Sibelius name meaning

Concert piece for string quartet by Jean Sibelius ()

Andante festivo
The composer (c.&#;)
Catalogue
Composed	&#;(), arr.&#;
Publisher
Duration	5&#;mins.
Date	28&#;December&#;&#;()
Location	Säynätsalo, Finland
Performers	Paavo Kesäniemi&#;(violin) Eero Vänttinen&#;(violin) Eino Fredriksson&#;(viola) Onni Fredriksson&#;(cello)

Andante festivo (Italian pronunciation:[anˈdantefeˈstiːvo]), JS&#;34a–b, is a single-movementchamber work for two violins, viola, and cello written in by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

In , the composer arranged the piece for string orchestra and timpani. On 1&#;January , Sibelius conducted this version of Andante festivo during a live, worldwide broadcast, making it the only sound document of him interpreting his own music.

History

Walter Parviainen requested a cantata from Sibelius to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Säynätsalo sawmills before Christmas of Sibelius wrote instead a composition for a string quartet, to become Andante festivo.

It may be based on older projects, such as a planned oratorio, Marjatta, from the s. At the marriage of Riitta Sibelius, a niece of the composer, in , Andante festivo was performed by two string quartets, perhaps with modifications.^[3]

Sibelius listened often to the radio in the s.

He thought about composing for the radio in a different way, to accommodate the distortions created by the loudspeakers of the time. When Olin Downes, a critic of The New York Times, asked him to "conduct a piece of music as Finland's greeting to the world in a radio broadcast to celebrate the New York World Exhibition", he tried the concept by adapting the former string quartet.^[3] Full-throated and hymnic, this piece is a smooth, continuous stream of similar melodic phrases that flow into and out of each other.

Andante festivo by jean sibelius biography summary Premiered in Helsinki on 28 April , the work was an enormous success. The work was played at his funeral. Tools Tools. It then develops into melancholic sketches based on the composer's setting of Poe's The Raven.

Sibelius was a violinist and knew how to compose for strings. A "seamless repeated melody" is played by the strings and answered in the last four bars by the timpani, in an almost religious statement in a world before a Second World War.^[4]

The version for strings and timpani was first performed in a broadcast on 1 January by the Radio Orchestra conducted by the composer, as the only recorded example of the composer interpreting one of his own works.^[3] He maintained a slow tempo professionally, with "unforced rubato",^[3] creating a solemn, singing string sound.

He sometimes took liberty with the tempo markings in the score^[3] (and altered the first double bass entries to a C, not a G.)

A collection of recordings of music for orchestra by Sibelius, played by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Leif Segerstam, and recorded in –, includes the recording of Andante festivo from the archives of the Finnish Broadcasting Company and contrasts it to other works, including the Violin Concerto and the Second Symphony.^[5]

The recording conducted by Sibelius is also part of a collection of historic performances from to , including recordings of the Columbia Gramophone Company (later EMI) from the s, when Robert Kajanus conducted the symphonies and tone poems, many of which he had premiered.^[6]

The recording of Andante festivo was Sibelius's last performance as a conductor.

The work was played at his funeral.^[4]

References

Sources

• Dahlström, Fabian[in Swedish] ().
  Erik satie biography It then rejoined the flock to continue its journey. The recording conducted by Sibelius is also part of a collection of historic performances from to , including recordings of the Columbia Gramophone Company later EMI from the s, when Robert Kajanus conducted the symphonies and tone poems , many of which he had premiered. Retrieved 11 June Yale University Press.

  Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke [Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works] (in German). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel. ISBN&#;.

External links