Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 82

Description

Originally composed and premiered in 1915 from a commission by the Finnish government in honor of his 50th birthday, Jean Sibelius' (1865-1957) SYMPHONY NO. 5 in E-flat, Op. 82 saw two revisions, one in 1916 and the final version performed today in 1919. in four movements initially, Sibelius reworked his most popular symphony into three movements in the midst of his own internal debate about whether he should continue composing in the late Romantic style with which he was so familiar or follow the compositional changes that were taking place with modernists such as Schoenberg or Stravinsky or impressionists such as Ravel and Debussy.

This crisis was resolved in his fifth symphony, where the composer chose to stay within the frames of harmonic language of late-19th century Romanticism, instead opting to innovate in the realms of macrostructure (three movements instead of four) and instrumental coloring (the swaying motif in the horns during the third movement which was inspired by swan-calls). of the 1919 revision, Sibelius strove to give the work, "a more human form, more down-to-earth, more vivid."

The 1915 premiere took place on December 8th, 1915, performed by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, with the composer conducting. The 1919 version was premiered by the same ensemble and conductor on November 24, 1919.

Instrumentation in set: 2.2.2.2: 4.3.3.0: Timp: Str (9-8-7-6-5).