Serenad

"Serenad" (in English: "Serenade"; in Finnish: "Serenadi"),^{[lower-alpha 1]} JS 168, is an art song for baritone and orchestra written in c. 1894–1895^[2] by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece, which is a setting of the eponymous poem by the Swedish poet Erik Johan Stagnelius, premiered on 17 April in Helsinki, with Sibelius conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Society; the soloist was the Finnish baritone Abraham Ojanperä.^[1]

"Serenad"
Orchestral song by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1895)
Catalogue	JS 168
Text	Serenad by Stagnelius[1]
Language	Swedish
Composed	c. 1894–1895
Duration	4.5 mins.[1]
Premiere
Date	17 April 1895 (1895-04-17)[1]
Location	Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
Conductor	Jean Sibelius
Performers	Abraham Ojanperä (baritone) Helsinki Philharmonic Society

The "Serenad", however, remained unpublished and was never performed again in Sibelius's lifetime, apparently because he wished to revise it (however, a planned revision in 1910 never materialized).^[3] In 1984, however, the composer's estate agreed to permit its recording.^[4] The song was first published in Volume VIII/1 of the Jean Sibelius Works (JSW) critical edition,^[1] an ongoing collaborative project involving the National Library of Finland, the German firm of Breitkopf & Härtel, and the Sibelius Society of Finland.^[1]

The Finnish baritone Abraham Ojanperä (left) premiered Sibelius's "Serenad" on 17 April 1895 in Helsinki (ad right).

Instrumentation

The "Serenad" is scored for the following instruments and voices,^[1] organized by family (vocalists, woodwinds, brass, and strings):

• Baritone
• 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, and 2 bassoons
• 4 horns
• Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, and double basses

Reception

The British musicologist Robert Layton has praised the "Serenad" as "something of a discovery ... it has the greatest delicacy and atmosphere, and its whispering pizzicato strings are wonderfully suggestive". He concludes by labeling it as "one of Sibelius's very greatest and most subtle songs both in its use of rhythm and color".^[4] The Sibelius biographer Andrew Barnett characterizes the "Serenad" as a "nocturnal lament for [one's] lost love", the chromaticism of which illustrates the extent to which still in the mid-1890s, Sibelius was under Wagner's spell.^[3]

Discography

The Finnish conductor Jorma Panula and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, joined by the Finnish baritone Jorma Hynninen, made the world premiere studio recording of the "Serenad" in 1984 for BIS.^[1] The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

No.	Soloist	Conductor	Orchestra	Rec.[lower-alpha 2]	Time	Recording venue	Label	Ref.
1	Jorma Hynninen	Jorma Panula	Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra	1984	4:39	Gothenburg Concert Hall	BIS	[lower-alpha 3]
2	Tommi Hakala	Osmo Vänskä	Lahti Symphony Orchestra	2005	5:47	Sibelius Hall	BIS	[lower-alpha 4]

Notes, references, and sources

Notes

1. Because Sibelius's JS 168 song is sung in Swedish, this article gives preference to its native title, rather than the English translation.
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. J. Panula—BIS (CD–270) 1985
4. O. Vänskä—BIS (CD–1565) 2006

References

1. Dahlström 2003, p. 603.
2. Barnett 2007, pp. 98, 383.
3. Barnett 2007, p. 99.
4. Layton 1993, p. 165.

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.