The Origin of Fire

The Origin of Fire
Cantata by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1902)
Native nameTulen synty
Opus32
TextKalevala (Runo XLVII)[1]
LanguageFinnish
Composed1902 (1902), rev. 1910
PublisherBreitkopf & Härtel (1912)[2]
Duration10 mins. (orig. 15 mins.)[3]
Premiere
Date9 April 1902 (1902-04-09)[1]
LocationHelsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
ConductorJean Sibelius
Performers

The Origin of Fire (in Finnish: Tulen synty), Op. 32, is a single-movement, patriotic cantata for baritone, male choir, and orchestra written in 1902 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece, which is a setting of Runo XLVII (lines 41–110) of the Kalevala, Finland's national epic, is chronologically the fourth of Sibelius's nine orchestral cantatas.

It premiered on 9 April 1902 at the opening of the Finnish National Theatre, conducted by the composer. It was later revised in 1910. Some of the sketches for the piece can be related back to 1893 to 1894.

Instrumentation

The revised version of The Origin of Fire is scored for the following instruments and voices,[1] organized by family (vocalists, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):

The original version of the piece is scored identically, with the exception that triangle is omitted.[4]

Discography

The American conductor Thor Johnson and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra made the world premiere studio recording of The Origin of Fire in 1953 for Remington Records (later reissued by Varèse Sarabande); they were joined by the Finnish baritone Sulo Saarits [fi] and the YL Male Voice Choir (then the Helsinki University Chorus).[2] The sortable table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

No. Conductor Orchestra Baritone Chorus Rec.[a] Time[b] Venue Label Ref.
1 Thor Johnson Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Sulo Saarits [fi] YL Male Voice Choir (1) 1953 8:47 ? Varèse Sarabande
[c]
2 Paavo Berglund Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Jorma Hynninen YL Male Voice Choir (2)
Estonian National Male Choir 		1985 8:34 Kulttuuritalo EMI
[d]
3 Neeme Järvi Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra Sauli Tiilikainen [fi] Laulun Ystävät Male Choir [fi] 1985 9:54 Gothenburg Concert Hall BIS
[e]
4 Osmo Vänskä (1) Lahti Symphony Orchestra (1) Tommi Hakala (1) YL Male Voice Choir (3) 2005 9:03 Sibelius Hall BIS
[f]
† Osmo Vänskä (2) Lahti Symphony Orchestra (2) Tommi Hakala (2) YL Male Voice Choir (4) 2005 11:20 Sibelius Hall BIS
[f]

† = original version (1902)

Notes, references, and sources

Notes
  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ All runtimes are official, as printed on CD or LP liner notes.
  3. ^ T. Johnson—Varèse Sarabande (VC 81041) 1978
  4. ^ P. Berglund—EMI (CDS 7 47496 8) 1985
  5. ^ N. Järvi—BIS (CD–314) 1986
  6. ^ a b O. Vänskä—BIS (CD–1525) 2007
References
  1. ^ a b c Dahlström 2003, p. 143.
  2. ^ a b Dahlström 2003, p. 144.
  3. ^ Dahlström 2003, pp. 142–143.
  4. ^ Dahlström 2003, p. 142.
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.