Two Serious Melodies
Concertante pieces by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1915)
Opus77
Composed1914 (1914)–1915
PublisherHansen (1922–1923)[1]
Duration8 mins[2]
Premiere
Date30 March 1916 (1916-03-30)[1]
LocationHelsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
ConductorJean Sibelius
Performers

The Two Serious Melodies, Op. 77, are concertante compositions for violin and orchestra written from 1914 to 1915 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. They are:

  • Cantique, Op. 77/1 (1914); subtitled "Laetare anima mea" ("Rejoice my soul")
  • Devotion, Op. 77/2 (1915); subtitled "Ab imo pectore" ("From my very heart")

Sibelius originally called No. 1 Lofsången (Song of Praise). In 1915, he made transcriptions of each piece for violin and piano. In 1916, he arranged both pieces for cello and orchestra and transcribed them, too, for cello and piano.[3][4]

Cantique is marked Moderato assai. Devotion is marked Tempo molto moderato.

Each piece is dedicated to the Finnish cellist Ossian Fohström.

Instrumentation

Cantique is scored for the following instruments:[5]

Devotion is scored for the following instruments:[6]

  • Soloist: violin (or cello)
  • Woodwinds: 2 flutes, 2 clarinets (in A), and 2 bassoons
  • Brass: 4 horns (in F) and 3 trombones
  • Strings: violins, violas, cellos, and double basses

Recordings

The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of the complete Two Serious Melodies:

No. Conductor Orchestra Soloist Rec.[lower-alpha 1] Time Recording venue Label Ref.
1 Vladimir Ashkenazy Philharmonia Orchestra Boris Belkin (violin) 1979 7:23 Kingsway Hall Decca
2 Vernon Handley Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra Ralph Holmes (violin) 1980 9:31 Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin Schwann, Koch
3 Lawrence Foster Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra David Geringas (violin) 1980 8:24 Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin Parnass
4 Neeme Järvi Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra Dong-Suk Kang (violin) 1989 8:28 Gothenburg Concert Hall BIS
5 Jukka-Pekka Saraste Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra Arto Noras (cello) Finlandia
6 Luca Pfaff Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra Marie Scheublé Arion Music
7 Thomas Dausgaard Danish National Symphony Orchestra Christian Tetzlaff (violin) 2002 Danish Radio Concert Hall (old) Virgin Classics
8 Osmo Vänskä Lahti Symphony Orchestra Marko Ylönen (cello) 2004 Sibelius Hall BIS
9 Leif Segerstam Turku Philharmonic Orchestra Mikaela Palmu (violin) 2014 10:17 Turku Concert Hall Naxos
10 Alejandro Garrido Porras Orquestra Vigo 430 Nicolas Dautricourt (violin) 2014 9:15 Martín Códax Auditorium, Vigo Conservatory of Music La Dolce Volta

Notes, references, and sources

Notes
References
  1. 1 2 Dahlström 2003, pp. 338, 340.
  2. ↑ Dahlström 2003, pp. 338–339.
  3. ↑ Barnett 2007, pp. 248, 251, 260.
  4. ↑ Dahlström 2003, pp. 338–340.
  5. ↑ Dahlström 2003, p. 338.
  6. ↑ Dahlström 2003, p. 339.
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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