Sibelius: The Oceanides , Op. 73 / Tapiola, Op. 112

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Description

The American tone poems

Jean Sibelius wrote his last two tone poems Aallottaret, Op. 73 and Tapiola, Op. 112 as commissions for the United States. Aallottaret is the original Finnish title of, Op. 73, as is found on the autograph. Discreetly concealed behind this title, however, is the title The Oceanides , which also stems from Sibelius, and which Breitkopf & Härtel gladly placed in first position for the first edition of 1915, thus facilitating the diffusion of the work. The previously unpublished early version of Aallottaret is also presented in the volume of the Complete Edition; it had been hastily rejected shortly before the world premiere. Compared with this genesis, the origin of Tapiola , Sibelius last great symphonic poem, is relatively unspectacular: though he was under pressure to write and publish the work, Sibelius produced no different versions. There was only one printed edition from Breitkopf and no further revisions.

Thanks are given to Professor Nors S. Josephson for his valuable work on this volume, the editing of which he began.