Sibelius’s works for string orchestra in a critical edition

Date published
The complete critical edition of Jean Sibelius Works has published its 29th volume, including all of Sibelius’s compositions for string orchestra. The volume was edited by Pekka Helasvuo and Tuija Wicklund.

Sibelius arranged the Scherzo movement of his String Quartet Op. 4 for string orchestra in 1894. It appears in print for the first time in the series Jean Sibelius Works.

The works originate from a wide time span, stretching from the early 1890s until 1939. In addition to strings, some include additional instruments. The new critical edition publishes several works for the first time, among them the Scherzo from Op. 4 (originally for string quartet) and the early version of Rakastava.

Also in this volume, two versions of the Impromptus, Op. 5, appear in print for the first time. The only previously published version of the Impromptus is an arrangement of numbers 5 and 6 of the original piano opus. The new volume also presents a different early version of this combination.  Among the sources for the Impromptus, Helasvuo has noted earlier that a version of number 5 (1893), labelled as a sketch, is in fact a finished and fair-copied version of the work.

During the editing process, some source materials, missing from the work catalogues, have seen the daylight. These include the score and parts of Andante festivo’s first performance (1939) in the YLE archive as well as another contemporary score with parts in the archive of Ylioppilaskunnan Soittajat. These new sources have significantly expanded the understanding of the work.

JSW is published by the National Library of Finland, the Sibelius Society of Finland and the publishing house Breitkopf & Härtel (Wiesbaden).  

Further information:

Tuija Wicklund
Jean Sibelius Works
+358504487481
National Library

 

Authors