Six Songs, Op. 36 | |
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Song collection by Jean Sibelius | |
Opus | 36 |
Language | Swedish |
Composed | 1899 | –1900; No. 6 orch. 1917
External audio | |
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Sung by Anne Sofie von Otter, accompanied by Bengt Forsberg | |
1) "Svarta rosor" | |
2) "Men min fågel märks dock icke" | |
3) "Bollspelet vid Trianon" | |
4) "Säv, säv, susa" | |
5) "Marssnön" | |
6) "Demanten på marssnön" |
The Six Songs, Op. 36,[a] is a collection of Swedish-language art songs for vocal soloist and piano written from 1899 to 1900 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.[b] As a group, Op. 36 is Sibelius's most popular song set; indeed, "Svarta rosor" is arguably the best-known song in his entire oeuvre.[3] "Säv, säv, susa", too, is oft-performed.[4]
Ordered by catalogue number, the Op. 36 songs are as follows:
The collection was first published piecemeal by two Helsinki-based firms: Fazer & WesterlundHelsingfors Nya Musikhandel) printed Nos. 1–4 from 1900 to 1901, while Axel E. Lindgren printed Nos. 5–6 in 1901.[17] The table below provides additional information about each song:
(Song | Tempo | Time | Key | Premiere | Ref. | |||
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Soloist | Pianist | Date | Venue | |||||
No. 1 | Commodo | Ida Ekman | Karl Ekman | 21 September 1899 | Solemnity Hall, Helsinki | |||
No. 2 | Andantino | |||||||
No. 3 | Vivace | 3 4 |
24 October 1900 | |||||
No. 4 | Andantino | 2 4 |
Adée Leander-Flodin | Karl Flodin | Autumn 1900 | ? | ||
No. 5 | Andantino | 5
4 |
Ida Ekman | Karl Ekman | 12 October 1902 | VPK Hall | , Helsinki||
No. 6 | Commodo | 6
4 |
Alexandra Ahnger | Oskar Merikanto | 8 February 1901 | Solemnity Hall, Helsinki |
In January 1917, Sibelius arranged "Demanten på marssnön" for vocalist and orchestra, which he intended for his frequent collaborator, the celebrated Finnish soprano Ida Ekman;[19] she premiered this version of the song on 22 February 1917 in Helsinki, with her husband, Karl Ekman , conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.[20] It is scored for the following instruments and voices,[20] organized by family (vocalists, woodwinds, and strings):
The orchestral version of "Demanten på marssnön" was first published in Volume VIII/1 of the Jean Sibelius Works (JSW) critical edition,[20] an ongoing collaborative project involving the National Library of Finland, the German firm of Breitkopf & Härtel, and the Sibelius Society of Finland.[21]