Symphony No. 7 (Sibelius)
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The Symphony No. 7 in C Major, opus 105, was the final published symphony of Jean Sibelius. Completed in 1924, the Seventh is notable for being a one-movement symphony, in contrast to the standard symphonic formula of four movements. It has been described as "completely original in form, subtle in its handling of tempi, individual in its treatment of key and wholly organic in growth". [1]
After Sibelius finished its composition on March 2, the work was premiered in Stockholm on March 24 as Fantasia sinfonica No. 1, a "symphonic fantasy". The composer was apparently undecided on what name to give the piece, and only granted it status as a symphony after some deliberation. For its publication on February 25, 1925, the score was titled "Symphony No. 7 (in one movement)".
[edit] Composition
The concept of a continuous, single-movement symphony was one Sibelius only reached after a long process of experimentation. His Third symphony, dating from 1907, contained three movements, an earlier fourth movement having been fused into the third. The final result was successful enough for Sibelius to use the same idea in his Fifth symphony, completed in 1915. Although his first mention of the Seventh occurred in December 1918, the source for its material has been traced back to around 1914, the time when he was working on the Fifth.
Over its long gestation, the Seventh went through several structural changes. It began life in sketches as a full four-movement work, then later moved to three movements. Sibelius apparently finally abandoned the multi-movement plan in favor of a continuous single movement in 1923. At some point, Sibelius seems to have realized that his creation embodied his goal in symphonic thought: total unity of musical expression based on the organic development of the briefest of material.
Along with his Fifth and Sixth symphonies, the Seventh was Sibelius's final home for material from Kuutar, a never-completed symphonic poem whose title roughly means "Feminine Moon Spirit". This work helped to shape the earliest parts of the Seventh, those created during the composition of the Fifth and Sixth. One of the themes from Kuutar, called "Tähtölä" ("Where the Stars Dwell"), evolved into part of the Seventh's opening Adagio section. ([1])
[edit] Importance
Although the Seventh apparently first existed in embryonic form in D major, it eventually attained the home key of C major. There was a time when composing in C was considered fruitless — it had "nothing more to offer." But in response to the Seventh, the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams said that only Sibelius could make C major sound completely fresh. Peter Franklin, writing of the Seventh in the Segerstam/Chandos cycle of Sibelius symphonies, calls the dramatic conclusion "the grandest celebration of C major there ever was."
Sibelius lived for 33 years after finishing the Seventh, but it was one of the last works he composed. He did complete one more important orchestral work, his symphonic poem Tapiola. However, despite much evidence of work on an Eighth symphony, it is believed that Sibelius burned whatever he had written. He left the Seventh to stand as his final statement on symphonic form.
[edit] Form
The form of the Seventh symphony is startlingly original. Since the time of Haydn, a movement in a symphony would typically be unified by an approximately constant beat and would attain variety by use of contrasting themes in different keys. Sibelius turned this scheme on its head. The Seventh symphony is unified by the key of C (every significant passage in the work is in C major or C minor), and variety is achieved by an almost constantly-changing tempo, as well as by contrasts of mode, articulation and texture.[2] Sibelius had done something similar in the Fifth symphony's first movement, which combines elements of a standard symphonic first movement with a faster scherzo. However, the Seventh symphony is even more impressive because it contains much wider variety within one movement.
[edit] Description
[edit] Adagio (measures 1-92)
The symphony begins with a soft roll on the timpani followed by a slow ascending syncopated C major scale in the strings which leads to an unexpected chord in the remote key of A-flat minor. The interval of a minor sixth between the initial note of G and the final note of E-flat has been interpreted as a reference to the beginning of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde: the passage is followed by chords taken from that work[3].
- Rattle/CBSO (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Simon Rattle with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra performs the first few bars in a calm, measured manner as suggested by the Adagio marking in this studio recording from 1985.
- Mravinsky/Leningrad PO (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- In a live concert from 1965, Evgeny Mravinsky takes the opposite approach with the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra, beginning the symphony with tension and drama at a much faster tempo.
- Problems playing the files? See media help.
A few bars later, a key motif is announced quietly on the flute and repeated on the clarinet:
We soon arrive at a passage sounding rather like a chorale, with the violas and cellos softly singing a hymn-like tune that will gradually build up to the first climax of the symphony.
As the climax approaches, the orchestra adds volume and intensity. At the climax, the first trombone announces the main tune of the symphony, labelled "Aino" after the composer's wife in sketches.[4]
This theme reappears at key moments of the symphony, each time reaffirming C as the tonality.
[edit] Un pochett. meno adagio — poco affrett. — Poco a poco affrettando il Tempo al ... Vivacissimo — rallentando al ... (measures 93 - 221)
At measure 93 the tempo is marked Un pochett. meno adagio (a tiny bit faster). A new theme in the Dorian mode, based on the ascending scale in the opening bars, soon appears on the oboe:
The tempo gradually increases (affrettando) in a long sequential exploring several tonalities. At measure 134 the time signature slips from 3/2 into 6/4 notching up the tension. The key signature switches to C minor:
Soon the tempo is ratched up to Vivacissimo (very lively) with fast staccato chords traded between the strings and woodwind. The music turns stormy in mood with ominous ascending and descending scales on the strings, while the "Aino" theme is heard again in the brass:
[edit] Adagio — Poco a poco meno lento al ... (measures 222 - 257)
[edit] Allegro molto moderato — Un pochett. affretando (measures 258 - 285)
[edit] Allegro moderato — Poco a poco meno moderato (measures 286 - 408)
[edit] Vivace (measures 409 - 448)
[edit] Presto — Poco a poco rallentando al ... (measures 449 - 475)
[edit] Adagio (measures 476 - 495)
[edit] Largamente molto — Affettuoso (measures 496 - 521)
This section ends with a chord progression from A-flat back to the symphony's main key of C major taken directly from Sibelius's earlier work Valse Triste from Kuolema.[5]
[edit] Tempo I (measures 522 - 525)
The last four measures return to the initial Adagio tempo. Logically this ought to be faster than the preceding music, which was Adagio then Largamente molto (broadening — that is, slowing — a lot), but most conductors slow down. The strings play a version of the theme from measures 11-12 against a grand C major chord held by the brass and woodwind.
- Vänskä/Lahti (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Osmo Vänskä achieves a very effective ending to the symphony in his 1998 studio recording with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra by following Sibelius's instructions in the score exactly.
- Ormandy/Philadelphia (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Eugene Ormandy decided to boost the violin melody with a trumpet in this 1962 studio recording with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Ormandy also adds a crescendo and a fermata to the final chord, something many conductors do in an attempt to make Sibelius's stark ending sound more conventional.
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[edit] Discography
[edit] References
- ^ Layton, Robert (2002), "Sibelius", in Wintle, Justin, Makers of Modern Culture, London: Routledge, at 479, ISBN 0415265835
- ^ Howell, Tim (2001), "Sibelius the progressive", in Jackson, Timothy L. & Veijo Murtomäki, Sibelius studies, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, at 45, ISBN 0521624169
- ^ Jackson, Timothy L. (2001), "Observations on crystallization and entropy in the music of Sibelius and other composers", in Jackson, Timothy L. & Veijo Murtomäki, Sibelius studies, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, at 239, ISBN 0521624169
- ^ Jackson, Timothy L. (2001), "Observations on crystallization and entropy in the music of Sibelius and other composers", in Jackson, Timothy L. & Veijo Murtomäki, Sibelius studies, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, at 182, 184, ISBN 0521624169
- ^ Kurki, Eija (2001), "Sibelius and the theater: a study of the incidental music for Symbolist plays", in Jackson, Timothy L. & Veijo Murtomäki, Sibelius studies, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, at 80, ISBN 0521624169
[edit] External links
- An Inktroduction by the Inkpot Sibelius Nutcase
- Available recordings, from arkivmusic.com
- Discography
- The Development of the Symphony from Four Movements in original Sketch to its present one-movement form
