Höstkväll

"Höstkväll"
Art song by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1902)
Opus38/1
TextHöstkväll by Rydberg[1]
LanguageSwedish
Composed1903 (1903), orch. 1904
Publisher
Duration4.25 mins.[4]
Premiere
Date12 September 1903 (1903-09-12)[1]
LocationHelsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
Performers

"Höstkväll" (literal English translation: "Autumn Evening"),[b] Op. 38/1,[c] is an art song for vocal soloist (typically soprano) and piano written in 1903 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece, which is a setting of the eponymous poem by the Swedish poet Viktor Rydberg,[d] premiered on 12 September 1903 at the Finnish National Theatre in Helsinki, with the Finnish soprano Aino Ackté as soloist accompanied by the Finnish composer Oskar Merikanto on piano.[1]

In 1904, Sibelius arranged "Höstkväll" for voice and orchestra—along with its catalogue mates, "På verandan vid havet" ("On a Balcony by the Sea", Op. 38/2) and "I natten" ("In the Night", Op. 38/3). This version of the song received its first performance on 14 January 1905 in Paris, with Alfred Cortot conducting; the soloist was the American soprano Minnie Tracey.[3]

The Finnish soprano Aino Ackté (left) premiered Sibelius's "Höstkväll" on 12 September 1903 in Helsinki (ad right).

Instrumentation

The orchestrated version of "Höstkväll" is scored for the following instruments and voices,[3] organized by family (vocalists, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):

Reception

The British musicologist Robert Layton has praised "Höstkväll" as "astonishingly forward-looking"[7] and it is routinely celebrated as being among Sibelius's best songs.

Discography

The Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad made the world premiere recording of "Höstkväll" in 1958.

The Norwegian conductor Øivin Fjeldstad and the London Symphony Orchestra, joined by the Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad, made the world premiere studio recording of "Höstkväll" in 1958 for Decca.[3] The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings of the version for orchestra:

No. Soloist Conductor Orchestra Rec.[e] Time Recording venue Label Ref.
1 Kirsten Flagstad Øivin Fjeldstad London Symphony Orchestra 1958 5:29 Kingsway Hall Decca
[f]
2 Birgit Nilsson Bertil Bokstedt [sv] Vienna Opera Orchestra 1965 5:14 Sofiensaal Decca
[g]
3 MariAnne Häggander [sv] Jorma Panula Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra 1984 4:29 Gothenburg Concert Hall BIS
[h]
4 Karita Mattila Sakari Oramo City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra 2001 5:16 Symphony Hall, Birmingham Warner Classics
[i]
† Helena Juntunen (1) Osmo Vänskä Lahti Symphony Orchestra 2005 4:55 Sibelius Hall BIS
[j]
5 Soile Isokoski Leif Segerstam Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra 2005 4:54 Finlandia Hall Ondine
[k]
6 Marianne Beate Kielland Petr Popelka Norwegian Radio Orchestra 2021 4:31 NRK Radio Concert Hall [no] LAWO Classics [no]
[l]

† = version for vocal soloist and string orchestra (1904)

The version of "Höstkväll" for piano accompaniment received its first studio recording in 1967, when the Finnish baritone Tom Krause and the Finnish pianist Pentti Koskimies [fi] recorded it for Decca.[1] The table below includes this and other commercially available recordings:

No. Soloist Pianist Rec.[e] Time Recording venue Label Ref.
1 Tom Krause (1) Pentti Koskimies [fi] 1967 4:11 Kingsway Hall Decca Eloquence
[m]
2 Tom Krause (2) Irwin Gage 1981 4:00 Kingsway Hall Decca
[n]
3 Tom Krause (3) Gustav Djupsjöbacka [fi] 1993 3:55 Järvenpää Hall [fi] Finlandia
[o]
4 Kirsi Tiihonen [fi] Satu Salminen 2000 4:44 Martinas Culture Hall [fi] Naxos
[p]
5 Helena Juntunen (2) Folke Gräsbeck [fi] 2008 4:44 Kuusankoskitalo [fi] BIS
[q]
6 Hanna Kronqvist Ilmari Räikkönen 2013 4:34 Kangasala Church [fi] NoteStandRecords
[r]

Notes, references, and sources

Notes

  1. ^ On 20 July 1905, the Helsinki-based music publisher Fazer & Westerlund [fi] (Helsingfors Nya Musikhandel) sold its Sibelius holdings (the publishing rights and printing plates) to the German firm of Breitkopf & Härtel.[2]
  2. ^ Because Sibelius's Op. 38/1 song is sung in Swedish, this article gives preference to its native title, rather than the English translation.
  3. ^ "Höstkväll" is the first of the Op. 38 Five Songs, which is a collection of independent songs rather than a song cycle. The other four songs are as follows: No. 2 På verandan vid havet ("On a Balcony by the Sea", 1903; text by Rydberg), No. 3 I natten ("In the Night", 1903; Rydberg), No. 4 Harpolekaren och hans son ("The Harper and His Son", 1904; Rydberg), and No. 5 Jag ville, jag core i Indialand ("I Wish I were in India", 1904; Gustaf Fröding).[5]
  4. ^ The Op. 38/1 "Höstkväll" was Sibelius's second attempt at setting the Rydberg's poem. A fragmentary earlier attempt (HUL 1180, 1888–1889), which is extant, dates to the composer's youth and thematically is unrelated to its identically-named successor.[6]
  5. ^ a b 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.
  6. ^ K.  Flagstad—Decca (00028947888239) 2015
  7. ^ B. Nilsson—Decca(SXL 6185) 1965
  8. ^ M. Häggander—BIS (CD–270) 1984
  9. ^ K. Mattila—Warner Classics (8573 80243–2) 2004
  10. ^ H. Juntunen—BIS (CD–1565) 2006
  11. ^ S. Isokoski—Ondine (ODE 1080–5) 2006
  12. ^ M. Kielland—LAWO Classics (LWC 1239) 2022
  13. ^ T. Krause—Decca Eloquence (442 9447) 2007
  14. ^ T. Krause—Decca (00028947886150) 2015
  15. ^ T. Krause—Finlandia (4509–96871–2) 1994
  16. ^ K. Tiihonen—Naxos (8.555274 FIN) 2001
  17. ^ H. Juntunen—BIS (CD–1918/20) 2008
  18. ^ H. Kronqvist—NoteStandRecords (NS1305) 2013

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Dahlström 2003, p. 175.
  2. ^ Dahlström 2003, p. xxiv.
  3. ^ a b c d Dahlström 2003, p. 176.
  4. ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 175–176.
  5. ^ Layton 1993, pp. 172–174, 219.
  6. ^ Barnett 2007.
  7. ^ Layton 1993, p. 172.

Sources

  • Barnett, Andrew (2007). Sibelius. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-16397-1.
  • 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.
  • Layton, Robert (1993) [1965]. Sibelius. (The Master Musicians Series) (4th ed.). New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0028713222.