# Six Humoresques

The Six Humoresques, Opp. 87 and 89, are concertante compositions for violin and orchestra written from 1917 to 1918 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Despite spanning two opus numbers (due to publishing technicalities), the composer—who originally considered calling the humoresques impromptus or lyrical dances—intended them as a suite. They are the:
* Humoresque No. 1 in D minor, Op. 87/1. Commodo
* Humoresque No. 2 in D major, Op. 87/2. Allegro assai
* Humoresque No. 3 in G minor, Op. 89/1. Alla gavotta
* Humoresque No. 4 in G minor, Op. 89/2. Andantino
* Humoresque No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 89/3. Commodo
* Humoresque No. 6 in G minor, Op. 89/4. Allegro
The Six Humoresques premiered on 24 November 1919 in Helsinki, with Sibelius conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra; the soloist was the Russian-Finnish-American violinist Paul Cherkassky. Also on the program was the definitive version of the Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major (Op. 82), as well as Song of the Earth (Op. 93), a cantata for mixed choir.
In the autumn of 1940, Sibelius revised No. 1's instrumentation (most notably, he eliminated the harp part); the original, while promised to Wilhelm Hansen in February 1917, was never published. The violinist Arvo Hannikainen [fi] premiered the revised No. 1 on 15 December 1940, with Toivo Haapanen conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Hansen, who had published the other five humoresques in 1923, completed the set in 1942. The 1917 version is extant.

## Instrumentation

The Humoresque No. 1 is scored for the following instruments:
* Soloist: violin
* Woodwinds: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B♭), and 2 bassoons
* Brass: 2 horns (in F)
* Percussion: timpani
* Strings: violins, violas, cellos, and double basses
The Humoresque No. 2 has identical scoring, except for the omission of the entire woodwind section. The Op. 89 pieces are even more delicately scored. In addition to the soloist, Humoresques Nos. 3 and 4 utilize strings only. No. 5 adds to this scoring three woodwinds: 2 flutes, 2 clarinets (in B♭), and 2 bassoons, while No. 6 omits the clarinets but retains the flutes and bassoons.

## Recordings

The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of the complete Six Humoresques:
| No. | Conductor | Orchestra | Soloist | Rec. | Time | Recording venue | Label |
| 1 | Tibor Szöke | Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra | Aaron Rosand | c. 1957 | 17:10 | [Unknown] | Vox |
| 2 | Paavo Berglund | Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (1) | Heimo Haitto | 1964 | 20:47 | YLE | Finlandia Classics |
| 3 | Sir Colin Davis | London Symphony Orchestra | Salvatore Accardo | 1979 | 20:27 | All Saints' Church, Tooting | Decca |
| 4 | Charles Dutoit | Philharmonia Orchestra | Pierre Amoyal | 1979 | 20:43 | EMI Recording Studios | Erato |
| 5 | Vernon Handley | Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin | Ralph Holmes | 1980 | 20:18 | Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin | Schwann, Koch |
| 6 | Juhani Lamminmäki [fi] | Tapiola Sinfonietta (1) | Leonidas Kavakos | 1989 | 21:53 | Tapiola Hall, Espoo Cultural Centre | Finlandia |
| 7 | Neeme Järvi | Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra | Dong-Suk Kang | 1989 | 20:17 | Gothenburg Concert Hall | BIS |
| 8 | Jukka-Pekka Saraste | Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (2) | Joseph Swensen | 1990 | 20:53 | Kulttuuritalo | RCA Red Seal |
| 9 | Thomas Dausgaard | Danish National Symphony Orchestra | Christian Tetzlaff | 2002 | 18:41 | Danish Radio Concert Hall (old) | Virgin Classics |
| 10 | Hannu Koivula [fi] | Västerås Sinfonietta | Cecilia Zilliacus [sv] | 2004 | 22:06 | Västerås Konserthus [sv] | Intim Musik [sv] |
| 11 | Pekka Kuusisto | Tapiola Sinfonietta (2) | Pekka Kuusisto | 2006 | 20:50 | Tapiola Hall, Espoo Cultural Centre | Ondine |
| 12 | Bjarte Engeset | Dala Sinfonietta [sv] | Henning Kraggerud | 2011 | 19:54 | Kristinehallen, Falun | Naxos |
| 13 | Alejandro Garrido Porras | Orquestra Vigo 430 | Nicolas Dautricourt | 2014 | 22:43 | Martín Códax Auditorium, Vigo Conservatory of Music | La Dolce Volta [fr] |
| 14 | John Carewe | Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra | Efi Christodoulou | 2014 | 20:37 | Lighthouse, Poole | Somm |
| 15 | George Vass | BBC National Orchestra of Wales | Fenella Humphreys | 2020 | 20:48 | BBC Hoddinott Hall | Resonus Classics |
| 16 | Sir Edward Gardner | Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra | James Ehnes | 2023 | | Grieg Hall | Chandos |

## Notes, references, and sources
### Notes

* ↑ The four Op. 89 humoresques are typically designated with the letters a–d. However, this article follows the Urtext Edition (2016) of the Six Humoresques, which utilizes the numbers 1–4. Thus, for example, the Humoresque No. 3 in G minor, Op. 89/a, becomes Op. 89/1.
* ↑ Refers to the year in which the performers recorded the work; this may not be the same as the year in which the recording was first released to the general public.
* ↑ T. Szöke–Vox (PL 11.600) 1959
* ↑ P. Berglund–Finlandia (FINCLA 2) 2013
* ↑ C. Davis–Decca (Eloquence 482 5097) 2016
* ↑ C. Dutoit–Erato (0630–12746–2) 1995
* ↑ V. Handley–Koch-Schwann (CD 311 003 F1) 1988
* ↑ J. Lamminmäki–Finlandia (4509–95859–2) 1991
* ↑ N. Järvi–BIS (CD–472) 1990
* ↑ J. Saraste–RCA Red Seal (19439704812 (8)) 2020
* ↑ T. Dausgaard–Virgin Classics (7243 5 45534 2 4) 2002
* ↑ C. Zilliacus - Intim Musik (IMCD 093) 2004
* ↑ P. Kuusisto–Ondine (ODE 1074–5) 2006
* ↑ B. Engeset–Naxos (8.572827) 2012
* ↑ A. Garrido Porras–La Dolce Volta (LDV 23) 2015
* ↑ J. Carewe–Somm (SOMMCD 0153) 2015
* ↑ G. Vass–Resonus (RES10277) 2021
* ↑ E. Gardner–Chandos (CHAN 5267) 2024

### References

* ↑ Dahlström 2003, pp. 377, 384–386.
* ↑ Dahlström 2003, pp. 376–377, 384–386.
* ↑ Dahlström 2003, pp. 356, 376–377, 384–386.
* ↑ Eskola 2016, pp. ii, xii.
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Eskola 2016, pp. xii.
* ↑ Tawaststjerna 2008, p. 162.
* 1 2 Barnett 2007, p. 284.

### Sources

* Barnett, Andrew (2007). Sibelius. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11159-0.
* Dahlström, Fabian [in Swedish] (2003). Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke [Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works] (in German). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel. ISBN 3-7651-0333-0.
* Eskola, Jari (2016). Jean Sibelius: Six Humoresques for Violin and Orchestra, Opp. 87 & 89. Translated by Jaako; Mäntyjärvi (Urtext ed.). Painojussit, Kerava: Fennica Gehrman. ISMN 979-0-55011-261-2.
* Tawaststjerna, Erik (2008) [1978/1988; trans. 1997]. Sibelius: Volume III, 1914–1957. Translated by Layton, Robert. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-24774-5.
* Classical Music