Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43

Composer: SIBELIUS, Jean
  • Sibelius composed this symphony in Finland in during 1901-2. He conducted the premiere himself, in Helsinki, on March 8, 1902.1
  • The material that became Sibelius’s Second Symphony originated as musical ideas for tone poems on Don Juan or Dante, which Sibelius conceived during a visit to Italy in early 1901. Sibelius stated that the Don Juan musical ideas were still present the music for the second movement of this symphony.2 
  • The first movement of the symphony introduced fragmented musical ideas which Sibelius eventually crafts into coherent forms through the course of the symphony. Sibelius described this unconventional symphonic construction by saying, “It is as if the Almighty had thrown down the pieces of a mosaic for heaven’s floor and asked me to put them together.”3

Sources

  1. Fabian Dahlström and James Hepokoski, “Sibelius, Jean,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed April 8, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000043725.
  2. Philip Huscher, “Program Notes: Jean Sibelius, Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43,” Chicago Symphony Orchestra, accessed April 8, 2021, https://cso.org/uploadedFiles/1_Tickets_and_Events/Program_Notes/ProgramNotes_Sibelius_Symphony2.pdf.
  3. Ibid.

Cut IDs

40013 49946 49947 49950 46113 18505 16006 20231 24668