Luonnotar (Sibelius)

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.

Luonnotar
Tone poem by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1911)
Opus	70
Text	Kalevala (Runo I)
Language	Finnish
Composed	1913 (1913)
Publisher	Breitkopf & Härtel (1981)[1][a]
Duration	10 mins.[2]
Premiere
Date	10 September 1913 (1913-09-10)[2]
Location	Gloucester, England
Conductor	Herbert Brewer
Performers	Three Choirs Festival Orchestra Aino Ackté (soprano)

History

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

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

• Soprano
• 2 flutes (each doubling on piccolo),^[b] 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in A), 1 bass clarinet (in B♭), and 2 bassoons
• 4 horns (in F), 2 trumpets (in B♭), and 3 trombones
• Timpani (2 players)
• Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, double basses, and 2 harps

Music

Discography

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; 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	[w]