Sibelius: Scènes historiques II, Op. 66 (with Score)

Jean Sibelius:
Scènes historiques II, Op. 66 (with Score)
Composed: 1912
Conductor: Alexander Gibson
Orchestra: Scottish National Orchestra

00:00 1. La Chasse, Ouverture
07:28 2. Chant d'amour
11:47 3. Près du pont-levis

In the spring of 1912 Sibelius was working on three of his more recent orchestral compositions. He decided to combine them to create a suite which he called Scènes historiques II. The compositions were completed at the very last moment before the first public performance on 29th March 1912.

The first movement, The Chase, is reminiscent of Sibelius's plan for the composition dating from 1909. The French horn parts that he wrote for this piece were extremely demanding. According to Robert Layton the movement shows craftsmanship of the highest order. The second movement, The Minnesong, includes a beautiful theme which Sibelius had taken out of Pohjola's Daughter when he was finishing the work. In his sketchbook he had written the word "Aino" above the theme. The third movement, On the Drawbridge, concludes the work in a lighter vein, with the violins being used to provide guitar-like effects.

The first public performance was a complete success. Scènes historiques II delighted Otto Kotilainen, the music critic of Helsingin Sanomat. He saw the work as related to the fourth symphony and he praised "the wonderful richness of colour and the ingenuity of the thematic treatment".

After the concert Sibelius prepared Scènes historiques II for publication. It received the opus number 66. In this way he emphasised the fact that the work had nothing in common with the Scènes historiques I of opus 25 except that historical subject matter had inspired both works. One could probably also argue that the first suite depicts events in Finnish history while the second suite is more generally European in its connotations.

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