Sibelius, Jean: Four Part-Songs

für gemischten Chor a cappella

The four choral settings in this edition from Jean Sibelius’s Op. 18, in the original six settings for male choir, were arranged for mixed choir by Sibelius himself. While Sortunut ääni Op. 18,1 and Saarella palaa Op. 18,4 were first published in this version in a choral collection in 1898, Venematka Op. 18,3 was only arranged by Sibelius in 1904 for a summer class and Sydämeni laulu Op. 18,6 another ten years later as a reaction to an unauthorized arrangement. In the long and changeful history of the collection Op. 18, its contents were extended, revised and repositioned many times. The four current settings are all those that are also present in the final version of Op. 18 for male choir and of which there are original arrangements. The texts for Sortunut ääni (“The Broken Voice”), Venematka (“Boat Trip”) and Saarella palaa (“Fire on the Island”) stem from the Finnish national epics Kalevala and Kanteletar, while the text of Sydämeni laulu (“Song of My Heart”) stems from the poet Aleksis Kivi, but refers to the Kalevala, too. The edition includes translations of the texts in German and English as well as an informative preface that is based on the complete edition Jean Sibelius Works, just like the score.