JEAN SIBELIUS

Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47

Born: Hämeenlinna, Finland, December 8, 1865
Died: Järvenpää, Finland, September 20, 1957
Work composed: 1903-05
First performance: October 19, 1905, in Berlin; The German violinist Karl Halir was the
soloist, and Richard Strauss conducted

When one considers that Jean Sibelius’ output consists chiefly of orchestral music, it
seems surprising that he composed only one concerto. What is not surprising is that this
single work for solo instrument and orchestra features the violin. Sibelius himself was a
more than competent violinist. Indeed, his youthful ambition was to become a virtuoso
performer on the instrument. Only after years of practice and a painful realization that he
would not have a career as a professional soloist did he turn to composition.
Like many of Sibelius’ works, the Violin Concerto did not come easily into the
world. The composer wrote an initial version of the piece in 1903, but after conducting
the music with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in February of the following year, he
became dissatisfied and withdrew the score for revision. Not until October 1905, when it
was played in Berlin under the direction of Richard Strauss, did the concerto assume its
definitive form.
As do many latter-day concertos, this one dispenses with the convention of the orchestral
exposition, leaving the presentation of the work’s initial subject to the solo instrument.
More unusually, each of the first movement’s two themes – a long, rhapsodic idea sung
by the violin and a secondary subject introduced by the orchestra – conclude with
cadenza passages (virtuoso solos) for the featured instrument. A third theme, somewhat
like a folk song, leads to a brief development passage that culminates in a still more
extended cadenza.
In the second movement, Sibelius builds the main melody into a great lyrical
outpouring. The finale begins with timpani and basses establishing a rhythmic figure
whose heavy-footed character prompted the English conductor and writer Donald Francis
Tovey to describe the ensuing music as “a polonaise for polar bears.” Sibelius thought it a
different kind of dance. Acknowledging the somewhat sinister character of the theme
played by the solo violin over the galumphing accompaniment, he called the movement a
“danse macabre.” However one characterizes it, this initial idea soon is countered by a
rhythmically lively second subject, and Sibelius juxtaposes and develops the two themes
in alternating succession.

What to Listen For

The concerto’s first theme, announced by the solo violin over a gentle orchestral murmur,
entails some surprising turns of line and harmony. Both this and the somber theme that
follows end with demanding solos for the featured violin. The second movement is given
over to Romantic ardor, while the finale brings energetic dance music.

© 2015 Paul Schiavo