Malinconia
Duo by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1902)
Opus20
Composed1900 (1900)
PublisherBreitkopf & Härtel (1911)[1]
Duration12 mins[1]
Premiere
Date12 March 1900 (1900-03-12)[1]
LocationHelsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
Performers

Malinconia (literal English translation: "Melancholy"), Op. 20, is a single-movement duo for cello and piano[1] written in 1900 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

History

Left to rightː the pianist Sigrid Sundgren, the cellist Georg Schnéevoigt, and Sibelius (c. 1905)

In late 1899 and early 1900, a typhus epidemic swept through southern Finland, near Kerava. Sibelius's brother-in-law, the Finnish playwright Arvid Järnefelt,[lower-alpha 1] had just lost his infant daughter, Anna (1898 – 1899) on 28 December, and as such, Aino Sibelius (née Järnefelt) traveled to Lohja to assist the Järnefelts as they mourned; Sibelius and the couple's three daughters—Eva, Ruth, and Kirsti—remained in Helsinki. However, the epidemic soon claimed Kirsti (1898 – 1900), as well, who died on 13 February. (Aino suspected that she had accidentally carried the deadly bacteria home with her.) Devastated, a grieving Sibelius turned to drink, while Aino and the other daughters sought to outrun the disease by relocating to Aino's mother's home in Lohja.[2]

In early March, Sibelius composed—purportedly in just three hours—a duo for cello and piano that he named Fantasia (later retitled Malinconia). The piece received its premiere on 12 March 1900 in Helsinki; the cellist was Georg Schnéevoigt, the dedicatee, accompanied by the pianist Sigrid Sundgren (the two later married in 1907).[1][3]

Music

Malinconia, which has a duration of about 12 minutes, is in 12
8 time and has a tempo marking of Adagio pesante.[1]

Discography

The Danish cellist Louis Jensen and the Russian-born Danish pianist Galina Werschenska made the world premiere studio recording of Malinonia in 1936 for His Master's Voice (since re-released by Warner Classics).[1] The sortable table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

No. Cello Piano Runtime[lower-alpha 2] Rec.[lower-alpha 3] Recording venue Label Ref.
1 Louis Jensen Galina Werschenska 9:05 1936 [Unknown], Copenhagen Warner Classics
2 Arto Noras Tapani Valsta 12:05 1971 [Unknown], Heidelberg Da Camera Magna
3 Thomas Blees Maria Bergmann ? 1972 [Unknown], Baden-Baden SWR Music
4 Pär Öjebo Albena Zaharieva 12:22 ? Örebro Concert Hall Opus 3
5 Heinrich Schiff Elisabeth Leonskaja 11:47 1984 Salle de Musique, La Chaux-de-Fonds Philips
6 Raimo Sariola Hui-Ying Liu-Tawaststjerna 12:27 1985 Imatra Concert Hall Finlandia
7 Martti Rousi Juhani Lagerspetz 11:34 1988 Martinus Hall Ondine
8 Truls Mørk Jean-Yves Thibaudet 12:31 1993 Ski Hall, Torgveien Virgin Classics
9 Erkki Rautio Izumi Tateno 10:52 1995 Ainola Canyon Classics
10 Torleif Thedéen Folke Gräsbeck 12:18 1996 Danderyds gymnasium BIS
11 Tanja Tetzlaff Gunilla Süssmann 13:29 2005 St. Cosmas & Damian Church Avi Music
12 Jussi Makkonen Rait Karm 10:41 2007 Concert Hall, Sibelius Academy Naxos
13 Alexey Stadler Karina Sposobina 12:56 2008 Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Catherine Northern Flowers
14 Mattia Zappa Massimiliano Mainolfi 12:02 2010 Siemens-Villa Claves Records
15 David Geringas Ian Fountain 10:45 2011 Kammermusikstudio, SWR Stuttgart Profil
16 Steven Isserlis Olli Mustonen 10:39 2013 Potton Hall, Suffolk BIS
17 Rohan de Saram Benjamin Frith 12:18 2014 Tonbridge School, Kent First Hand
18 Adrian Bradbury Sophia Rahman 10:25 2017 Sidney Sussex College Chapel Resonus Classics
19 Niklas Schmidt Stepan Simonian 11:14 2020 Friedrich-Ebert-Halle Hamburg Fontenay Classics

Notes, references, and sources

Notes
  1. ↑ In 1903, Sibelius collaborated with Arvid Järnefelt by writing incidental music to his brother-in-law's play Death (Kuolema).
  2. ↑ All runtimes are official, as printed on CD or LP liner notes.
  3. ↑ Refers to the year in which the performers recorded the work; this may not be the same as the year in which the recording was first released to the general public.
  4. ↑ L. Jensen & G. Werschenska–Warner Classics (0825646053179) 2015
  5. ↑ A. Noras & T. Valsta–Da Camera Magna (DaCa 77 089) 1970s
  6. ↑ T. Blees & M. Bergmann–SWR Music (SWR10324) 2016
  7. ↑ P. Öjebo & A. Zaharieva–Opus 3 (Nr 8011) 1983
  8. ↑ H. Schiff & E. Leonskaja–Philips (412 732–1) 1986
  9. ↑ R. Sariola & H. Liu-Tawaststjerna–Finlandia (FAD 351) 1986
  10. ↑ M. Rousi & J. Lagerspetz–Ondine (ODE 717–2) 1988
  11. ↑ T. Mørk & J. Thibaudet–Virgin Classics (7243 5 45034 2 9) 1994
  12. ↑ E. Rautio & I. Tateno–Canyon Classics (PCCL–00328) 1996
  13. ↑ T. Thedéen & F. Gräsbeck–BIS (CD–817) 1996
  14. ↑ T. Tetzlaff & G. Süssmann–Avi Music (AVI8553082) 2007
  15. ↑ J. Makkonen & R. Karm–Naxos (8.570797) 2008
  16. ↑ A. Stadler & K. Sposobina–Northern Flowers (NF/PMA 9979) 2009
  17. ↑ M. Zappa & M. Mainolfi–Claves (CD 50–1011) 2010
  18. ↑ D. Geringas & I. Fountain–Profil (PH15005) 2015
  19. ↑ S. Isserlis & O. Mustonen–BIS (SACD–2049) 2014
  20. ↑ R. De Saram & B. Frith–First Hand (FHR34) 2014
  21. ↑ A. Bradbury & S. Rahman–Resonus Classics (RES10205) 2018
  22. ↑ N. Schmidt & S. Simonian–Fontenay Classics (FCI015) 2021
References
Sources
  • Barnett, Andrew (2007). Sibelius. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11159-0.
  • Dahlström, Fabian [in Swedish] (2003). Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke [Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works] (in German). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel. ISBN 3-7651-0333-0.
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