The Bard (Sibelius)

The Bard
Tone poem by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1911)
Native name	Barden
Opus	64
Composed	1913 (1913), rev. 1913
Publisher	Breitkopf & Härtel (1914)[1]
Duration	8 mins.[2]
Premiere
Date	27 March 1913 (1913-03-27)[2]
Location	Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland
Conductor	Jean Sibelius
Performers	Helsinki Philharmonic Society

The Bard (in Swedish: Barden), Op. 64, tone poem for orchestra written in 1913 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It was first performed in Helsinki on 27 March 1913 by the Philharmonic Society Orchestra, conducted by the composer himself, but he revised it in 1914.^[3] The new version was first performed in Helsinki on 9 January 1916, again under the baton of the composer.

In England, Adrian Boult and the BBC Symphony Orchestra recorded the tone poem in January 1936 for broadcast.^[4] The first public performance in England was given by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1938.

The tone poem itself provides a profound, yet cryptic glimpse of an elegiac, poetic world: an initial, harp-led stillness and reflection are succeeded by elemental, eruptive surges and, finally, a sense of renunciation or maybe death.

Instrumentation

A 27 March 1913 advertisement from Hufvudstadsbladet promoting the premiere of Sibelius's The Bard

The Bard is scored for the following instruments,^[2] organized by family (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):

• 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B♭), 1 bass clarinet (in B♭),^[a] and 2 bassoons
• 4 horns (in F), 2 trumpets (in B♭), and 3 trombones
• Timpani, bass drum, and tam-tam
• Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, double basses, and harp

Recordings

The piece has been recorded by Adrian Boult and the London Philharmonic Orchestra; recordings available in 2017 include Thomas Beecham and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Paavo Berglund and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra, Alexander Gibson and the Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Järvi and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Okko Kamu and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Okko Kamu and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Petri Sakari and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Vassily Sinaisky and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra.

Notes

1. Dahlström (2003) does not list bass clarinet among the instruments for The Bard.^[2] This is clearly an omission, as the score indicates "Baßklarinette" on page one, in addition to the two clarinetists. Moreover, the part for bass clarinet is available on IMSLP.

References

1. Dahlström 2003, p. 292.
2. Dahlström 2003, p. 291.
3. Kennedy, Michael (2006), The Oxford Dictionary of Music, ISBN 0-19-861459-4
4. Walter Legge: Words and Music, p. 81, at Google Books

• Dahlström, Fabian [in Swedish] (2003). Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke [Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works] (in German). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel. ISBN 3-7651-0333-0.

External links

• The Bard (Barden), Op. 64: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project