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Impromptu (Sibelius)
The Impromptu, Op. 19, is a single-movement work for female choir and orchestra written in 1902 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece, which is a setting of the Swedish poet Viktor Rydberg's poem Unge hellener (Young Hellenics), premiered in Helsinki on 8 March 1902, with Sibelius conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Society and an amateur choir. The Impromptu was the middle item a program that also included two other first performances: the Overture in A minor (JS 144), which served as the opener; and the Second Symphony (Op. 43).[4][1] Sibelius extensively revised the Impromptu in the spring of 1910, reducing the instrumentation and altering both the beginning and ending of the piece, the former of which now incorporated a second Rydberg poem, Bacchospräster (The Priests of Bacchus).[2][5] This version of the Impromptu received its premiere in Helsinki on 29 March 1912, with Sibelius conducting the Philharmonic Society;[6] "Nuori Laulu" and the Arbetets vänner female choir sang the choral part.[2]  InstrumentationThe revised version of the Impromptu is scored for the following instruments and voices,[2] organized by family (vocalists, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):
The original version of the piece called for much larger orchestral forces, including 2 trumpets, cymbals, bass drum, tambourine, and castanets.[1] DiscographyThe Estonian conductor Eri Klas and the Finnish National Opera Orchestra made the world premiere studio recording of the Impromptu in 1990 for Ondine.[2] The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:
† = original version (1902) Notes, references, and sources
External links
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