Spring Song (Sibelius)

Spring Song (in Swedish: Vårsång; in Finnish: Kevätlaulu), Op. 16, is a single-movement tone poem for orchestra written in 1894 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

History
The piece was initially composed as Improvisation for Orchestra, in the key of D major. It premiered on 21 July 1894 at an outdoor festival in Vaasa, organized by the Society for Popular Education (Kansanvalistusseura). Short, lyrical, and delicately scored, Sibelius's piece was ill-suited for the open-air concert, and the audience received it less enthusiastically than another work on the program: Korsholm, by Sibelius's brother-in-law and friend Armas Järnefelt. Shortly therefore, Sibelius withdrew Improvisation for revision. In 1895, he recast it in F major and retitled the work Spring Song (Vårsång), appending the subtitle "The Sadness of Spring" to that (unpublished) version.

Structure
The work is scored for 2 flutes (both doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B♭), 2 bassoons, 4 horns (in F), 3 trumpets (in F), 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, glocken, violins, violas, cellos, and double basses. Spring Song takes about 8 minutes to play.

The tempo marking is: Tempo moderato e sostenuto. The piece contains an optimism that is relatively rare among Sibelius' works. It is known for its prominent use of bells at the end of the song.

Discography
The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of Spring Song:

Notes, references, and sources

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