Symphony n° 6 of Jean Sibelius

The Symphony nº 6 in minor D , COp 104, of Jean Sibelius was outlined in 1919 whereas it completed the revision of his Fifth Symphony , but the Symphonie was finished only four years later, creation intervening on February 19th, 1923.

Work remains rather little played nowadays: the amateurs of violent colors or astonishing orchestral effects can, indeed, only be diverted some. The Sixth Symphony offers to the listener only one pure water (according to the word of the type-setter), with its nuances of half-tones, the clearness of its Polyphony S, the spouting out limpidity of its song. The harmonies are modal (recourse to the modes dorien and Lydian, treated them-even sometimes like tonalities), and point out the admiration to us which the Finnish musician dedicated to Palestrina.

Tonal ambiguity results from this as well: the minor D frequently moults in a if minor which plays a crucial role in the course of the partition. Lastly, one will not be easily deceived of calm, of diaphanous which is only of surface: powerful storms thunder mysteriously and - would dare one to say - peacefully.

It is in four movements:

  1. Allegro molto moderato
  2. Allegretto moderato
  3. long-lived Poca
  4. Final. Allegro molto

Data sheet

Orchestration

Two Flute S, two Oboe, three Clarinet S, two Bassoon S; four horns, three Trumpet S, three Trombone S; drinking cups; Harpe (that Sibelius had not used any more since the First Symphony ); the cords.

Analyzes

Allegro molto moderato

The first movement is a Allegro molto moderato , to 2/2.

A reason going down from four notes, which opens the partition, constitutes the cell-mother of it, organics . Formally, the structure of the allegro of sonata is there contradicted by the absence of the second subject during the exposure, while in the recapitulation, this one (dorien mode) returns to the tonic and appears to assume the role of a main theme! What proves at which point that the control of Sibelius transcends the drawn up diagrams, the whole of the movement being woven in a splendid polyphonic fabric.

Allegretto moderato

The second movement is a Allegretto moderato , in minor ground . It is a kind of Intermezzo of an intimate poetry, melancholic person, quasi twilight. Perfect economy of the instrumentation, examination of the melody and harmonic writing, not excluding the effects Polyrythmique S or the superpositions of agreement S dissonant.

Long-lived Poco

The third movement is noted, to 6/8. It moves away from the usual form of the scherzo, being satisfied to alternate two ideas where one will notice the agreements brutal and threatening of copper S and drinking cups, on an agitated pulsation of the cords into double rhythmic eighth notes, and flights of wood. The relations between tonality and method contribute to the richness, very ambiguous, of this very short movement, of which the duration does not exceed three minutes.

Finale

The Finale is noted, to 4/4. More complex, it adopts very freely the form rondo. There are four principal episodes, whose second constitutes the only violent and constantly dramatic development of work; it is also the only frankly chromatic passage. The Poco ralentando which succeeds to him brings back the calm good drawn of the initial topic of the movement (violins and wood), before the splendid conclusion Doppio più lento , including one sudden appearance of the tonality of minor C (flutes and bassoons) breaks the atmosphere of serenity that it releases. But the cords rise again, whose eloquence reaches a top of intensity.

One then finds the downward Quarte reason for opening, which also traversed all the partition, in the dorien mode on D . All finishes in the nuance pianissimo with the violins (the drinking cups PPP ), with a return to silence, with a kind of original purity…

Random links:277 | Plymouth Argyle F.C. | Frank UIC | Provincial deputies in Quebec | Charles of Fitz-James | Championships of Venezuela of cycling | Rouge_(album)