Väinämöinen's Song

Väinämöinen's Song (in Finnish: Väinön virsi; sometimes translated to English simply as Väinö's Song), Op. 110, is a single-movement, patriotic cantata for mixed choir and orchestra written in 1926 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece, which is a setting of Runo XLIII (lines 385–434) of the Kalevala, Finland's national epic, is chronologically the final of Sibelius's nine orchestral cantatas; in particular, it belongs to the series of four "little known, but beautiful" cantatas from the composer's mature period that also includes My Own Land (Op. 92, 1918), Song of the Earth (Op. 93, 1919), and Hymn of the Earth (Op. 95, 1920). Väinämöinen's Song premiered on 28 June 1926 in Sortavala, Finland.

Instrumentation

Väinämöinen's Song is scored for the following instruments and voices, organized by family (vocalists, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):

• Mixed choir (SATB)
• 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B♭), and 2 bassoons
• 4 horns (in F), 3 trumpets (in B♭), and 3 trombones
• Timpani, bass drum, triangle, and glockenspiel
• Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, and double basses

The cantata premiered on 26 June 1926 at a singing festival in Sortavala (then still part of Finland), with the Finnish conductor Robert Kajanus conducting.

History

Text

Discography

The Estonian conductor Eri Klas and the Finnish National Opera Orchestra and Chorus made the world premiere studio recording of the Väinämöinen's Song in 1990 for Ondine. The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

Notes, references, and sources

Notes

References

Sources

External links

• Väinö's Song (Väinön virsi), Op. 110: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project