# Malinconia (Sibelius)

Malinconia (literal English translation: "Melancholy"), Op. 20, is a single-movement duo for cello and piano written in 1900 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

## History

In late 1899 and early 1900, a typhus epidemic swept through southern Finland, near Kerava. Sibelius's brother-in-law, the Finnish playwright Arvid Järnefelt, had just lost his infant daughter, Anna (1898 – 1899) on 28 December, and as such, Aino Sibelius (née Järnefelt) traveled to Lohja to assist the Järnefelts as they mourned; Sibelius and the couple's three daughters—Eva, Ruth [fi], and Kirsti—remained in Helsinki. However, the epidemic soon claimed Kirsti (1898 – 1900), as well, who died on 13 February. (Aino suspected that she had accidentally carried the deadly bacteria home with her.) Devastated, a grieving Sibelius turned to drink, while Aino and the other daughters sought to outrun the disease by relocating to Aino's mother's home in Lohja.
In early March, Sibelius composed—purportedly in just three hours—a duo for cello and piano that he named Fantasia (later retitled Malinconia). The piece received its premiere on 12 March 1900 in Helsinki; the cellist was Georg Schnéevoigt, the dedicatee, accompanied by the pianist Sigrid Sundgren [fi] (the two later married in 1907).

## Music

Malinconia, which has a duration of about 12 minutes, is in $^{12}$ $_8$ time and has a tempo marking of Adagio pesante.

## Discography

The Danish cellist Louis Jensen [sv] and the Russian-born Danish pianist Galina Werschenska made the world premiere studio recording of Malinonia in 1936 for the His Master's Voice (since re-released by Warner Classics). The sortable table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:
| No. | Cello | Piano | Runtime | Rec. | Recording venue | Label | Ref. |
| 1 | Cello | Piano | Runtime | Rec. | Recording venue | Label | Ref. | Louis Jensen [sv] | Galina Werschenska | 9:05 | 1936 | [Unknown], Copenhagen | Warner Classics |
| 2 | Arto Noras | Tapani Valsta | 12:05 | 1971 | [Unknown], Heidelberg | Da Camera Magna | |
| 3 | Thomas Blees | Maria Bergmann [de] | ? | 1972 | [Unknown], Baden-Baden | SWR Music | |
| 4 | Pär Öjebo | Albena Zaharieva | 12:22 | ? | Örebro Concert Hall | Opus 3 | |
| 5 | Heinrich Schiff | Elisabeth Leonskaja | 11:47 | 1984 | Salle de Musique, La Chaux-de-Fonds | Philips | |
| 6 | Raimo Sariola [fi] | Hui-Ying Liu-Tawaststjerna | 12:27 | 1985 | Imatra Concert Hall [fi] | Finlandia | |
| 7 | Martti Rousi | Juhani Lagerspetz | 11:34 | 1988 | Martinus Hall [fi] | Ondine | |
| 8 | Truls Mørk | Jean-Yves Thibaudet | 12:31 | 1993 | Ski Hall, Torgveien | Virgin Classics | |
| 9 | Erkki Rautio [fi] | Izumi Tateno | 10:52 | 1995 | Ainola | Canyon Classics | |
| 10 | Torleif Thedéen [fi] | Folke Gräsbeck [fi] | 12:18 | 1996 | Danderyds gymnasium [sv] | BIS | |
| 11 | Tanja Tetzlaff | Gunilla Süssmann | 13:29 | 2005 | St. Cosmas & Damian Church [de] | Avi Music | |
| 12 | Jussi Makkonen [fi] | Rait Karm [fi] | 10:41 | 2007 | Concert Hall, Sibelius Academy | Naxos | |
| 13 | Alexey Stadler | Karina Sposobina | 12:56 | 2008 | Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Catherine | Northern Flowers | |
| 14 | Mattia Zappa [de] | Massimiliano Mainolfi | 12:02 | 2010 | Siemens-Villa [de] | Claves Records | |
| 15 | David Geringas | Ian Fountain | 10:45 | 2011 | Kammermusikstudio, SWR Stuttgart | Profil | |
| 16 | Steven Isserlis | Olli Mustonen | 10:39 | 2013 | Potton Hall, Suffolk | BIS | |
| 17 | Rohan de Saram | Benjamin Frith | 12:18 | 2014 | Tonbridge School, Kent | First Hand | |
| 18 | Adrian Bradbury | Sophia Rahman | 10:25 | 2017 | Sidney Sussex College Chapel | Resonus Classics | |
| 19 | Niklas Schmidt | Stepan Simonian [de] | 11:14 | 2020 | Friedrich-Ebert-Halle Hamburg | Fontenay Classics | |

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

* ↑ In 1903, Sibelius collaborated with Arvid Järnefelt by writing incidental music to his brother-in-law's play Death (Kuolema).
* ↑ All runtimes are official, as printed on CD or LP liner notes.
* ↑ 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.
* ↑ L. Jensen & G. Werschenska–Warner Classics (0825646053179) 2015
* ↑ A. Noras & T. Valsta–Da Camera Magna (DaCa 77 089) 1970s
* ↑ T. Blees & M. Bergmann–SWR Music (SWR10324) 2016
* ↑ P. Öjebo & A. Zaharieva–Opus 3 (Nr 8011) 1983
* ↑ H. Schiff & E. Leonskaja–Philips (412 732–1) 1986
* ↑ R. Sariola & H. Liu-Tawaststjerna–Finlandia (FAD 351) 1986
* ↑ M. Rousi & J. Lagerspetz–Ondine (ODE 717–2) 1988
* ↑ T. Mørk & J. Thibaudet–Virgin Classics (7243 5 45034 2 9) 1994
* ↑ E. Rautio & I. Tateno–Canyon Classics (PCCL–00328) 1996
* ↑ T. Thedéen & F. Gräsbeck–BIS (CD–817) 1996
* ↑ T. Tetzlaff & G. Süssmann–Avi Music (AVI8553082) 2007
* ↑ J. Makkonen & R. Karm–Naxos (8.570797) 2008
* ↑ A. Stadler & K. Sposobina–Northern Flowers (NF/PMA 9979) 2009
* ↑ M. Zappa & M. Mainolfi–Claves (CD 50–1011) 2010
* ↑ D. Geringas & I. Fountain–Profil (PH15005) 2015
* ↑ S. Isserlis & O. Mustonen–BIS (SACD–2049) 2014
* ↑ R. De Saram & B. Frith–First Hand (FHR34) 2014
* ↑ A. Bradbury & S. Rahman–Resonus Classics (RES10205) 2018
* ↑ N. Schmidt & S. Simonian–Fontenay Classics (FCI015) 2021

### References

* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dahlström 2003, p. 81.
* ↑ Barnett 2007, pp. 133–134.
* ↑ Barnett 2007, p. 134.

### 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.