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Technical Notice
| Classical Composer: | Sibelius, Jean |
|---|---|
| Work: | Symphony No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 82 |
| Year Composed: | 1915 |
| Instrumentation: | 2.2.2.2 - 4.3.3.0 - timp - str |
| Publishers: |
Edition Wilhelm Hansen Edwin F. Kalmus Hansen House |
| Duration: | 00:30:00 |
| Period: | 20th Century |
| Work Category: | Orchestral |
Work Information
Available Recording(s)
Sibelius had contemplated a Fifth Symphony as early as 1912. The first version, written largely in 1915, had been given its first performance in December of that year in a celebration of the composer's fiftieth birthday. A second version, combining the first and second movements into one and extending the finale to make a balancing second half to the work, was first heard in 1916, but still failed to satisfy Sibelius. The final revision was delayed by the aftermath of the revolution in Russia and the resulting civil war in Finland but completed in 1919.
The first movement opens with the horns in expansive mood, followed by the woodwind in thirds, the entry of the strings delayed. The dramatic tension of tremolo strings leads to a second subject. The centre of the movement takes the place of a scherzo, with a solo trumpet theme, a suggestion of what is to follow in the last movement. The second movement is in the form of a G major theme and variations, its opening melody given to plucked strings and flutes in thirds, moving, as the music proceeds, from the idyllic to the passionate.
The massive finale starts with the busy, swelling activity of the strings, after which the well-known theme that dominates the movement emerges in all its strength, with a secondary, complementary theme from the woodwind, as the trumpets declare what had become known to Sibelius and his friend and adviser Baron Axel Carpelan, who died before the new version was finished, as the 'swan-theme'. This had been suggested to Sibelius by the sight and sound of swans circling above him in the haze of early spring sunshine. It remains the most familiar of all themes in a symphony that has always enjoyed popularity.
Writer: Keith Anderson
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