The Dryad (Sibelius)

The Dryad (in Finnish: Dryadi), Op. 45/1, is a tone poem for orchestra written in 1910 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. He completed it between skiing trips. He conducted the first performance in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway, on 8 October 1910, together with the premiere of In memoriam. He arranged it for piano in 1910 (Die Dryade). The piece has been regarded as one of the composer's "shortest and most original orchestral works", as an "impressionist miniature", proceeding from fragments to a "dance-like theme".

Structure
The work is scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B♭), bass clarinet (in B♭), 2 bassoons, 4 horns (in F), 3 trumpets (in B♭), 3 trombones, tuba, tambourine, castanets, snare drum, bass drum and strings.

Discography
The Finnish conductor Nils-Eric Fougstedt and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra made the world premiere studio recording of The Dryad in 1959 for the Society of Finnish Composers (in Finnish: Suomen Säveltäjät). The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

In addition, the Finnish pianist Erik T. Tawaststjerna made the world premiere studio recording of Sibelius's piano transcription of The Dryad in 1987 for BIS. The table below includes this and other commercially available recordings:

Notes, references, and sources

 * Notes


 * References


 * Sources