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Luonnotar (Sibelius)

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Luonnotar
Tone poem by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1911)
Opus70
TextKalevala (Runo I)
LanguageFinnish
Composed1913 (1913)
PublisherBreitkopf & Härtel (1981)[1][a]
Duration10 mins.[2]
Premiere
Date10 September 1913 (1913-09-10)[2]
LocationGloucester, England
ConductorHerbert Brewer
Performers

Luonnotar (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈluo̯nːotɑr]), Op. 70, is a single-movement tone poem for soprano and orchestra written in 1913 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece is a setting of Runo I (lines 111–242, freely adapted) of the Kalevala, Finland's national epic, which tells the legend of how the goddess Luonnotar (the female spirit of nature) created the Earth. Luonnotar premiered on 10 September 1913 at the Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester, England, with Herbert Brewer conducting the festival orchestra; the soloist was the Finnish operatic diva (and frequent Sibelius collaborator) Aino Ackté, the tone poem's dedicatee. A few months later on 12 January 1914, Ackté gave Luonnotar its Finnish premiere, with Georg Schnéevoigt conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.

History

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The metre and myths the Kalevala inspired many of Sibelius's tone poems, including 1913's Luonnotar.
The celebrated Finnish operatic soprano Aino Ackté (here in 1910 as Salome) commissioned Luonnotar from Sibelius.
A goddess of creation (here painted by Akseli Gallen-Kallela) is a storytelling devise common to many mythologies and religions.
Gloucester Cathedral, at which Ackté premiered Sibelius's Luonnotar on 10 September 1913.
An 11 January 1914 advertisement (in Swedish) from Nya Pressen promoting the Finnish premiere of Sibelius's Luonnotar

Luonnotar is thematically unrelated to an earlier project of Sibelius's by the same name from 1903–1905; that 'Luonnotar' (for which a fragment is extant) grew out of the abandoned oratorio Marjatta (without catalogue number) and, by 1906, had evolved into the orchestral tone poem Pohjola's Daughter (Pohjolan tytär, Op. 49). In 1913, Sibelius arranged Luonnotar for soprano and piano.[3][4]

Instrumentation

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Luonnotar is scored for the following instruments and voices,[2] organized by family (vocalists, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):

Music

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Discography

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The Hungarian-American conductor Antal Doráti and the London Symphony Orchestra made the world premiere studio recording of Luonnotar in February 1969 for His Master's Voice (HMV); the soloist was the Welsh soprano Dame Gwyneth Jones.[2] However, recordings of two earlier live performances by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra also are commercially available: first, led by the Finnish conductor Georg Schnéevoigt in 1934, with the Finnish soprano Helmi Liukkonen [fi] as soloist; and second, led by the Finnish conductor Tauno Hannikainen in 1955, with the Austro-British soprano Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf as soloist. The table below lists these and other recordings:

No. Conductor Orchestra Soloist Rec.[c] Time Recording venue Label Ref.
1 Georg Schnéevoigt Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (1) Helmi Liukkonen [fi] 1934 L 8:48 Queen's Hall Warner Classics
[d]
2 Tauno Hannikainen Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (2) Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf 1955 L 8:58 ? Gala
[e]
3 Antal Doráti London Symphony Orchestra Dame Gwyneth Jones 1969 9:26 Wembley Town Hall EMI Classics
[f]
4 Leonard Bernstein New York Philharmonic Phyllis Curtin 1969 8:11 Philharmonic Hall Sony Classical
[g]
5 Paavo Berglund Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Taru Valjakka 1975 9:53 Southampton Guildhall EMI Classics
[h]
6 Sir Alexander Gibson Royal Scottish National Orchestra Phyllis Bryn-Julson 1977 9:13 Glasgow City Halls Chandos
[i]
7 Vladimir Ashkenazy Philharmonia Orchestra Elisabeth Söderström 1980 9:19 Kingsway Hall Decca
[j]
8 Jorma Panula Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (1) MariAnne Häggander [sv] 1984 9:00 Gothenburg Concert Hall BIS
[k]
9 Gunnar Staern [sv] Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra Siv Wennberg [sv] ? L 8:20 ? Sterling
[l]
10 Vassily Sinaisky Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra Mare Jõgeva [et] 1991 8:19 Mosfilm Studios Brilliant Classics
[m]
11 Neeme Järvi Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (2) Soile Isokoski (1) 1992 8:29 Gothenburg Concert Hall Deutsche Grammophon
[n]
12 Paavo Järvi Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Solveig Kringlebotn 1996 9:18 Stockholm Concert Hall Virgin Classics / Erato
[o]
13 Sakari Oramo (1) City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Karita Mattila 2001 9:44 Symphony Hall, Birmingham Warner Classics
[p]
14 Sir Colin Davis Staatskapelle Dresden Ute Selbig 2003 L 9:49 Semperoper Profil
[q]
15 Osmo Vänskä Lahti Symphony Orchestra (1) Helena Juntunen (1) 2005 8:50 Sibelius Hall BIS
[r]
16 Leif Segerstam Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (3) Soile Isokoski (2) 2005 8:49 Finlandia Hall Ondine
[s]
17 Ulf Schirmer Munich Radio Orchestra Camilla Nylund 2006 9:07 Bayerischer Rundfunk Studio 1 cpo
[t]
18 Sakari Oramo (2) Lahti Symphony Orchestra (2) Anu Komsi 2011 9:09 Sibelius Hall BIS
[u]
19 Edward Gardner Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra Lise Davidsen 2018 8:50 Grieg Hall Chandos
[v]

Additionally, in 2008, BIS made the world premiere studio recording of Sibelius's transcription of Luonnotar, with the Finnish soprano Helena Juntunen and the Finnish pianist Folke Gräsbeck [fi]. The table below contains additional details about this recording:

No. Soloist Pianist Rec.[c] Time Recording venue Label Ref.
1 Helena Juntunen (2) Folke Gräsbeck [fi] 2008 8:48 Kuusankoski Concert Hall [fi] BIS
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Notes, references, and sources

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Notes
  1. ^ Although Breitkopf & Härtel did not publish the first edition of the orchestral version of Luonnotar until 1981, the reduction for soprano and piano first appeared in 1915.[1]
  2. ^ The second flutist only plays two notes on piccolo.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ G. Schnéevoigt—Warner Classics (2564 605317) 2015
  5. ^ T. Hannikainen—Gala (GL100.820) 2013
  6. ^ A. Dorati—EMI Classics (7243 5 85785 2 2) 2004
  7. ^ L. Bernstein—Sony Classical (SMK 61848) 2015
  8. ^ P. Berglund—EMI Classics (7243 5 69773 2 7) 1997
  9. ^ A. Gibson—Chandos (CHAN 241 19) 2004
  10. ^ V. Ashkenazy—Decca (473 590–2) 2003
  11. ^ J. Panula—BIS (CD–270) 1984
  12. ^ G. Staern—Sterling (CDA 1804/05–2) 2017
  13. ^ V. Sinaisky—Brilliant Classics (BC 9212) 2010
  14. ^ N. Järvi—DG (447 760–2) 1996
  15. ^ P. Järvi—Erato (5220552) 2008
  16. ^ S. Oramo—Warner Classics (8573 80243–2) 2004
  17. ^ C. Davis—Profil (PH05049) 2005
  18. ^ O. Vänskä—BIS (CD–1565) 2006
  19. ^ L. Segerstam—Ondine (ODE 1080–5) 2006
  20. ^ U. Schirmer—cpo (777 262–2) 2008
  21. ^ S. Oramo—BIS (SACD–1962) 2012
  22. ^ E. Gardner—Chandos (CHSA 5217) 2021
  23. ^ F. Gräsbeck—BIS (CD–1918/20) 2008
References
  1. ^ a b Dahlström 2003, p. 307.
  2. ^ a b c d Dahlström 2003, p. 306.
  3. ^ Barnett 2007, pp. 172–173, 176–177, 232–233.
  4. ^ Tawaststjerna 2008, pp. 37, 51–52.
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.
  • Goss, Glenda Dawn (2009). Sibelius: A Composer's Life and the Awakening of Finland. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-00547-8.
  • Magoun, Jr., Francis Peabody, ed. (1963). The Kalevala: Or Poems of the Kaleva District. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674500105.
  • Tawaststjerna, Erik (2008) [1972; trans. 1986]. Sibelius: Volume 2, 1904–1914. Translated by Layton, Robert. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-24773-8.
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