The final list of opus numbers, therefore, is an imperfect indicator of his stylistic maturation over time. This was swiftly followed by En Saga, the Karelia Suite, a series of four orchestral Legends including the much-loved Swan of Tuonela and Finlandia. New Haven: Yale University Press. He remains one of the few 20th-century composers to have become a legend within his own lifetime. December 2017 Compositions by Jean Sibelius Title Category Key Op. By a Spring in the Park 9. An eighth symphony likely was destroyed by the composer in the late 1930s.
Throughout his career, he continually curated the collection according to his ever-changing assessment of his own oeuvre, promoting works to or demoting them from the catalogue and filling the resulting availabilities without a strict regard for compositional chronology. The core of his oeuvre is his set of seven symphonies, which, like his other major works, are regularly performed and recorded in his home country and internationally. Jean Sibelius: Sibelius: The Orchestral Works. He abandoned his operatic ambitions in the 1890s. In addition, Sibelius was a significant contributor to the repertoire.
In later life, he wrote Masonic music and re-edited some earlier works while retaining an active but not always favourable interest in new developments in music. The table's default ordering is by genre and, within a genre, by date. Although he is reputed to have stopped composing, he attempted to continue writing, including abortive efforts on an eighth symphony. However, with over 30 years of his life remaining, Sibelius virtually laid his composing pen to rest. Within the concertante and chamber genres, the and the each in , respectively, ensure Sibelius's reputation. His failure to do so struck a big emotional blow - he got as far as an audition with the Vienna Philharmonic. The fearsomely nationalistic young Finn's immediate response was a massive five-movement symphonic poem entitled Kullervo composed in 1892, the year he married Aino Jarnefelt.
Between 1899 and 1926 Sibelius composed seven symphonies which tantalisingly balance to varying degrees his Classicist roots and Romantic inclinations. Sibelius was actually given the first name Johan when he was born; that is the Finnish version of the English name John. Please expand the article to include this information. But when he found out his uncle had turned his name into Jean, which is the French version of John, Sibelius decided to do the same. Sibelius composed across many genres, and his oeuvre includes large-scale orchestral compositions, chamber music, songs, piano pieces, and choral works. In addition, the choral work and the orchestral suite —both based upon myths—are classified occasionally as unnumbered, programmatic symphonies. Most highly regarded as a composer for the orchestra, the core of Sibelius's oeuvre is his set of seven , the last of which in one movement erodes the traditional subdivisions of.
Biography Few composers of Sibelius's stature have divided the critics so sharply. M lisande s Death For more:. Life and Music Although Sibelius displayed an affinity for music from an early age, he was hardly a prodigy. Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke. At the Castle Gate 6. Sibelius also frequently composed for the stage, and his scores for productions of and are particularly admired. For several years he worked secretively on an Eighth Symphony, but this was later consigned to the fire.
His 16 examples in the form with Lemminkäinen disaggregated span the duration of his career and include not only two of his most popular works, and , but also some of his most critically acclaimed: , , , , and. . Many feel that it was Sibelius rather than Mahler who was the last master in the grand Beethoven symphonic tradition. To assist with navigation, the infobox provides page-jumps to the first entry for each group. The Three Blind Sisters 10. Sibelius's last major work was the orchestral tone-poem Tapiola, which points towards the possibility of a new period of creative mastery.
His other best-known compositions are Finlandia, the Karelia Suite, Valse triste, the Violin Concerto, the choral symphony Kullervo, and The Swan of Tuonela from the Lemminkäinen Suite. He didn't start formal piano lessons until he was nine, although it was the violin that fired his enthusiasm. Until the outbreak of the First World War, Sibelius was in demand throughout Europe as a conductor. He became obsessed with the idea of becoming a world-class virtuoso. A handful of compositions, which primarily date from Sibelius's student years, are without either catalogue designation; they are thus reserved for a supplementary list that follows the sortable table.
Other notable orchestral works include the , , and. Further details may exist on the. He is widely recognized as his country's greatest composer and, through his music, is often credited with having helped Finland to develop a national identity during its struggle for independence from Russia. M lisande at the Spinning Wheel 12. The Finnish 100 mark note featured his image until 2002, when the euro was adopted. Sibelius: The Masters Musicians Series.
Sibelius received a thorough training in composition, but what really set him on the road as a composer was the Berlin premiere of his conductor-composer friend Robert Kajanu's Aino Symphony. . . . .