User:Silence of Järvenpää/Work (p)
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Pohjola's Daughter (Finnish title: Pohjolan tytär; literal English translation as The Daughter of the North; subtitled symphonic fantasia), Op. 49, is a single-movement tone poem for orchestra written in 1906 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece, which premiered on 29 December 1906 in Saint Petersburg with Sibelius conducting, stands as the composer's second attempt to set to music Runo VIII of the Kalevala, Finland's national epic. (Sibelius' ill-fated opera The Building of the Boat, abandoned in 1895, was the first.) In the story, the hero Väinämöinen spots the beautiful maiden of the Northland (Pohjola), perched on a rainbow and spinning a golden cloth. He declares his affections for her, but she cunningly refuses to depart with any suitor who cannot conjure a boat from her distaff. To the maiden's amusement, Väinämöinen's magic proves insufficient; humbled, he continues his journey, alone.
Pohjola's Daughter | |
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Tone poem by Jean Sibelius | |
![]() Väinämöinen and Maiden of Pohjola (1861), by the Finnish painter Robert Wilhelm Ekman | |
Catalogue | Op. 49 |
Composed | 1906 |
Dedication | Robert Kajanus |
Publisher | Lienau |
Duration | Approx. 13 minutes |
Premiere | |
Date | 29 December 1906 (1906-12-29) |
Location | Saint Petersburg, Russia |
Conductor | Jean Sibelius |
Performers | Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra |
Structurally, Pohjola's Daughter is in sonata form, with a musical subject depicting each character: for Väinämöinen, a boastful brass fanfare, while for the daughter of Pohjola, an ethereal harp and playful woodwinds. And yet, Sibelius began the composition process with the goddess Luonnotar in mind, before altering the program (and music) to reflect Väinämöinen's courtship (the thematically-distinct Luonnotar, Op. 70, arrived in 1913). The title Pohjola's Daughter was the choice of publisher Robert Lienau, who rejected both Sibelius' initial suggestion, Väinämöinen, and subsequent counterproposal, L'aventure d'un héros. The tone poem marks an important "turning point" in the evolution of Sibelius' style, a struggle perhaps reflected in the "tension" between the Romanticism of Väinämöinen's theme and the Impressionism of the maiden's. A typical performance of the piece lasts about 13 minutes.