JSibelius KingChristianII 24Feb1898 NyaPressen

''King Christian II'' (), Op. 27, is

incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as th ...

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius (; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic music, Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his countr ...

for the Scandinavian historical play of the same name, written by his friend

Adolf Paul Adolf Georg Wiedersheim-Paul (6 January 1863 – 30 September 1943) was a Swedish novelist and playwright. He lived most of his adult life in Berlin, Germany, where he was a friend of Swedish writer August Strindberg, Finnish composer Jean Sibel ...

. The original play deals with the love of King

Christian II A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words ''Christ'' and ''Ch ...

, ruler of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, for a Dutch girl, Dyvecke, a commoner. Sibelius composed in 1898 seven movements. He conducted the first performance of the first four parts the

Swedish Theatre The Swedish Theatre () is a Swedish-language theatre in Helsinki, Finland, and is located at the Erottaja () square, at the end of Esplanadi (). It was the first national stage of Finland. History The first theatre in Helsinki, '' Engels Te ...

in Helsinki on 24 February 1898. In the following summer, he composed three more movements, ''Nocturne'', ''Serenade'' and ''Ballad''. The Nocturne was an interlude between the first act and the second. The position of the serenade changed. The ballad is a dramatic piece about the

Stockholm Bloodbath The Stockholm Bloodbath () was a trial that led to a series of executions in Stockholm between 7 and 9 November 1520. The event is also known as the Stockholm massacre. The events occurred after the coronation of Christian II as the new king of ...

(1520). This movement shows already traits of the later First Symphony. The stage music consists of the following

numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

: # Elegia # Musette # Menuetto # Sången om korsspindeln # Nocturne # Serenade # Ballade. Sibelius derived from the incidental music a

suite Suite may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Suite (music), a set of musical pieces considered as one composition ** Suite (Bach), a list of suites composed by J. S. Bach ** Suite (Cassadó), a mid-1920s composition by Gaspar Cassadó ** ''Suite' ...

of five movements. A complete performance of the suite takes about 25 minutes. It was first performed in December 1898, conducted by

Robert Kajanus Robert Kajanus (2 December 1856 – 6 July 1933) was a Finnish conductor, composer, and teacher. In 1882, he founded the Helsinki Orchestral Society, Finland's first professional orchestra. As a conductor, he was also a notable champion and i ...

. Sibelius wrote in a letter: “The music sounded excellent and the tempi seem to be right. I think this is the first time that I have managed to make something complete.”

Movements of the suite

The suite consists of five

movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

References

External links

* * 1898 compositions Suites by Jean Sibelius Incidental music by Jean Sibelius Stockholm Bloodbath Cultural depictions of Christian II of Denmark Orchestral compositions by Jean Sibelius {{Classical-composition-stub