Presents
Jean Sibelius
En Saga
Arranged for Decet--4 Violins, 2 Violas, Cello, Bass, Flute and Clarinet
Virtually everyone who is familiar with Sibelius's tone poem En saga knows it as a work for orchestra. But, it did not start out that way. Sibelius stated on more than one occasion that the piece evolved from sketches for a octet or septet which he began while studying in Vienna during 1890–91. The manuscript copies of these sketches have been lost. Nonetheless, in 2003, Gregory Barrett, a professor of clarinet at Northern Illinois University School of Music sought to recreate Sibelius’ "lost chamber masterpiece" using the original orchestral version of 1892 for his arrangement. (Sibelius later revised the work in 1902). Barrett decided in favor of a septet rather than an octet, arranging the work for flute, clarinet, two violins, viola, cello, and string bass. This arrangement was subsequently premiered in Vienna and elsewhere to mixed reception. Many commentators have felt that seven players create a work which is too thinly scored. The late Vinzenzo Oddo, formerly Professor of Music in Bolognia and Rome, agreed with this assessment and decided to create his own arrangement of the work for 10 players, specifically for 4 violins, 2 Violas, Cello, Bass, Flute and Clarinet which we are pleased to present for the first time. We are indebted to the late Professore Oddo's wife, Giovanna Oddo for providing copies of the parts.
En saga (is Swedish, Sibelius’ mother tongue, and is translated in English as a saga or legend) is a single-movement tone poem which he began as an octet or possibly a septet while in Vienna in 1891. Of course, it did not end up this way but instead as a large-scale orchestral work lasting over 20 minutes. Many people have wondered what En Saga was about, but Sibelius never provided any programmatic explanation. Instead, he commented that it was an expression of his state of mind at the time he was composing it: Years later, he wrote: "En Saga was psychologically one of my most profound works. I could almost say that the whole of my youth is contained within it. When I was writing En Saga I went through many things that were upsetting to me. In no other work have I revealed myself as completely as in En Saga."
En Sage, above all, is a Finnish work. Not long after completing the second orchestral version, in an interview, Sibelius stated, somewhat humorously, that he himself associated the atmosphere of the work with Finland: "How could one think of anything other than Finland while listening to it! I wrote the beginning of this work in Vienna. I have never been as Finnish as I was in Vienna.” Years later, Sibelius in his eighties seemed to change his mind writing that the atmosphere of En Saga was closer to the ancient Icelandic poems of the Edda than to the Finnish poem Kalevala. But one should take this with a grain of salt as the memories of an old man are hardly an accurate barometer of how he felt in his twenties half a century earlier at the he was composing the work. Surely his earlier assessment is a more reliable indication of his thoughts during the actual composition of En Saga.
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