Impromptu (Sibelius)

Technopedia Center

Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science
S1 Informatics S1 Information Systems S1 Information Technology S1 Computer Engineering S1 Electrical Engineering S1 Civil Engineering

faculty of Economics and Business
S1 Management S1 Accountancy

Faculty of Letters and Educational Sciences
S1 English literature S1 English language education S1 Mathematics education S1 Sports Education

Impromptu (Sibelius) - Wikipedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Impromptu
Choral piece by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1902)
Opus	19
Text	Unge hellener and Bacchospräster by Viktor Rydberg^[1]
Language	Swedish
Composed	1902 (1902)
Publisher	Breitkopf & Härtel (1912)^[2]
Duration	7 mins. (orig. 6 mins.)^[3]
Premiere
Date	8 March 1902 (1902-03-08)^[1]
Location	Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
Conductor	Jean Sibelius
Performers	Helsinki Philharmonic Society

The Impromptu, Op. 19, is a single-movement work for female choir and orchestra written in 1902 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece, which is a setting of the Swedish poet Viktor Rydberg's poem Unge hellener (Young Hellenics), premiered in Helsinki on 8 March 1902, with Sibelius conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Society and an amateur choir. The Impromptu was the middle item a program that also included two other first performances: the Overture in A minor (JS 144), which served as the opener; and the Second Symphony (Op. 43).^[4]^[1]

Sibelius extensively revised the Impromptu in the spring of 1910, reducing the instrumentation and altering both the beginning and ending of the piece, the former of which now incorporated a second Rydberg poem, Bacchospräster (The Priests of Bacchus).^[2]^[5] This version of the Impromptu received its premiere in Helsinki on 29 March 1912, with Sibelius conducting the Philharmonic Society;^[6] "Nuori Laulu" and the Arbetets vänner [sv] female choir sang the choral part.^[2]

Instrumentation

The revised version of the Impromptu is scored for the following instruments and voices,^[2] organized by family (vocalists, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):

Female choir (SSAA)
2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, and 2 bassoons
4 horns
Timpani and triangle
Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, double basses, and harp

The original version of the piece called for much larger orchestral forces, including 2 trumpets, cymbals, bass drum, tambourine, and castanets.^[1]

Discography

The Estonian conductor Eri Klas and the Finnish National Opera Orchestra made the world premiere studio recording of the Impromptu in 1990 for Ondine.^[2] The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

No.	Conductor	Ensemble	Chorus	Rec.^[a]	Time	Recording venue	Label	Ref.
1	Eri Klas	Finnish National Opera Orchestra	Finnish National Opera Chorus	1990	6:59	Roihuvuori Church [fi]	Ondine	^[b]
2	Osmo Vänskä (1)	Lahti Symphony Orchestra (1)	Dominante Choir [fi] (1)	2004	6:57	Sibelius Hall	BIS	^[c]
†	Osmo Vänskä (2)	Lahti Symphony Orchestra (2)	Dominante Choir [fi] (2)	2004	5:27	Sibelius Hall	BIS	^[c]

† = original version (1902)

Notes, references, and sources

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.
^ E. Klas—Ondine (ODE 754-2) 1990
^ ^a ^b O. Vänskä–BIS (CD–1565) 2006

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Dahlström 2003, p. 78.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Dahlström 2003, p. 79.
^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 78–79.
^ Barnett 2007, pp. 146, 148.
^ Barnett 2007, p. 205.
^ Barnett 2007, p. 220.

Sources

Barnett, Andrew (2007). Sibelius. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11159-0.
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.

External links

Impromptu, Op. 19: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

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) 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

Categories:

Hidden categories: