- This work started life as the opening movement of Sibelius’s 1903 incidental music to the play Koulema (“Death”), a psychological play by Arvid Järnefelt.
- Arvid Järnefelt was the brother of Sibelius’ wife, Aino Järnefelt. Her family was talented; Sibelius first met his future wife after he befriended two of her other brothers, composer Armas Järnefelt and painter Eero Järnefelt.
- This piece first appeared under the title Valse triste in 1904, the Sibelius’s Op.44 no. 1.
- Sibelius conducted the premiere in Helsinki on April 25, 1904.1
Sources
- Fabian Dahlström and James Hepokoski, “Sibelius, Jean,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed January 30, 2020, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000043725.
Cut IDs
15265, 18507, 40187, 40501, 44870