Two Serious Melodies

Two concertante pieces by Jean Sibelius

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Ossian Fohström [fi] (cello)

The Two Serious Melodies, Op. 77, are concertante compositions for violin and orchestra written from 1914 to 1915 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. They are:

Cantique, Op. 77/1 (1914); subtitled "Laetare anima mea" ("Rejoice my soul")
Devotion, Op. 77/2 (1915); subtitled "Ab imo pectore" ("From my very heart")

Sibelius originally called No. 1 Lofsången (Song of Praise). In 1915, he made transcriptions of each piece for violin and piano. In 1916, he arranged both pieces for cello and orchestra and transcribed them, too, for cello and piano.^[3]^[4]

Cantique is marked Moderato assai. Devotion is marked Tempo molto moderato.

Each piece is dedicated to the Finnish cellist Ossian Fohström [fi].

Instrumentation

Cantique is scored for the following instruments:^[5]

Soloist: violin (or cello)
Woodwinds: 2 flutes and 2 clarinets (in B♭)
Brass: 2 horns (in F)
Percussion: timpani (2 players)
Strings: violins, violas, cellos, double basses, and harp

Devotion is scored for the following instruments:^[6]

Soloist: violin (or cello)
Woodwinds: 2 flutes, 2 clarinets (in A), and 2 bassoons
Brass: 4 horns (in F) and 3 trombones
Strings: violins, violas, cellos, and double basses

Recordings

The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of the complete Two Serious Melodies:

No.	Conductor	Orchestra	Soloist	Rec.^[a]	Time	Recording venue	Label	Ref.
1	Vladimir Ashkenazy	Philharmonia Orchestra	Boris Belkin (violin)	1979	7:23	Kingsway Hall	Decca	^[b]
2	Vernon Handley	Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra	Ralph Holmes (violin)	1980	9:31	Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin	Schwann, Koch	^[c]
3	Lawrence Foster	Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra	David Geringas (violin)	1980	8:24	Jesus-Christus-Kirche, Berlin	Parnass	^[d]
4	Neeme Järvi	Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra	Dong-Suk Kang (violin)	1989	8:28	Gothenburg Concert Hall	BIS	^[e]
5	Jukka-Pekka Saraste	Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra	Arto Noras (cello)				Finlandia	^[f]
6	Luca Pfaff [fr]	Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra	Marie Scheublé				Arion Music	^[g]
7	Thomas Dausgaard	Danish National Symphony Orchestra	Christian Tetzlaff (violin)	2002		Danish Radio Concert Hall (old)	Virgin Classics	^[h]
8	Osmo Vänskä	Lahti Symphony Orchestra	Marko Ylönen [fi] (cello)	2004		Sibelius Hall	BIS	^[i]
9	Leif Segerstam	Turku Philharmonic Orchestra	Mikaela Palmu (violin)	2014	10:17	Turku Concert Hall	Naxos	^[j]
10	Alejandro Garrido Porras	Orquestra Vigo 430	Nicolas Dautricourt (violin)	2014	9:15	Martín Códax Auditorium, Vigo Conservatory of Music	La Dolce Volta [fr]	^[k]

Notes, references, and sources

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.
^ V. Ashkenazy–Decca (473 590–2) 2003
^ V. Handley–Koch-Schwann (CD 311 003 F1) 1988
^ L. Foster–Parnass (91 987 8) 1982
^ N. Järvi–BIS (CD–472) 1990
^ J. Saraste–Finlandia (4509–95872–2) 1992
^ L. Pfaff–Arion Music (ARN 68330) 1996
^ T. Dausgaard–Virgin Classics (7243 5 45534 2 4) 2002
^ O. Vänskä–BIS (CD–1485) 2006
^ L. Segerstam–Naxos (8.573340) 2015
^ A. Garrido Porras–La Dolce Volta (LDV 23) 2015

References

^ ^a ^b Dahlström 2003, pp. 338, 340.
^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 338–339.
^ Barnett 2007, pp. 248, 251, 260.
^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 338–340.
^ Dahlström 2003, p. 338.
^ Dahlström 2003, p. 339.

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.

Jean Sibelius

Symphonies

Kullervo (1892)
Symphony No. 1 (1899, rev. 1900)
Symphony No. 2 (1902)
Symphony No. 3 (1907)
Symphony No. 4 (1911)
Symphony No. 5 (1915, rev. 1916, 1919)
Symphony No. 6 (1923)
Symphony No. 7 (1924)
Symphony No. 8 (mid 1920s–c. 1938, abandoned)

Concertante

Violin Concerto (1904, rev. 1905)
Two Serenades (1912–1913)
Two Serious Melodies (1914–1915)
Six Humoresques (1917–1918, No. 1 rev. 1940)
Suite for Violin and String Orchestra (1929)

Tone poems

En saga (1892, rev. 1902)
Spring Song (1894, rev. 1895)
The Wood Nymph (1895)
Lemminkäinen Suite
- 1895, rev. 1897, 1900, 1939; includes The Swan of Tuonela
Finlandia (1899)
Pohjola's Daughter (1906)
Nightride and Sunrise (1909)
The Dryad (1910)
The Bard (1913)
Luonnotar (1913)
The Oceanides (1914, rev. 1914)
Tapiola (1926)

Opera & theatre

The Building of the Boat (1893–1894, abandoned)
The Maiden in the Tower (1896)
King Christian II (1898)
Kuolema
- 1903; includes Valse triste
Pelléas et Mélisande (1905)
Belshazzar's Feast (1906)
Swanwhite (1908)
The Lizard (1909)
The Language of the Birds (1911)
Scaramouche (1913)
Everyman (1916)
The Tempest (1925)

Cantatas

Cantata for the University Graduation Ceremonies of 1894
Cantata for the Coronation of Nicholas II (1896)
Cantata for the University Graduation Ceremonies of 1897
The Origin of Fire (1902, rev. 1910)
The Captive Queen (1906)
My Own Land (1918)
Song of the Earth (1919)
Hymn of the Earth (1920)
Väinämöinen's Song (1926)

Other voice(s) & orchestra

The Rapids-Rider's Brides (1897)
The Breaking of the Ice on the Oulu River (1899)
Snöfrid (1900)
Marjatta (1905, abandoned)
Impromptu (1902, rev. 1910)
The Raven (1910, abandoned)

Other orchestral

Overture in E major (1891)
Ballet Scene (1891)
Karelia Suite (1893)
Rakastava (1894, arr. 1912)
Scènes historiques I (1899, arr. 1911)
Overture in A minor (1902)
Romance in C major (1904)
Cassazione (1904, rev. 1905)
Pan and Echo (1906)
In memoriam (1909, rev. 1910)
Scènes historiques II (1912)
Suite mignonne (1921)
Suite champêtre (1922)
Suite caractéristique (1922)

String quartets

String Quartet in E-flat major (1885)
String Quartet in A minor (1889)
String Quartet in B-flat major (1890)
String Quartet in D minor, Voces intimae (1909)
Andante festivo (1922, orch. 1938)

Piano trios

Piano Trio in A minor, Hafträsk (1886)
Piano Trio in D major, Korpo (1887)
Piano Trio in C major, Lovisa (1888)

Other chamber

Water Droplets (c. 1875–1881)
Pieces for brass septet (1889–1899)
Piano Quintet (1890)
Malinconia (1900)
Violin Sonatina (1915)

Piano

Six Impromptus (1893)
Piano Sonata (1893)
Ten Pieces, Op. 24 (1895–1903)
Kyllikki (1904)
Three Sonatinas (1912)
The Bells of Kallio Church (1912, arr. 1912)
Two Rondinos (1912)
Five Pieces, The Trees, Op. 75 (1914)
Five Pieces, The Flowers, Op. 85 (1916–1917)
Five Esquisses (1929)

Songs

Seven Runeberg Songs, Op. 13 (1891–1892)
"Serenad", JS 168 (1894–1895)
Six Songs, Op. 36 (1899–1900)
Five Songs, Op. 37 (1900–1902)
Seven Songs, Op. 17 (1891–1904)
Five Songs, Op. 38 (1903–1904; includes "Höstkväll")
Six Songs, Op. 50 (1906)
Two Songs, Op. 35 (1908)
"Kom nu hit, död", Op. 60/1 (1909, orch. 1957)
"Arioso", Op. 3 (1911)
Five Christmas Songs, Op. 1 (1897–1913; includes "Giv mig ej glans, ej guld, ej prakt")
Six Runeberg Songs, Op. 90 (1917)