One of Sibelius’ earliest incidental works, and one of his first big successes, was the music he wrote for King Christian II. It’s exactly contemporaneous with the First Symphony (1899), and it shows Sibelius channeling Tchaikovsky and otherwise putting all of his Romantic impulses to excellent use. The suite opens with a gorgeous Nocturne, love music at its most sumptuous, and closes with a violent Ballade representing the massacre with which the action culminates. It has some melodic material in common with the finale of the First Symphony, so if you like that piece, then you’ll love this one too. In between there’s a series of what we call in the music biz “character pieces,” song and dance numbers, scored for smaller forces and loaded with good tunes.
Next in line is the extensive suite for chamber orchestra that Sibelius made out of Maurice Maeterlinck’s symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande, which also served as the subject for Debussy’s sole opera and a massive tone poem by Arnold Schoenberg. The music is exquisite, from the imposing opening (“At the Castle Gate”) to the creepy scene of Mélisande at her spinning wheel to her sad, touching death. This is another one of those pieces that’s interesting to hear in its original theatrical version, simply because it contains so much good music and features such an effective use of instrumental color. The suite has always been recognized as one of Sibelius’ masterworks.
This has not been the case with two other very enjoyable works. The first, Belshazzar’s Feast, is wonderful, but its four brief movements last some fifteen minutes and are simply too short for most conductors to want to bother with. Still, the opening “Oriental March” shows that Sibelius could write some really effective exotic music without it ever turning into kitsch, and the concluding number, “Khadra’s Dance,” features some very ear-catching instrumental colors and a wonderful tune or two.
Swanwhite, music written to yet another symbolist (which means “fairy tale for adults”) play by the great Swedish playwright August Strindberg, remains obscure and mysterious. Sibelius lavished a great deal of care on the score, and it’s gorgeous. The movement titles give you some idea of the work’s colorful contents: “The Peacock,” “The Harp,” “The Maidens with Roses,” “Hark, the Robin Sings!,” “The Prince Alone,” “Swanwhite and the Prince” and “Song of Praise.” This is a very substantial piece, and as with King Christian II, the music shares some ideas with a roughly contemporaneous symphony, in this case, the Fifth. Sibelius’s pit orchestra numbered only some thirteen players, but for the suite he employed a full symphony orchestra (minus heavy brass). Again, comparison of the two versions, which the BIS recording permits if you feel so inclined, is great fun if you’re a Sibelius junkie.
So if you’ve enjoyed Sibelius’ symphonies and want to explore his orchestral music in greater depth, his music for the theater offers plenty of the kinds of sounds we already know and love, and just as much that is fresh and new.
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