Karelia Suite

History

The movements in the suite are all borrowed from the Karelia Music, which consisted of an overture and eight tableaux. Sibelius was commissioned to write it in 1893 by Wiipurilainen Osakunta (the Viipuri Students' Association) for a lottery to aid the education of the people of the Viipuri Province. Sibelius conducted the Karelian Music at its premiere on 13 November 1893 at the Imperial Alexander University in Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland. The behaviour of the audience was, however, far from ideal. As Sibelius noted later:

You couldn't hear a single note of the music – everyone was on their feet cheering and clapping.

— Jean Sibelius, in a letter to his brother Christian

Ten days later, Sibelius conducted a popular concert that included the Overture, followed by the three movements that would become the Karelia Suite. These four pieces were sold to Edition Fazer in 1899 and, at Sibelius's request, Overture and Karelia Suite were published as Op. 10 & 11, respectively. The rest of the Karelia Music pieces that were yet to be printed ended up in the hands of Breitkopf & Härtel in 1905.

The score was at some point left in the possession of Robert Kajanus and, in 1936, Kajanus's wife Ella returned it back to Sibelius. It is thought that Sibelius burned his eighth symphony along with most of the Karelia Music in August 1945, with only the 1st and 7th tableaux spared from the fire. The viola, cello and double bass parts are also missing from the 1st and 7th tableaux, and the flute parts are completely missing from the 7th tableau.

Composition

The original movements are as follows (historical dates in parentheses):

• Overture
• Tableau 1 – A Karelian home. News of War (1293)
• Tableau 2 – The founding of Viipuri Castle
• Tableau 3 – Narimont, the Duke of Lithuania, levying taxes in the province of Käkisalmi (1333)
• Intermezzo (I)
• Tableau 4 – Karl Knutsson in Viipuri Castle (1446)
• Tableau 5 – Pontus De la Gardie at the gates of Käkisalmi (1580)
• Intermezzo (II) (Originally titled Tableau 5+1⁄2) – Pontus de la Gardie's March)
• Tableau 6 – The Siege of Viipuri (1710)
• Tableau 7 – The Reunion of Old Finland (Karelia) with the rest of Finland (1811)
• Tableau 8 – The Finnish National Anthem

The suite is in three movements:

1. The Intermezzo is the only original movement of the suite. Sibelius borrowed the brass theme in the middle of Tableau 3 and made it into its own movement. The Intermezzo is a jaunty Allegro march-like theme, the orchestra portraying the atmosphere of marching contingents.
2. The Ballade was based on Tableau 4, and is 'sung' by a bard (on cor anglais), reflecting the mood of a fifteenth-century Swedish king, Karl Knutsson, reminiscing in his castle whilst being entertained by a minstrel.
3. Alla Marcia is an exhilarating march, which was originally incidental to Tableau 5½ and is practically the same as the original music, except for some minor chord changes.

Completions of the original complete score

Most of the music was reconstructed in 1965 by Kalevi Kuosa, from the original parts that had survived. The parts that hadn't survived were those of the violas, cellos, and double basses. Based on Kuosa's transcription, the Finnish composers Kalevi Aho and Jouni Kaipainen have individually reconstructed the complete music to Karelia Music. A recording of Kalevi Aho's completion was released in 1997 in a recording with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä, and Jouni Kaipainen's completion was recorded for a 1998 release with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Tuomas Ollila.