Water Droplets (Sibelius)
Water Droplets | |
---|---|
Duo by Jean Sibelius | |
Native name | Vattendroppar |
Catalogue | JS 216 |
Composed | 1875 | (or perhaps as late as 1881)
Publisher | Fazer (1997)[1] |
Duration | 0.75 min.[1] |
Water Droplets (in Swedish: Vattendroppar; in Finnish: Vesipisaroita; occasionally translated to English as Water Drops
History
Sibelius's father, Christian Gustaf, died of typhus on 31 July 1868, leaving behind his pregnant, 26-year old wife Maria (née Borg), as well as two young children: Jean (then two) and his older sister Linda; Christian had mismanaged his affairs, and following his death, his estate was declared bankrupt. Maria was forced to move back in with her widowed mother, Juliana Borg (née Haartman), and two unmarried sisters (Tekla and Julia); shortly thereafter, she gave birth to Sibelius's younger brother, Christian, on 27 March 1869. Throughout his childhood, Sibelius—then called Janne—lived within this extended family circle, which moved around Hämeenlinna several times.[7][8] The children typically summered in Loviisa with their paternal grandmother, Katarina (née Åkerberg), and Aunt Evelina.[9]
Sibelius's first attempts at composition—improvisational in nature—were at the family piano, on which his Aunt Julia began teaching him at age seven.[10] Later in life, Sibelius claimed that his first composition had been a piano piece for children's theatre called Desert Scene (Ökenscen); no trace of this work has ever been found,[2] perhaps because he never committed it to paper. Moreover, Aunt Evelina—who "very early on ... grasped the exceptional nature of [Sibelius's] musical talent, and watched its growth with sympathy and understanding"[11]—was the subject of another early work, Aunt Evelina's Life in Music (Faster Evelinas liv i toner), an "embryonic Sinfonia domestica" that the boy also never bothered to write down.[12]
Scholars believe the first composition that Sibelius committed to paper is a short, 12-measure duo for violin and cello pizzicato,
Music
Water Droplets, which was
Reception
While the piece "is no early product of a child genius",
Later Finnish nationalists who were in the business of promoting Sibelius as a young genius claimed that already at the age of ten, the prodigious youngster was showing his future path [with Water Droplets] ... It seems unlikely that Vattendroppar comes from so early a time. Yet whatever its date, the symbolic meaning of those twenty-four measures[a] cannot be gainsaid: they reveal indisputably that Sibelius thought compositionally in terms of vibrating strings. Not for this composer "orchestrating" a piano draft: the thrum and twang of strings, the reedy honking of woodwinds, the resonant flaring of brass—in the very physicality of sound lay the essence of music.[21][e]
In contrast, Harold Johnson's verdict is the most reserved: "What it establishes more than anything else," he writes, "is the fact that the boy was eager to create his own music".[23]
Discography
The Japanese violinist Yoshiko Arai and the Finnish cellist Seppo Kimanen made the world premiere studio recording of Water Droplets in 1995 for Ondine.[1] The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:
No. | Violin | Cello | Runtime[f] | Rec.[g] | Recording venue | Label | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Yoshiko Arai | Seppo Kimanen | 0:44 | 1995 | Järvenpää Hall | Ondine | |
2 | Jaakko Kuusisto | Taneli Turunen | 0:45 | 2003 | Järvenpää Hall | BIS | |
3 | Lucie Sedláková Hůlová | Martin Sedlak | 0:35 (1:18)[j] | 2018 | Studio Domovina, Prague | Arta Music | |
4 | Daniel Rowland | Maja Bogdanović | 0:45 (1:47)[j] | 2019 | Potton Hall, Suffolk | Challenge Classics
|
Notes, references, and sources
- Notes
- ^ a b c Erik Furuhjelm , in his 1916 biography of Sibelius, published Water Droplets in 2
4 time, an editorial decision that would have made the piece 24 measures long (although the book only includes the first eight).[5] However, in 1994, Edition Fazer published Water Droplets in 4
4 time, which reduces the piece to 12 measures. This article utilizes the latter.[6] - ^ At a concert in Tokyo on 13 February 2015, the Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji performed Sibelius's Water Droplets as a 'solo duo', playing the violin and cello parts with her right and left hands, respectively.
- ^ Sibelius's secretary, Santeri Levas, dates Water Droplets to 1876.[16]
- ^ Sibelius's paternal uncle, Petr, was a dilettante musician who acted as a surrogate father and helped to fund his nephew's education and music lessons.[17][11]
- full score bar by bar. I once asked him if he often had to think about which particular instrument should be considered: ... 'Never! My music is ready in its instrumental form. Actual "orchestration" is something with which I am quite unfamiliar'".[22]
- ^ All runtimes are official, as printed on CD or LP liner 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.
- ^ Y. Arai & S. Kimanen–Ondine (ODE 850–2) 1995
- ^ J. Kuusisto & T. Turunen–BIS (CD–1924/26) 2009
- ^ a b In this recording, the performers repeat the piece (for 24 measures total). The duration of the initial 12 measures is provided first, with the official runtime provided parenthetically.
- ^ L. Sedláková Hůlová & M. Sedlák–Arta Music (F10231) 2019
- ^ D. Rowland & M. Bogdanović–Challenge Classics (CC72833) 2020
- References
- ^ a b c d e Dahlström 2003, p. 644.
- ^ a b c d Barnett 2007, p. 5.
- ^ a b Sirén.
- ^ Tawaststjerna 2008a, p. 12.
- ^ Furuhjelm 1916, p. 19.
- ^ a b Fennica Gehrman 2017.
- ^ Tawaststjerna 2008a, p. 12–13.
- ^ Barnett 2007, pp. 2–3.
- ^ Tawaststjerna 2008a, p. 14.
- ^ Tawaststjerna 2008a, p. 15.
- ^ a b Tawaststjerna 2008a, p. 5.
- ^ a b Tawaststjerna 2008a, p. 16.
- ^ a b Ringbom 1954, p. 8.
- ^ Tawaststjerna 2008b, pp. 63–64.
- ^ Tawaststjerna 2008a, p. 10.
- ^ Levas 1986, p. 142.
- ^ Barnett 2007, pp. 4, 6.
- ^ Barnett 2007, p. 6.
- ^ a b Grimley 2021, pp. 20–21.
- ^ a b Murtomäki.
- ^ Goss 2009, p. 45.
- ^ Levas 1986, pp. 88–89.
- ^ Johnson 1959, p. 13.
- Sources
- "Water Droplets / Vesipisaroita". fennicagehrman.fi. Fennica Gehrman. 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
- Barnett, Andrew (2007). Sibelius. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-16397-1.
- ISBN 3-7651-0333-0.
- OCLC 12248551.
- ISBN 978-0-226-00547-8.
- Grimley, Daniel (2021). Jean Sibelius: Life, Music, Silence. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-78914-466-6.
- Johnson, Harold (1959). Jean Sibelius (1st ed.). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. OCLC 603128.
- ISBN 978-9-51013-608-9.
- Murtomäki, Veijo [in Finnish]. "Sibelius, Jean (1865–1957)". kansallisbiografia.fi. Translated by Roderick, Fletcher. National Biography of Finland. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-837-19840-8.
- Sirén, Vesa [in Finnish]. "Music Becomes a Serious Pursuit: 1881–1885". sibelius.fi. Finnish Club of Helsinki. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-571-24772-1.
- Tawaststjerna, Erik (2008b) [1978/1988; trans. 1997]. Sibelius: Volume III, 1914–1957. Translated by Layton, Robert. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-24774-5.