# Spring Song (Sibelius)

Spring Song (in Swedish: Vårsång; in Finnish: Kevätlaulu), Op. 16, is a single-movement tone poem for orchestra written in 1894 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

## History

The piece was initially composed as Improvisation for Orchestra, in the key of D major. It was premiered on 21 July 1894 at an outdoor festival in Vaasa, organized by the Society for Popular Education [fi] (Kansanvalistusseura). Short, lyrical, and delicately scored, Sibelius's piece was ill-suited for the open-air concert, and the audience received it less enthusiastically than another work on the program: Korsholm, by Sibelius's brother-in-law and friend Armas Järnefelt. Shortly therefore, Sibelius withdrew Improvisation for revision. In 1895, he recast it in F major and retitled the work Spring Song (Vårsång), appending the subtitle "The Sadness of Spring" to that (unpublished) version.

## Structure

The work is scored for 2 flutes (both doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B♭), 2 bassoons, 4 horns (in F), 3 trumpets (in F), 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, glocken, violins, violas, cellos, and double basses. Spring Song takes about 8 minutes to play.
The tempo marking is: Tempo moderato e sostenuto. The piece contains an optimism that is relatively rare among Sibelius' works. It is known for its prominent use of bells at the end of the song.

## Discography

The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of Spring Song:
| No. | Conductor | Orchestra | Rec. | Time | Recording venue | Label |
| 1 | Paavo Berglund | Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra | 1973 | 8:21 | Southampton Guildhall | EMI Classics |
| 2 | Sir Charles Groves | Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra | 1975 | 6:56 | Liverpool Philharmonic Hall | EMI Classics |
| 3 | Sir Alexander Gibson | Royal Scottish National Orchestra | 1977 | 7:10 | Glasgow City Halls | Chandos |
| 4 | Neeme Järvi (1) | Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (1) | 1986 | 8:17 | Gothenburg Concert Hall | BIS |
| 5 | Vassily Sinaisky | Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra | 1991 | 8:19 | Mosfilm Studios | Brilliant Classics |
| 6 | Neeme Järvi (2) | Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (2) | 1994 | 7:46 | Gothenburg Concert Hall | Deutsche Grammophon |
| 7 | Osmo Vänskä (1) | Lahti Symphony Orchestra (1) | 1999 | 8:14 | Ristinkirkko | BIS |
| 8 | Shuntaro Sato | Kuopio Symphony Orchestra [fi] | 2002 | 8:32 | Kuopio Music Centre [fi] | Finlandia |
| 9 | Osmo Vänskä (2) | Lahti Symphony Orchestra (2) | 2007 | 7:34 | Sibelius Hall | BIS |
| 10 | Leif Segerstam | Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra | 2007 | 8:56 | Finlandia Hall | Ondine |
| 11 | Edward Gardner | Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra | 2018 | 7:45 | Grieg Hall | Chandos |
| 12 | Sakari Oramo | BBC Symphony Orchestra | 2018 | 9:03 | Watford Colosseum | Chandos |

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

* ↑ On 20 July 1905, the Helsinki-based music publisher Fazer & Westerlund [fi] (Helsingfors Nya Musikhandel) sold its Sibelius holdings (the publishing rights and printing plates) to the German firm of Breitkopf & Härtel.
* ↑ 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.
* ↑ P. Berglund–EMI Classics (5 69773 2) 1997
* ↑ C. Groves–EMI Classics (5 85532 2) 2003
* ↑ A. Gibson–Chandos (CHAN 8395/6) 1985
* ↑ N. Järvi–BIS (CD–384) 1988
* ↑ V. Sinaisky–Brilliant Classics (BC9212) 2010
* ↑ Neeme. Järvi–DG (00028947755227) yyyy
* ↑ O. Vänskä–BIS (CD–1125) 2000
* ↑ S. Sato–Finlandia (0927–49598–2) 2003
* ↑ O. Vänskä–BIS (SACD–1645) 2009
* ↑ L. Segerstam–Ondine (ODE 1112–2) 2007
* ↑ E. Gardner–Chandos (CHSA 5217) 2021
* ↑ S. Oramo–Chandos (CHAN 20136) 2019

### References

* ↑ Dahlström 2003, p. 58.
* ↑ Dahlström 2003, p. xxiv.
* ↑ Dahlström 2003, p. 57.
* ↑ Dahlström 2003, p. 28.
* ↑ Barnett 2007, p. 91.
* ↑ Tawaststjerna 2008, p. 142.
* ↑ Score, Sibelius: Vårsång (Frühlingslied), Breitkopf und Härtel, Leipzig, 1903
* ↑ Barnett 2007.

### 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.
* Tawaststjerna, Erik (2008) [1965/1967; trans. 1976]. Sibelius: Volume I, 1865–1905. Translated by Layton, Robert. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-24772-1.
* Vernon, David (2024). Sun Forest Lake: The Symphonies & Tone Poems of Jean Sibelius. Edinburgh: Candle Row Press. ISBN 978-1739659943.