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Väinämöinen's Song

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Väinämöinen's Song
Cantata by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1927)
Native nameVäinön virsi
Opus110
TextKalevala (Runo XLIII)[1]
LanguageFinnish
Composed1926 (1926)
Duration11 mins.[2]
Premiere
Date28 June 1926 (1926-06-28)[2]
LocationSortavala, Finland
ConductorRobert Kajanus

Väinämöinen's Song (in Finnish: Väinön virsi; sometimes translated to English simply as Väinö's Song), Op. 110, is a single-movement, patriotic cantata for mixed choir and orchestra written in 1926 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece, which is a setting of Runo XLIII (lines 385–434) of the Kalevala, Finland's national epic, is chronologically the final of Sibelius's nine orchestral cantatas; in particular, it belongs to the series of four "little known, but beautiful"[3] cantatas from the composer's mature period that also includes My Own Land (Op. 92, 1918), Song of the Earth (Op. 93, 1919), and Hymn of the Earth (Op. 95, 1920). Väinämöinen's Song premiered on 28 June 1926 in Sortavala, Finland.

Instrumentation

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

The cantata premiered on 26 June 1926 at a singing festival in Sortavala (then still part of Finland), with the Finnish conductor Robert Kajanus conducting.[4]

History

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Sibelius's cantata tells a story from the Kalevala in which Väinämöinen collects the shards of the sampo that have washed upon the beach.
Robert Kajanus, Sibelius's long-time interpreter, conducted the premiere of Väinämöinen's Song in 1926.

Text

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Original Finnish English translation[a]

"Ole puolla poikiesi,
aina lastesi apuna,
aina yöllisnä tukena,
päivällisnä vartijana,
vihoin päivän paistamatta,
vihoin kuun kumottamatta,
vihoin tuulen tuulematta,
vihoin saamatta satehen,
pakkasen palelematta,
kovan ilman koskematta!

"Aita rautainen rakenna,
kivilinna liitättele
ympäri minun eloni,
kahen puolen kansoani,
maasta saaen taivosehen,
taivosesta maahan asti,
asukseni, ainokseni,
tuekseni, turvakseni [...]"

'O protect thy sons for ever,
May'st thou always aid thy children,
Guard them always in the night-time,
And protect them in the daytime,
Lest the sun should cease from shining,
Lest the moon should cease from beaming,
Lest the winds should cease from blowing,
Lest the rain should cease from falling,
Lest the Frost should come and freeze us,
And the evil weather harm us!

'Build thou up a fence of iron,
And of stone a castle build us,
Round the spot where I am dwelling,
And round both sides of my people,
Build it up from earth to heaven,
Build it down to earth from heaven,
As my own, my lifelong dwelling,
As my refuge and protection [...]'

Discography

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

No. Conductor Orchestra Chorus Rec.[b] Time[c] Venue Label Ref.
1 Eri Klas Finnish National Opera Orchestra Finnish National Opera Chorus 1990 9:40 Roihuvuori Church [fi] Ondine
[d]
2 Paavo Järvi Estonian National Symphony Orchestra Estonian National Male Choir
Ellerhein Girls' Choir 		2002 8:42 Estonia Concert Hall Virgin Classics
[e]
3 Osmo Vänskä Lahti Symphony Orchestra Dominante Choir [fi] 2004 8:53 Sibelius Hall BIS
[f]

Notes, references, and sources

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Notes

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  1. ^ This translation, by W. F. Kirby, is from the liner notes to the recording by Osmo Vänskä, the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, and the Dominante Choir [fi].[5]
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ All runtimes are official, as printed on CD or LP liner notes.
  4. ^ E. Klas—Ondine (ODE 754-2) 1990
  5. ^ P. Järvi—Virgin Classics (7243 5 45589 2 4) 2003
  6. ^ O. Vänskä—BIS (CD–1565) 2006

References

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  1. ^ Dahlström 2003, p. 406.
  2. ^ a b c d Dahlström 2003, p. 468.
  3. ^ Lascar 2003, p. 11.
  4. ^ Barnett 2007, p. 7.
  5. ^ Barnett 2005, pp. 33–34.

Sources

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  • Barnett, Andrew (2005). Sibelius: Song of the Earth (booklet). Osmo Vänskä, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, & Dominante Choir. BIS. BIS CD-1365. OCLC 62255940
  • Barnett, Andrew (2007). Sibelius. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300111590.
  • 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.
  • Lascar, Pierre-Yves (2003). Sibelius: Cantatas (booklet). Paavo Järvi, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, & Estonian National Male Choir. Virgin Classics. 7243 5 45589 2 4. OCLC 52897195
  • Okkonen, Jukka (1990). Sibelius: Cantatas (booklet). Eri Klas, Finnish National Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Ondine. ODE 754-2. OCLC 26017670
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