KNOW YOUR CLASSICS
THIS is one of a further series of articles written for "The Listener"
by
BESSIE
POLLARD
As with the preceding series, published
some time ago, the aim is to help the student’ and the interested listener towards a more complete appreciation of good music. (18) "The Swan of Tuonela’" — Legend for Orchestra (Sibelius) SIBELIUS'S The Swan of Tuonela, the loveliest of his tone-poems, comes from his Opus 22, which consists of four "Legends" woven round the exploits of Lemminkainen, a legendery hero. They are (1) Lemminkainen and the Maidens (1895); (2) His Sojourn in Tuonela (1895); (3) The Swan of Tuonela (1893); and (4) Lemminkainen’s Homeward Journey (1895). The music of all four was inspired by the Finnish epic poem, the Kalevala. The third episode tells how those souls finding their way to Tuonela (the Finnish Hades) were required to negotiate nine seas and one river, upon which flohted and sang the sacred Swan "... the longnecked, graceful swimmer, Swimming in the black death-river, In the sacred stream .and whirlpool." The work begins-Andante Molto Sostenuto-with muted strings. In bar 5 the cor anglais gives out the stately and intensely moving main Swan motif, against a background of strings and a soft drum roll-
In bar 9 the upper strings answer with an undulating phrase (below) to which | the cor anglais responds with its original idea, one tone higher-
: Another important phrase is announced by ’cello in bar 7, joined by viola in the following bar, and carried upwards by that instrument-
The brass doesn’t enter until bar 32, when muted horns outline a-few notes of the Swan theme, with telling effect. In bar 75, the strings are given a cantabile melody of great beauty-
A few bars later they (the strings) are directed to play Col Legno (with the back of the bow)-a curious effect suggesting the faint whirring of the Swan’s wings, then, following a return to normal bowing, we hear the final ‘cello phrase, beginning in bar 98, sighing its way into space.
The Swan of Tuonela, by Sibelius, will be heard in the Classical Hour at 2.15 p.m. on Wednesday, May 11, from Station 4YZ Invercargill, )
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19490506.2.52
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 515, 6 May 1949, Page 26
Word count
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361KNOW YOUR CLASSICS New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 515, 6 May 1949, Page 26
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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