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- Sibelius, Jean
Duration: 9 minutes
Description: THE SWAN OF TUONELA (Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22, No. 2) was composed in 1895, revised in 1897, and again in 1900, by Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) as part of his Four Legends of the Kalevala, a symphonic cycle rooted in Finland’s national epic. Drawn from the mythic tale of the hero Lemminkäinen, this movement depicts the mystical river encircling Tuonela, the Finnish land of the dead, over which a solitary swan glides in eternal stillness — a scene Sibelius renders through the work’s iconic English horn solo and dark-hued orchestral palette. It received its premiere on April 13, 1897, in Helsinki under the direction of Robert Kajanus. Today THE SWAN OF TUONELA stands as one of Sibelius’s most frequently performed orchestral works, admired for its atmospheric restraint, emotional depth, and haunting melodic writing, and remains a cornerstone of late-Romantic tone-poem repertoire. Instrumentation: 0.1+1(Solo EH).0+1(BCl).2: 4.0.3.0: Timp.Perc(1): Hp: Str (9.8.7.6.5 in set). Reprint edition.