Jean Sibelius
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor, Op. 47
Jean Sibelius was born in Tavestehus, Finland in 1865 and died in Järvenpää in 1957. He composed his Violin Concerto between 1902 and 1904, and conducted the first performance with violinist Victor Nováèek and the Helsingfors Philharmonic the same year. The concerto is scored for solo violin, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, and strings.
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As a youth Jean Sibelius wanted to be a violinist even though he had also shown great promise as a composer: “My tragedy was that I wanted to be a celebrated violinist at any price. From the age of 15, I played my violin for ten years, practically from morning to night. My preference for the violin lasted quite long, and it was a very painful awakening when I had to admit that I had begun my training for the exacting career of an eminent performer too late.” It’s not surprising, then, that Sibelius would choose the instrument he knew best for the only concerto he would compose.

By the turn of the twentieth century, many composers had disavowed the classical concerto model of a soloist with orchestral accompaniment in favor of a coalescent approach giving equal weight and musical value to each. Sibelius intended to return to the earlier practice, with the soloist dominating the proceedings, but he may have gone overboard: when the Concerto was first performed, neither Sibelius nor the critics were terribly satisfied. He revised the work in 1905, giving greater prominence (though not equality) to the orchestra and eliminating some of the busy-work in the solo part.

The opening of the first movement is unusual: not only does the violin enter almost immediately, but as it intones the first theme of the piece it also has the first discernable rhythm, played against a static orchestral background. There are three major themes, and each is developed somewhat before the next one arrives; the cadenza takes the place of a true development section. Though there are islands of calm in this movement, the drama and passion of the music are electrifying, and its effect—despite the composer’s intentions—is very nearly symphonic.

The Adagio di molto has a more traditional shape: its low, melancholy melody spins out, is developed, and eventually dies away.

Sibelius referred to the high-energy Finale as a Danse Macabre, though it has also been called a “polonaise for polar bears.” Either way it is high entertainment. The soloist engages in breathtaking fireworks, but not just for show: everything the soloist plays advances the musical cause in partnership with the orchestra.

The Violin Concerto reflects how Sibelius’ compositional approach was changing. The program music, patriotic nationalism and romanticism were giving way to a more austere and concentrated musical language with a hint of the neoclassical to it. Though his rhetoric became more objective, Sibelius continued to formulate his music in terms of orchestral sound. Parts were not assigned after composition; rather, the weight and sonority of the orchestra were always in mind as he conceived the music.

There doesn’t seem to be any program music in this concerto, nor the kind of landscape-painting you often find in Sibelius’ other works. Still, even his absolute music seems replete with the sights and sounds of nature. Whether intended or not, listeners hear the woodlands in the notes, and this suited Sibelius: “I love the mysterious sounds of the fields and forests, water and mountains. It pleases me greatly to be called an artist of nature, for nature has truly been the book of books for me.”