Tapiola (Sibelius)

Tone poem by Jean Sibelius

Tapiola

by Jean Sibelius

The composer (c. 1927)

Opus| 112
Based on| Kalevala
Composed| 1926 (1926)
Publisher| Breitkopf & Härtel (1926)[1]
Duration| 18 mins.[2]
Premiere
Date| 26 December 1926 (1926-12-26)[2]
Location| New York City, New York
Conductor| Walter Damrosch
Performers| New York Symphony Society

Tapiola (literal English translation: "The Realm of Tapio"), Op. 112, is a tone poem by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, written in 1926 on a commission from Walter Damrosch for the New York Symphony Society. Tapiola portrays Tapio, the animating forest spirit mentioned throughout the Kalevala. It was premiered by Damrosch on 26 December 1926.

## History

[edit]

A 26 December 1926 advertisement from The New York Times promoting the premiere of Sibelius's Tapiola

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:

Wide-spread they stand, the Northland's dusky forests,
Ancient, mysterious, brooding savage dreams;
Within them dwells the Forest's mighty God,
And wood-sprites in the gloom weave magic secrets.

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.

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 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.

## Instrumentation

[edit]

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

## Music

[edit]

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

The opening gesture from which the whole piece develops is:

Audio playback is not supported in your browser. You can download the audio file.

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]

## Early recordings

[edit]

Kajanus, who conducted the Finnish premiere, conducted the first recording with the London Symphony Orchestra for EMI/His Master's Voice on 29 June 1932 at Abbey Road Studio 1.[5] In 1953 Herbert von Karajan conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra in the first of his four recordings of the work. (Sibelius regarded Karajan as "the only one who truly understands my work.")[6] Thomas Beecham and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recorded the music in 1955; it was one of the first stereophonic recordings made by EMI. Both before and since then, numerous conductors and orchestras have recorded the work.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Dahlström 2003, p. 472.
2. ^ a b c Dahlström 2003, p. 471.
3. ^ "List of Sibelius' Works of the 1920s". Retrieved 18 April 2009.
4. ^ a b c "Other orchestral works / The Dryad". Tapiola. Finnish Club of Helsinki. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
5. ^ Simple search for "Tapiola", CHARM Discography, Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music, Arts and Humanities Research Council
6. ^ BBC Radio 3's Composer of the Week program – "Sibelius – The Rest is Silence?" (17 January 2011)

## Further reading

[edit]

* Dahlström, Fabian [in Swedish] (2003). Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke [Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works] (in German). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel. ISBN 3-7651-0333-0.
* Grimley, Daniel M. (Summer 2011). "Music, Landscape, Attunement: Listening to Sibelius's Tapiola," Journal of the American Musicological Society, vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 394–398.
* Mellers, Wilfrid (2001). "Tapiola's Search for Oneness and Cunning Little Vixen as a Parable of Redemption." In Singing in the Wilderness: Music and Ecology in the Twentieth Century (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press), pp. 37–52.
* Vernon, David (2024). Sun Forest Lake: The Symphonies & Tone Poems of Jean Sibelius. Edinburgh: Candle Row Press. ISBN 978-1739659943.

## External links

[edit]

* Tapiola, Op. 112: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
* Inkpot review of Tapiola
* "December 26, 1926: The Premiere of Tapiola". Keeping Score: 13 Days When Music Changed Forever. WQXR. August 9, 2011. (audio no longer available)
* Audio on YouTube, Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan

* v
* t
* e

Jean Sibelius

* List of compositions
* Discography of symphony cycles

Symphonies|

* Kullervo (1892)
* Symphony No. 1 (1899, rev. 1900)
* Symphony No. 2 (1902)
* Symphony No. 3 (1907)
* Symphony No. 4 (1911)
* Symphony No. 5 (1915, rev. 1916, 1919)
* Symphony No. 6 (1923)
* Symphony No. 7 (1924)
* Symphony No. 8 (mid 1920s–c. 1938, abandoned)

Concertante|

* Violin Concerto (1904, rev. 1905)
* Two Serenades (1912–1913)
* Two Serious Melodies (1914–1915)
* Six Humoresques (1917–1918, No. 1 rev. 1940)
* Suite for Violin and String Orchestra (1929)

Tone poems|

* En saga (1892, rev. 1902)
* Spring Song (1894, rev. 1895)
* The Wood Nymph (1895)
* Lemminkäinen Suite
* 1895, rev. 1897, 1900, 1939; includes The Swan of Tuonela
* Finlandia (1899)
* Pohjola's Daughter (1906)
* Nightride and Sunrise (1909)
* The Dryad (1910)
* The Bard (1913)
* Luonnotar (1913)
* The Oceanides (1914, rev. 1914)
* Tapiola (1926)

Opera & theatre|

* The Building of the Boat (1893–1894, abandoned)
* The Maiden in the Tower (1896)
* King Christian II (1898)
* Kuolema
* 1903; includes Valse triste
* Pelléas et Mélisande (1905)
* Belshazzar's Feast (1906)
* Swanwhite (1908)
* The Lizard (1909)
* The Language of the Birds (1911)
* Scaramouche (1913)
* Everyman (1916)
* The Tempest (1925)

Cantatas|

* Cantata for the University Graduation Ceremonies of 1894
* Cantata for the Coronation of Nicholas II (1896)
* Cantata for the University Graduation Ceremonies of 1897
* The Origin of Fire (1902, rev. 1910)
* The Captive Queen (1906)
* My Own Land (1918)
* Song of the Earth (1919)
* Hymn of the Earth (1920)
* Väinämöinen's Song (1926)

Other voice(s) & orchestra|

* The Rapids-Rider's Brides (1897)
* The Breaking of the Ice on the Oulu River (1899)
* Snöfrid (1900)
* Marjatta (1905, abandoned)
* Impromptu (1902, rev. 1910)
* The Raven (1910, abandoned)

Other orchestral|

* Overture in E major (1891)
* Ballet Scene (1891)
* Karelia Suite (1893)
* Rakastava (1894, arr. 1912)
* Scènes historiques I (1899, arr. 1911)
* Overture in A minor (1902)
* Romance in C major (1904)
* Cassazione (1904, rev. 1905)
* Pan and Echo (1906)
* In memoriam (1909, rev. 1910)
* Scènes historiques II (1912)
* Suite mignonne (1921)
* Suite champêtre (1922)
* Suite caractéristique (1922)

String quartets|

* String Quartet in E-flat major (1885)
* String Quartet in A minor (1889)
* String Quartet in B-flat major (1890)
* String Quartet in D minor, Voces intimae (1909)
* Andante festivo (1922, orch. 1938)

Piano trios|

* Piano Trio in A minor, Hafträsk (1886)
* Piano Trio in D major, Korpo (1887)
* Piano Trio in C major, Lovisa (1888)

Other chamber|

* Water Droplets (c. 1875–1881)
* Pieces for brass septet (1889–1899)
* Piano Quintet (1890)
* Malinconia (1900)
* Violin Sonatina (1915)

Piano|

* Six Impromptus (1893)
* Piano Sonata (1893)
* Ten Pieces, Op. 24 (1895–1903)
* Kyllikki (1904)
* Three Sonatinas (1912)
* The Bells of Kallio Church (1912, arr. 1912)
* Two Rondinos (1912)
* Five Pieces, The Trees, Op. 75 (1914)
* Five Pieces, The Flowers, Op. 85 (1916–1917)
* Five Esquisses (1929)

Songs|

* Seven Runeberg Songs, Op. 13 (1891–1892)
* "Serenad", JS 168 (1894–1895)
* Six Songs, Op. 36 (1899–1900)
* Five Songs, Op. 37 (1900–1902)
* Seven Songs, Op. 17 (1891–1904)
* Five Songs, Op. 38 (1903–1904; includes "Höstkväll")
* Six Songs, Op. 50 (1906)
* Two Songs, Op. 35 (1908)
* "Kom nu hit, död", Op. 60/1 (1909, orch. 1957)
* "Arioso", Op. 3 (1911)
* Five Christmas Songs, Op. 1 (1897–1913; includes "Giv mig ej glans, ej guld, ej prakt")
* Six Runeberg Songs, Op. 90 (1917)

Choral works|

* Hymn, Op. 21 (1896, rev. 1898)
* Songs for Mixed Chorus from the 1897 Promotional Cantata (arr. 1898)
* Finlandia Hymn (1899, arr. 1938–1940)
* Six Partsongs, Op. 18 (1893–1901)
* Song of the Athenians (1899)
* Jäger March (1917)

Family|

* Ainola (home)
* Aino Sibelius (wife)
* Ruth Snellman [fi] (daughter)
* Heidi Blomstedt (daughter)
* Christian Sibelius (brother)
* Aulis Blomstedt (son-in-law)
* Jussi Jalas (son-in-law)
* Jussi Snellman [fi] (son-in-law)
* Alexander Järnefelt (father-in-law)
* Elisabeth Järnefelt (mother-in-law)
* Armas Järnefelt (brother-in-law)
* Arvid Järnefelt (brother-in-law)
* Eero Järnefelt (brother-in-law)
* Kasper Järnefelt [fi] (brother-in-law)

Teachers|

* Helsinki Music Institute: Martin Wegelius (theory, composition)
* Mitrofan Vasiliev (violin)
* Hermann Csillag [de] (violin)
* Post-graduate studies: Albert Becker
* Robert Fuchs
* Karl Goldmark

Pupils|

* Toivo Kuula
* Leevi Madetoja
* Bengt de Törne [fi]

Colleagues & friends|

* Juhani Aho
* Aino Ackté
* Granville Bantock
* Ferruccio Busoni
* Axel Carpelan [fi] (patron)
* Olin Downes
* Ida Ekman
* Richard Faltin [fi]
* Ida Flodin [fi]
* Karl Flodin [fi]
* Akseli Gallen-Kallela
* Heikki Klemetti [fi]
* Santeri Levas (secretary)
* Erkki Melartin
* Oskar Merikanto
* Rosa Newmarch
* Abraham Ojanperä
* Selim Palmgren
* Adolf Paul
* Wilhelm Stenhammar
* Karl Wasenius [fi]

Select interpreters|

* Sir Thomas Beecham
* Paavo Berglund
* Sir Colin Davis
* Neeme Järvi
* Paavo Järvi
* Robert Kajanus
* Herbert von Karajan
* Serge Koussevitzky
* Hannu Lintu
* Sakari Oramo
* Eugene Ormandy
* Sir Simon Rattle
* Jukka-Pekka Saraste
* Georg Schnéevoigt
* Leif Segerstam
* Leopold Stokowski
* Osmo Vänskä

Select biographers|

* Fabian Dahlström [fi]
* Karl Ekman [fi]
* Erik Furuhjelm [fi]
* Glenda Dawn Goss
* Cecil Gray
* Robert Layton
* Nils-Eric Ringbom [fi]
* Erik W. Tawaststjerna

Namesakes|

* International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition
* Jean Sibelius Quartet
* Sibelius (2003 film)
* Sibelius (scorewriter)
* Sibelius Academy
* Sibelius Academy Quartet
* Sibelius Glacier
* Sibelius Hall
* Sibelius Medal
* Sibelius Monument
* Sibelius Museum
* Sibelius Piano Trio
* Sibelius Society of Finland
* 1405 Sibelius (asteroid)
* Wihuri Sibelius Prize

Category

Portal:

* Classical Music

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* France
* BnF data
* Israel
* Catalonia

Other|

* MusicBrainz work

*[c.]: circa
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*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template
*[rev.]: revised
*[arr.]: arranged
*[orch.]: orchestrated