Hymn of the Earth

Hymn of the Earth (in Finnish: Maan virsi), Op. 95, is a single-movement, patriotic cantata for mixed choir and orchestra written from 1919 to 1920 by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece, which is a setting of the Finnish author Eino Leino's Finnish-language poem of the same name, is chronologically the eighth of Sibelius's nine orchestral cantatas; in particular, it belongs to the series of four "little known, but beautiful" cantatas from the composer's mature period that also includes My Own Land (Op. 92, 1918), Song of the Earth (Op. 93, 1919), and Väinämöinen's Song (Op. 110, 1926). Hymn of the Earth premiered on 4 April 1920 in Helsinki, with Heikki Klemetti conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and his choir, Suomen Laulu.

Instrumentation
Hymn of the Earth is scored for the following instruments and voices, organized by family (vocalists, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):
 * Mixed choir (SATB)
 * 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B♭), and 2 bassoons
 * 4 horns (in F), 2 trumpets (in B♭), and 3 trombones
 * Timpani
 * Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, and double basses

History


The cantata resulted from a commission by the Finnish choral conductor Heikki Klemetti, who had founded the mixed choir Suomen Laulu in 1900 and desired from Sibelius a new work that the ensemble could perform in the spring of 1920 to celebrate its twentieth anniversary. Sibelius, however, was unenthused, writing in his diary in January 1919: "And then there's the promise I made Klemetti for a work for Suomen Laulu. He is by no means one of my 'admirers'. It annoys me that he only wants to use my name as a decoration". By late December 1919, however, Sibelius's delay tactics ceased and he began work on the piece for Klemetti.

Although Sibelius had planned to set Suomenmaa by the Finnish poet Aleksis Kivi, he settled on Maan virsi by Eino Leino. It is a patriotic text that celebrates Finland, as well as the natural world. For example, in the third stanza, Leino writes:

Sibelius completed the cantata in late January 1920; it premiered a few months later on 4 April 1920 (Easter Sunday) in Helsinki, with Klemetti—its dedicatee—conducting Suomen Laulu and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.

Discography
The Estonian conductor Eri Klas and the Finnish National Opera Orchestra and Chorus made the world premiere studio recording of the Hymn of the Earth in 1990 for Ondine. The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings: