Piano Sonata in F major
by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1891)
Opus12
Composed1893 (1893)
PublisherBreitkopf & Härtel (1906)[1]
Duration17 mins[2]
Movements3
Premiere
Date17 April 1895 (1895-04-17)[1]
LocationHelsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
PerformersOskar Merikanto (piano)

The Piano Sonata in F major, Op. 12, is a three-movement composition for piano written in 1893 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece received its premiere in Helsinki on 17 April 1895; Oskar Merikanto was the soloist.[1]

Ilmari Hannikainen, a prominent Finnish composer, said "the F major Piano sonata... a splendid work. Fresh, refreshing and full of life. … I have sometimes heard people mention the orchestral tone of the sonata (the left-hand tremolos) … In my opinion the sonata shows Sibelian piano style at its most genuine. There is no question of there being any tremolos in it. Everything that looks like that is really to be played in quavers or semi-quavers, in the manner of, say, Beethoven's piano sonatas. … When it is well and carefully rehearsed - and performed - the F major sonata is truly a virtuoso piece".

An 1892 sketch of Sibelius at the piano by his future brother-in-law Eero Järnefelt
Sibelius (1927) plays the Steinway grand piano at his home, Ainola.

Structure and music

  1. Allegro molto
  2. Andantino
  3. Vivacissimo

Reception

Erik Tawaststjerna, who authored seminal biography on Sibelius, was an early, vocal advocate for many of the composer's piano pieces.

Robert Layton displays a certain ambivalence towards the Piano Sonata. On the one hand, he dismisses the piano writing as "inept", characterized by "immaturity and uncertainty". On the other hand, he concedes not only that "there is [nevertheless] a good deal to admire in this sonata", but also that relative to the Six Impromptus (Op. 5) from earlier in the year, the Sonata shows that Sibelius had matured as an artist in the span of just a few months: "[It] stands head and shoulders above most of Sibelius's early piano music both in quality of invention and the growing mastery of form it evinces".[3]

Discography

The American pianist David Rubenstein made the world premiere studio recording of the Piano Sonata in 1971 for the Musical Heritage Society.[1] The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

No. Pianist Time Rec.[lower-alpha 1] Recording venue Label Ref.
1 David Rubenstein 18:36 c. 1971 Musical Heritage Society
2 Erik T. Tawaststjerna 17:56 1979 Nacka Aula, Nacka BIS
3 Annette Servadei 19:18 1993 St George's Church, Brandon Hill Olympia
4 Marita Viitasalo 19:23 1994 Järvenpää Hall Finlandia
5 Håvard Gimse 17:48 1997 St Martin's Church, East Woodhay Naxos
6 Eero Heinonen 17:49 1998 YLE M2 Studio, Helsinki Finlandia
7 Kikuo Watanabe 2003 Tokyo Bunka Kaikan Exton
7 Folke Gräsbeck 16:57 2005 Järvenpää Hall BIS
8 Jean-Frédéric Neuburger 16:56 2013 Husum Castle Danacord
9 Janne Mertanen Sony Classical
10 Joseph Tong 18:26 2016 Jacqueline Du Pré Music Building Quartz
11 Fabiano Casanova 2019 Morsasco Castle, Morsasco Da Vinci Classics

Notes, references, and sources

Notes
References
  1. 1 2 3 4 Dahlström 2003, p. 39.
  2. ↑ Dahlström 2003, pp. 38–39.
  3. ↑ Layton 1993, pp. 190–191.
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.
  • Layton, Robert (1993) [1965]. Sibelius. (The Master Musicians Series) (4th ed.). New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0028713222.
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