Compositions for brass septet by Jean Sibelius

Early in his career from 1889 to 1899, the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius wrote six pieces for brass septet, chronologically as follows: the Overture in F minor, JS 146 (1889); the Allegro in G minor, JS 25 (1889); the Andantino and Menuetto, JS 45 (1890); the Preludium (in Swedish: Förspel), JS 83 (1891); and Tiera, JS 200 (1899). Although Sibelius's pieces for brass septet have been recorded several times, they are relatively unknown.

Instrumentation
All six pieces are scored for torviseitsikko (in Swedish: hornseptett), a "specifically Finnish" kind of brass septet that originated in 1870 when the Finnish composer, music arranger, and military band leader Adolf Leander founded the first torviseitsikko within the Guards' Band, the premiere ensemble of the Finnish Defense Forces (then in service to the Russian tsar, Alexander II). The standard consists of the following instruments:
 * 1 soprano cornet (in E♭), 1 alto horn (in E♭), and 1 tuba (in E♭)
 * 1 euphonium (in B♭)
 * 2 cornets (in B♭) and 1 tenor horn (in B♭)

At the time, it was typical to place the euphonium in the center, with the E♭ instruments grouped to one side and the B♭ instruments grouped to the other. A torviseitsikko can also include percussion. Indeed, both the Allegro and the Preludium include parts for triangle, while Tiera calls for bass drum and cymbals.

Composition
On 29 May 1889, Sibelius graduated from the Helsinki Music Institute, the star pupil of the institute's director, Martin Wegelius. That summer, the Sibelius family vacationed for the second straight year at the seaside resort town of Loviisa, staying in the home of his paternal grandmother and aunt. Breaking with his habit from the previous three summers, Sibelius at this point did not produce a new piano trio; rather, he wrote a flurry of new works, including his first composition for torviseitsikko: the Overture in F minor. This piece Sibelius probably composed for his friend, the German-born horn player and band leader Christian Haupt, who in 1888 had become the kapellmeister in Loviisa. In this role, his duties included conducting the septet attached to the local volunteer fire brigade. No evidence, however, has been found indicating that the Overture was performed in Sibelius's lifetime.



With arrival of fall, Sibelius set out in September 1889 for Berlin, where he would continue his music studies (now as a post-graduate) under the German composer Albert Becker. Nevertheless, Sibelius found time to compose more personal works on the side, one of which was his second piece for torviseitsikko: the Allegro in G minor. This piece Sibelius wrote for a competition held by the Finnish Society for Popular Education (in Finnish: Kansanvalistusseura), which in December 1888 had run an advertisement in the music magazine Säveleitä promoting a contest for new torviseitsikko compositions; the primary requirement was that the entry be a "fantasy" (rather than an arrangement) of a Finnish folk song. Sibelius's Allegro, which he submitted under the pseudonymous initialism 'n–l–s' (for Jea – N • Sibe – L – iu – S) made use of two songs: Hevonen kuin koirasteeri and Tuomi on virran reunalla. However, the Allegro failed to win the prize of 500 Finnish markka, perhaps because the three judges—the organist, composer, and professor Richard Faltin; the conductor Ernst Schnéevoigt; and Leander—concluded it was "far too difficult and therefore impractical for amateur bandsmen".

Sibelius wrote the Andantino and Menuetto, his third and fourth compositions for torviseitsikko, while staying in Loviisa during the summer of 1890; as with the Overture from the previous year, the new pieces were intended for Haupt's septet. This was a period of transition for the young composer, as two momentous decisions soon followed: in September, he and Aino Järnefelt secretly engaged; moreover, he selected Vienna for his second year of post-graduate study (where he eventually apprenticed under the Hungarian composer Karl Goldmark and the Austrian composer Robert Fuchs). At this time, Sibelius turned seriously to the task of orchestral composition, and his production of chamber music decreased dramatically. One of the few new chamber pieces to defy this general metamorphosis of artistic expression, however, was a fifth composition for torviseitsikko, the Preludium, which he composed in Loviisa during the summer of 1891, again for Haupt's band.

Sibelius's final piece for torviseitsikko is the "tone picture" Tiera, which arrived in eight years later in 1899. (A minor character in the Finland's national epic, the Kalevala, Tiera is a comrade of the amorous, swashbuckling hero Lemminkäinen.) The Finnish musicologist Kari Kilpeläinen has speculated that Sibelius may originally may intended Tiera as part of the Music for the Press Celebrations Days (JS 137, 1899), the occasional score from which the composer subsequently excerpted Finlandia and the Scènes historiques I. Tiera was the only of Sibelius brass septet pieces to be published in his lifetime, which the Society for Popular Education printed in 1900 and paired with another piece for torviseitsikko, Aamulla varhain (Early in the Morning, 1900) by Sibelius's brother-in-law, the Finnish composer and conductor Armas Järnefelt.

Neglect and publication
Sibelius's remaining five pieces were relegated to "almost a century of obscurity", forgotten and unplayed, until their rediscovery in the 1980s: the Overture, Antantino, Menuetto, and Preludium were among the manuscripts that the Sibelius family donated in 1982 to the University of Helsinki Library, while the Finnish horn player and music educator Holger Fransman in 1987 located the Allegro within the archives of Haupt's Loviisa septet. A year later, Fransman arranged the Preludium, Andantino, and Menuetto as the so-called "Petite Suite for Brass Septet", respectively, as movements Nos. 1–3; this Fazer Music (now Fennica Gehrman) published in 1988, along with the first edition of the Overture. The Allegro, however, remains in manuscript.

Overture (JS 146)
The Overture in F minor, marked Allegro, is in time and has a duration of about 11 minutes.

Allegro (JS 25)
The Allegro in G minor is in time and has a duration of about five minutes.

Andantino and Menuetto (JS 45)
The Andantino and Menuetto are each in time; together, they have a duration of about five minutes.

Preludium (JS 83)
The Preludium is in time and has a duration of about five minutes.

Tiera (JS 200)
The Tiera, marked Non troppo lento – Alla marcia, is in time and has a duration of about four minutes.

Discography
The Swedish conductor Lars-Gunnar Björklund and the Solna Brass made the world premiere studio recording of the Overture and the "Petite Suite" (using Fazer's the arrangements by Fransman), as well as of the Allegro (then in manuscript) in 1990 for Oompah Records. Although the ensemble also recorded Tiera, this was preceded by an earlier performance by the Estonian-American conductor Neeme Järvi and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in 1989 for BIS. The sortable table below lists these and other commercially available recordings of Sibelius's works for torviseitsikko:

In general, Sibelius's torviseitsikko works have been well received. In a review of BIS's 2000 recording, Jed Distler of Classics Today wrote that the "six Sibelius selections are well-crafted occasional pieces, the only exception being the Weber-like Overture in F minor"; he further complimented Brass Partout for its "technical refinement and pinpointed nuance that will either inspire or depress rank and file brass players". Ivan March for Gramophone praised the Hyperion recording, describing the Sibelius tracks as "the real find" of the disc: "They are entirely uncharacteristic, but have genuine charm". He continued by characterizing each individual piece: the Allegro as "fresh and somewhat folksy, yet quite expansive'; the Andantino as "simple hymn-like melody"; the Menuetto as "very jolly"; the " colourful and rhythmically catchy" Preludium as the "most winning piece" of the set; and, tepidly, the Overture as "less memorable, but agreeable enough". In contrast to Distler and March, Gerald Fenech for MusicWeb International reviewed the Overture positively.

Notes, references, and sources

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