Spring Song (Sibelius)

Spring Song (in Swedish: Vårsång; in Finnish: Kevätlaulu),^[3] Op. 16, is a single-movement tone poem for orchestra written in 1894 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

Spring Song
Tone poem by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1895)
Native name	Vårsång
Opus	16
Composed	1894 (1894), rev. 1895
Publisher	Fazer & Westerlund [fi] (1903)[1][a]
Duration	8 mins. (orig. 10 mins.)[3]
Premiere
Date	21 June 1894 (1894-06-21)[4]
Location	Vaasa, Grand Duchy of Finland
Conductor	Jean Sibelius
Performers	Orchestra of the Song Festival

History

The piece was initially composed as Improvisation for Orchestra, in the key of D major. It was premiered on 21 July 1894^[5] at an outdoor festival in Vaasa, organized by the Society for Popular Education [fi] (Kansanvalistusseura). Short, lyrical, and delicately scored, Sibelius's piece was ill-suited for the open-air concert, and the audience received it less enthusiastically than another work on the program: Korsholm, by Sibelius's brother-in-law and friend Armas Järnefelt. Shortly therefore, Sibelius withdrew Improvisation for revision. In 1895, he recast it in F major and retitled the work Spring Song (Vårsång), appending the subtitle "The Sadness of Spring" to that (unpublished) version.^[6]

Instrumentation

Spring Song is scored for the following instruments,^[1] organized by family (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):

• 2 flutes (each doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B♭), and 2 bassoons
• 4 horns (in F), 3 trumpets (in F), 3 trombones, and tuba
• Timpani and tubular bells ("glocken")
• Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, and double basses

The piece contains an optimism that is relatively rare among Sibelius' works. It is known for its prominent use of tubular bells at the end of the song.^[7]

Structure

Spring Song takes about 8 minutes to play.

The tempo marking is: Tempo moderato e sostenuto.

Discography

The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of Spring Song:

No.	Conductor	Orchestra	Rec.[b]	Time	Recording venue	Label	Ref.
1	Paavo Berglund	Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra	1973	8:21	Southampton Guildhall	EMI Classics	[c]
2	Sir Charles Groves	Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra	1975	6:56	Liverpool Philharmonic Hall	EMI Classics	[d]
3	Sir Alexander Gibson	Royal Scottish National Orchestra	1977	7:10	Glasgow City Halls	Chandos	[e]
4	Neeme Järvi (1)	Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (1)	1986	8:17	Gothenburg Concert Hall	BIS	[f]
5	Vassily Sinaisky	Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra	1991	8:19	Mosfilm Studios	Brilliant Classics	[g]
6	Neeme Järvi (2)	Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (2)	1994	7:46	Gothenburg Concert Hall	Deutsche Grammophon	[h]
7	Osmo Vänskä (1)	Lahti Symphony Orchestra (1)	1999	8:14	Ristinkirkko	BIS	[i]
8	Shuntaro Sato	Kuopio Symphony Orchestra [fi]	2002	8:32	Kuopio Music Centre [fi]	Finlandia	[j]
9	Osmo Vänskä (2)	Lahti Symphony Orchestra (2)	2007	7:34	Sibelius Hall	BIS	[k]
10	Leif Segerstam	Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra	2007	8:56	Finlandia Hall	Ondine	[l]
11	Edward Gardner	Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra	2018	7:45	Grieg Hall	Chandos	[m]
12	Sakari Oramo	BBC Symphony Orchestra	2018	9:03	Watford Colosseum	Chandos	[n]