ A. Almila–Finlandia (3984–23391–2) 1999
- ^ L. Segerstam–Chandos (CHAN 9107) 1992
- ^ a b O. Vänskä–BIS (CD–1485) 2006
- ^ L. Segerstam–Naxos (8.573340) 2015
References
- ^ Dahlström 2003, p. 275.
- ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 273–274.
- ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 205, 274.
- ^ a b c d e "Other orchestral works / In Memoriam". Jean Sibelius. Finnish Club of Helsinki. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
- ^ ISBN 0300111592. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
- ^ a b Dahlström 2003, p. 274.
- ^ Dahlström 2003, p. 273.
- ISBN 3-7651-0333-0.
External links
- In memoriam, Op. 59: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project