# Does the vast cache of early Sibelius music unearthed change your opinion of him?



## christomacin (Oct 21, 2017)

For better, or worse, or no effect at all? By "early" Sibelius, I mean pre-1892 (En Saga, Kullervo). Apparently he wrote a charming one minute miniature entitled "Water Drops" when he was only 10!




Will Sibelius appear more in chamber concerts as a result, and is this a good thing for his reputation? His Op. 4 Quartet was written in 1893 and the Voces Intimae Quartet was obviously from his middle maturity. These are relatively well-known by Sibelians. The works for violin and piano written in his maturity are negligible, and there really wasn't much else in the realm of Sibelius chamber music until fairly recently. The Overture and Scenes de ballet are both orchestral (from 1891) and pretty much sound like Sibelius.

Here is a list of what I consider the highlights of his early chamber output - this is less than half of it, believe it or not! The standout works, I think are his early quartet in A minor and the Piano Quintet in G minor, JS 159.

Vattendroppar, JS 216 (Water Drops), for violin & cello (1875)
Luftslott (Castles in the Air), JS 65, for two violins (1881)
Romance in G major, for solo violin (18??)
Capriccio in B-flat minor, for piano (1885)
Menuetto & Allegro, JS 128, for 2 violins & cello (1887)
Tempo di valse in F-sharp minor, JS 194, 'Lulu Waltz' for cello & piano (1887)
Suite in D minor, for violin & piano, JS 187 (1887-88)
Suite in E major, JS 188, for violin & piano (1888)
Tempo di valse in E-flat major, JS 150, for piano (1888)
Fugue for Martin Wegelius, JS 85, for string quartet (1888)
Violin Sonata in F major, JS 178 (1889)
Florestan, JS 82, for piano (1889)
Pieces (3) for string quartet, JS 14, 17, 28, 149 (1888-89)
Waltz in A-Flat major, 'a Betsy Lerche', JS 1, for piano (1889)
March for Brass & Percussion (Manuscript HUL 0504)
Allegro, for brass & triangle in E flat minor, JS 25 (1889)
Overture in F minor, JS 146, for band (1889)
Suite for String Trio in A major, JS186 (1889)
String Quartet in A minor, JS 183 (1889)
Adagio in D minor, JS 12, for string quartet (1890)
Piano Quintet in G minor, JS 159 (1890)
Andantino & Minuetto, JS 45, for band (1890-91)
Pieces (2), Op. 2, for violin & piano (1891 orignial version)
Duo in C major, JS 66, for violin & viola (1891)
Minuet for violin & cello in F major, JS deest (1891)
Praeludium, JS 83, for band (1891)
Prelude, for brass septet (1891)
Piano Quartet in C minor, JS 156 (1891)
Overture in E major, for orchestra (1891)
Scène de Ballet, for orchestra (1891)


----------



## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Getting to know a composer's early work sheds light on their development, but it doesn't change my opinion. I find it amusing that so many people only know the most famous works by any given composer and have little knowledge of the lesser-known works. Imagine only knowing Sibelius from the 1st, 2nd and 5th symphonies, Finlandia, the Violin Concerto, Valse triste and the Karelia Suite. But for a lot of music lovers, that's all the Sibelius they really know. I have that Bis edition of Sibelius' complete works; it's fascinating to say the least. This obsession to completeness is the hallmark of the truly dedicated classical collector. Composers that I particularly enjoy and identify with are those who I collect every work they wrote that's been recorded. It's not easy, and not always possible. Bax, Elgar, Kalinnikov, Balakirev, Mahler, Schmidt, Puccini, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Prokofieff, and Sibelius have very good representation in my household!


----------



## golfer72 (Jan 27, 2018)

Were these works you listed "unearthed" recently? Please give more detail. I know Sibelius' non orchestral stuff is kind of ignored but i thought it has always been part of the catalog just the same as his orchestral works


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

"..."


----------



## christomacin (Oct 21, 2017)

Perhaps "unearthed" is a poor choice of words. His so called "Youth Production" works were only sporadically picked over before BIS (and a few other labels) started recording it in the 1990s. Even now it isn't a very well-known part of his output (even his "mature" chamber music isn't that well known, the piano music slightly more so) but it has been gradually gaining steam. I never bother listening to any of it until recently... after I had FINALLY listened piano and chamber music (what little of it there was) which was published in his lifetime with an opus number. Most of the others exist only in manuscript and aren't in general circulation, although they have been recording. This has all happened relatively recently. Helsinki University is in the process of making critical editions of all his works, which should be complete by 2035.

Anyway, what I've discovered in my listening is that some of his music written between roughly 1888 and 1891 do have a few surprising strong chamber works that are beginning to sound at least Nordic if not fully Sibelius. The early quartets I knew of, but not the piano quintets, piano quartets, and string trios, which along with the second string quartet, shows him moving in the right direction.


----------



## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Listening to the early chamber music makes us realize the considerable extent to which his later style was created consciously out of a desire to produce a music with national character, much as Copland's "American" style was.


----------



## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

I have only heard the piano quintet + fillers of the BIS disc and their fillers for the disc with the famous mature d minor quartet. BIS complete edition is a labor of love and commendable but I don't think anyone will re-evaluate the composer because of them. For me Sibelius is one of the most uneven major composers and this was already perceivable before some of the juvenilia, e.g. in the few piano pieces that were in available before BIS edition or most of the incidental music (which is often nice but hardly anything special or comparable with the symphonies in originality).
Of course it can still be interesting to see how a composer started with fairly standard romantic-classicist pieces, sometimes more like student pieces, others worthy not that remarkable (like the piano quintet) and evolved to a both more "national" and more original style. But that's really for the enthusiasts.


----------



## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

I think the reason why Sibelius' non-orchestral music is so under-appreciated is that he was one of those composers who could elevate good music to masterpiece level just through the magic of orchestration. Berlioz was another example, maybe Strauss and Mahler as well. It's often been said that playing a keyboard reduction of a Sibelius score makes you wonder why it's such good music, since an abstract monochrome version doesn't reveal its qualities at all. It's like judging an impressionist painting by a black and white photocopy.
The difference with Mahler, Strauss and Berlioz is that those composers hardly wrote any substantial non-orchestral music, while in Sibelius' case the part of his oeuvre that doesn't benefit of his genial orchestration is relatively much bigger. One wonders why he devoted so much time and effort on what ultimately became his "forgotten works". Didn't he know his own strength?
And if there's so little interest in even his mature non-orchestral works (I played some of his piano solo music, but it's not something I return to often), how can anyone have any hope for non-orchestral juvenalia?


----------

