Symphony No. 7 (Sibelius)

The Symphony No. 7 in C Major, opus 105, was the final published symphony of Jean Sibelius. Completed in 1924, the Seventh is notable for being a one-movement symphony, in contrast to the standard symphonic formula of four movements. It has been described as "completely original in form, subtle in its handling of tempi, individual in its treatment of key and wholly organic in growth" [Citation
contribution = Sibelius
last = Layton
first = Robert
editor-last = Wintle
editor-first = Justin
title = Makers of Modern Culture
pages = 479
publisher = Routledge
place = London
year = 2002
contribution-url =http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0415265835&id=991tT3wSot0C&pg=RA4-PA479&lpg=RA4-PA479&dq=sibelius+symphony+7&sig=8QEqCj1FcO9686L2JjFZrPf8W-Y#PRA4-PA479,M1
isbn=0415265835] and "Sibelius's most remarkable compositional achievement". [citation
first=James
last=Hepokoski
contribution=Sibelius
editor-first=Stanley
editor-last=Sadie
editor2-first=John
editor2-last=Tyrrell
title=The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
edition=Second edition
location=London
publisher=Macmillan
date=2001
volume=xxiii
pages=319-47
isbn=0333231112. Quoted by Whittall, p. 61]

After Sibelius finished its composition on March 2, the work was premiered in Stockholm on March 24 as "Fantasia sinfonica No. 1", a "symphonic fantasy". The composer was apparently undecided on what name to give the piece, and only granted it status as a symphony after some deliberation. For its publication on February 25, 1925, the score was titled "Symphony No. 7 (in one movement)".

Composition

The concept of a continuous, single-movement symphony was one Sibelius only reached after a long process of experimentation. His Third symphony, dating from 1907, contained three movements, an earlier fourth movement having been fused into the third. The final result was successful enough for Sibelius to use the same idea in his Fifth symphony, completed in 1915. Although his first mention of the Seventh occurred in December 1918, the source for its material has been traced back to around 1914, the time when he was working on the Fifth.Fact|date=March 2008

In 1918 Sibelius had described his plans for this symphony as involving "joy of life and vitality with "appassionato" sections". The symphony would have three movements, the last being a "Hellenic rondo".Barnett (2007), p304] Surviving sketches from the early 1920s show that the composer was working on a work of four, not three, movements. The overall key seems to have been G minor, while the second movement, an adagio in C major, provided much of the material for the themes that eventually made up the Symphony. The first surviving draft of a single-movement symphony dates from 1923, suggesting that Sibelius may have made the decision to dispense with a multi-movement work at this time. Through the summer of 1923 the composer produced several further drafts, at least one of which is in a performable state: however the ending of the symphony was not yet fully worked out.

As 1923 turned into 1924, Sibelius was distracted from his work on the symphony by a number of outside events: the award of a large cash prize from a Helsinki foundation, family birthdays and the composition of a number of brief piano works. [Barnett (2007), p. 305] When he returned to the Seventh, the composer drank copious amounts of whisky in order, he claimed, to steady his hand as he wrote on the manuscript paper. [Barnett (2007), p. 306]

Along with his Fifth and Sixth symphonies, the Seventh was Sibelius's final home for material from "Kuutar", a never-completed symphonic poem whose title roughly means "Moon Spiritess". This work helped to shape the earliest parts of the Seventh, those created during the composition of the Fifth and Sixth. One of the themes from "Kuutar", called "Tähtölä" ("Where the Stars Dwell"), evolved into part of the Seventh's opening Adagio section. ( [http://inkpot.com/classical/sibsym7.html] )

Importance

Although the Seventh apparently first existed in embryonic form in D major, it eventually attained the home key of C major. There was a time when composing in C was considered fruitless — it had "nothing more to offer." But in response to the Seventh, the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams said that only Sibelius could make C major sound completely fresh. Peter Franklin, writing of the Seventh in the Segerstam/Chandos cycle of Sibelius symphonies, calls the dramatic conclusion "the grandest celebration of C major there ever was."

Sibelius lived for 33 years after finishing the Seventh, but it was one of the last works he composed. He did complete one more important orchestral work, his symphonic poem "Tapiola". However, despite much evidence of work on an Eighth symphony, it is believed that Sibelius burned whatever he had written. He left the Seventh to stand as his final statement on symphonic form.

Form

The form of the Seventh symphony is startlingly original. Since the time of Haydn, a movement in a symphony would typically be unified by an approximately constant beat and would attain variety by use of contrasting themes in different keys. Sibelius turned this scheme on its head. The Seventh symphony is unified by the key of C (every significant passage in the work is in C major or C minor), and variety is achieved by an almost constantly-changing tempo, [Barnett (2007), p. 308] as well as by contrasts of mode, articulation and texture. [Citation
contribution = Sibelius the progressive
last = Howell
first = Tim in Jackson and Murtomäki, [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521624169&id=6p9lAkbz7fAC&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&vq=%22tempo+is+a+crucially%22&sig=NlWIyXj-PGI0PDS3RvtaWAcwkis p. 45] ] Sibelius had done something similar in the Fifth symphony's first movement, which combines elements of a standard symphonic first movement with a faster scherzo. However, the Seventh symphony contains much wider variety within one movement.

Description

Adagio (measures 1-92)

The symphony begins with a soft roll on the timpani followed by a slow ascending syncopated C major scale (starting on the timpani's G) in the strings which leads to an unexpected chord in the remote key of A♭ minor. The interval of a minor sixth between the initial note of G and the final note of E♭ has been interpreted as a reference to the beginning of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde": the passage is followed by chords taken from that work. [Citation
contribution = Observations on crystallization and entropy in the music of Sibelius and other composers
last = Jackson
first = Timothy L. in Jackson and Murtomäki, [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521624169&id=6p9lAkbz7fAC&pg=RA1-PA239&lpg=RA1-PA239&ots=IKeLS3S4Y0&dq=%22william+pavlak%22&sig=W1uUi0PbSHwRKSux5f5Tf7oHxkI#PRA1-PA182,M1 p. 239] ]

A few bars later, a key motif is announced quietly on the flute and repeated on the clarinet:

We soon arrive at a passage sounding rather like a chorale, with the violas and cellos softly singing a hymn-like tune that will gradually build up to the first climax of the symphony.

As the climax approaches, the orchestra adds volume and intensity. At the climax, the first trombone announces the main tune of the symphony, labelled "Aino" in sketches, after the composer's wife. [Citation
contribution = Observations on crystallization and entropy in the music of Sibelius and other composers
last = Jackson
first = Timothy L. in Jackson and Murtomäki, [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521624169&id=6p9lAkbz7fAC&pg=RA1-PA182&lpg=RA1-PA182&ots=IKeLT2Q7--&dq=%22the+Seventh,+where+the+great+C+major+trombone+theme&sig=5AmGnaHBlyNQ3wciBF_J5e6U0iw pp. 182, 184] ]

This theme reappears at key moments of the symphony, each time reaffirming C as the tonality.

Un pochett. meno adagio — poco affrett. — Poco a poco affrettando il Tempo al ... Vivacissimo — rallentando al ... (measures 93 - 221)

At measure 93 the tempo is marked "Un pochett. meno adagio" (a tiny bit faster). A new theme in the Dorian mode, based on the ascending scale in the opening bars, soon appears on the oboe:

The tempo gradually increases ("affrettando") in a long sequential passage exploring several tonalities. At measure 134 the time signature slips from 3/2 into 6/4 notching up the tension. The key signature switches to C minor:

Soon the tempo is ratcheted up to "Vivacissimo" (very lively), with fast staccato chords traded between the strings and woodwind. The music turns stormy in mood with ominous ascending and descending scales on the strings, while the "Aino" theme is heard again in the brass:

Adagio — Poco a poco meno lento al ... (measures 222 - 257)

Allegro molto moderato — Un pochett. affretando (measures 258 - 285)

Allegro moderato — Poco a poco meno moderato (measures 286 - 408)

Vivace (measures 409 - 448)

Presto — Poco a poco rallentando al ... (measures 449 - 475)

Adagio (measures 476 - 495)

Largamente molto — Affettuoso (measures 496 - 521)

This section ends with a chord progression from A♭ back to the symphony's main key of C major taken directly from Sibelius's earlier work "Valse Triste" from "Kuolema". [Citation
contribution = Sibelius and the theater: a study of the incidental music for Symbolist plays
last = Kurki
first = Eija in Jackson and Murtomäki, [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0521624169&id=6p9lAkbz7fAC&pg=RA1-PA80&lpg=RA1-PA80&dq=sibelius+symphony+7&sig=72JkIVmF2UCfGlIQmMqg1C24RPE p. 80] ]

Tempo I (measures 522 - 525)

The last four measures return to the initial "Adagio" tempo. Logically this ought to be faster than the preceding music, which was "Adagio" then "Largamente molto" (broadening — that is, slowing — a lot), but most conductors slow down. The strings play a version of the theme from measures 11-12 against a grand C major chord held by the brass and woodwind. Lionel Pike [Pike, Lionel. "Beethoven, Sibelius and 'the Profound Logic'". London: The Athlone Press, 1978. ISBN 0 485 11178 0.] describes the D to C note progression followed by the B (enharmonically equivalent to C♭) to C progression in the strings as being the final resolution of the tonal dissonance created by the striking A♭ minor chord from near the beginning of the work (also for example the "dissonant" A♭ resolves to "consonant" G in the immediately preceding section). The D to C note progression is also the first two notes of the trombone's recurring "Aino" theme. Arnold Whittall describes this ending as "triumphantly abrupt". [Whittall, p. 65]

multi-listen item|filename=Vanska 222 225.ogg|title=Vänskä/Lahti|description=Osmo Vänskä ends the symphony in his 1998 studio recording with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra by following Sibelius's instructions in the score exactly.
format=Ogg

Discography

References

Bibliography

*cite book
title=Sibelius
isbn=0300111592
first=Andrew
last=Barnett
location=New Haven, CT
publisher=Yale University Press
year=2007
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=vkIWs6nvRs8C
*cite book
last = Jackson
first = Timothy L.
coauthors= Veijo Murtomäki
title = Sibelius studies
publisher = Cambridge University Press
place = Cambridge, UK
year = 2001
isbn=0521624169
*citation
first=Arnold
last=Whittall
contribution=The later symphonies
editor-first=Daniel M.
editor-last=Grimley
title=The Cambridge Companion to Sibelius
publisher=Cambridge University Press
isbn=0521894603

External links

* [http://inkpot.com/classical/sibsym7.html An Inktroduction by the Inkpot Sibelius Nutcase]
* [http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Drilldown?name_id1=11179&name_role1=1&bcorder=1&comp_id=2785 Available recordings, from arkivmusic.com]
* [http://www.niigata-u.com/files/7th_sibe.html Discography]
* [http://www.americansymphony.org/dialogues_extensions/2001_02season/2002_5_10/sibelius.cfm The Development of the Symphony] from Four Movements in original Sketch to its present one-movement form