Nightride and Sunrise

Tone poem by Jean Sibelius

Nightride and Sunrise
Tone poem by Jean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1913)
Native name	Öinen ratsastus ja auringonnousu
Opus	55
Composed	1908 (1908)
Publisher	Lienau (1909)^[1]
Duration	20 mins.^[1]
Premiere
Date	23 January 1909 (1909-01-23)^[1]
Location	Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Conductor	Alexander Siloti
Performers	?

Nightride and Sunrise (in Finnish: Öinen ratsastus ja auringonnousu; in German: Nächtlicher Ritt und Sonnenaufgang),^[1] Op. 55, is a single-movement tone poem for orchestra written in 1908 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

Orchestration

Sibelius scored the work for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns (doubled if possible in the Sunrise), 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, snare drum, tambourine, triangle and strings.

Background

Sibelius gave different accounts of the inspiration for this music. One, told to Karl Ekman, was that it was inspired by his first visit to the Colosseum in Rome, in 1901. Another account, given in his later years to his secretary Santeri Levas, was that the inspiration was a sleigh ride from Helsinki to Kerava "at some time around the turn of the century", during which he saw a striking sunrise.^[2]

Sibelius completed the score by November 1908 and sent the manuscript to Alexander Siloti, who conducted the first performance, in Saint Petersburg, in 1909. The reviews of the first performance were unfavorable, except for one in Novy Russ, and one reviewer called Siloti's conducting "slack and monotonous". A writer for Novoye Vremya asked, "Who is actually riding, and why?" Siloti had made cuts to the score.^[3]

The work represents a subjective, spiritual experience of nature by "an ordinary man." It unfolds in three contrasting parts: a galloping section whose length and dogged determination produce one of Sibelius's strangest utterances; a brief hymnic transition in the strings; and an exquisite Northern sunrise whose first rays emerge in the horns.

A typical performance takes about fourteen minutes.

Discography

The British conductor Sir Adrian Boult and the BBC Symphony Orchestra made the world premiere studio recording of Nightride and Sunrise in 1936 for His Masters Voice (released in 2015 by Warner Classics).^[1] The sortable table below contains this and other commercially available recordings:

No.	Conductor	Ensemble	Rec.^[a]	Time	Recording venue	Label	Ref.
1	Sir Adrian Boult (1)	BBC Symphony Orchestra	1936	13:37	Abbey Road Studios	Warner Classics	^[b]
2	Sir Anthony Collins	London Symphony Orchestra (1)	1955	14:26	Kingsway Hall	Beulah	^[c]
3	Eugen Jochum	Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra	1955	13:31	Herkulessaal	Deutsche Grammophon	^[d]
4	Sir Adrian Boult (2)	London Philharmonic Orchestra	1956	14:11	Walthamstow Assembly Hall	Somm	^[e]
5	Georges Prêtre	New Philharmonia Orchestra (1)	1967	13:27	Walthamstow Town Hall	RCA Red Seal	^[f]
6	Antal Doráti	London Symphony Orchestra (2)	1969	15:15	Abbey Road Studios	EMI Classics	^[g]
7	Horst Stein	L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande	1971	14:23	Victoria Hall	Decca	^[h]
8	Sir Alexander Gibson	Royal Scottish National Orchestra	1977	15:02	Glasgow City Halls	Chandos	^[i]
9	Sir Simon Rattle	Philharmonia Orchestra (2)	1981	14:28	Abbey Road Studios	EMI Warner Classics	^[j]
10	Kurt Sanderling	Berlin Symphony Orchestra	1983	16:11	Christuskirche, Berlin [de]	Brilliant Classics	^[k]
11	Neeme Järvi (1)	Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (1)	1985	15:32	Gothenburg Concert Hall	BIS	^[l]
12	Jukka-Pekka Saraste (1)	Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra	1988	13:32	Kulttuuritalo	RCA Red Seal	^[m]
13	Vassily Sinaisky	Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra	1991	14:15	Mosfilm Studios	Brilliant Classics	^[n]
14	Neeme Järvi (2)	Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (2)	1995	14:49	Gothenburg Concert Hall	Deutsche Grammophon	^[o]
15	Paavo Järvi	Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra	1996	14:41	Stockholm Concert Hall	Virgin Classics	^[p]
16	Leif Segerstam	Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra	1998	16:40	Hyvinkääsali [fi]	Ondine	^[q]
17	Sir Colin Davis	London Symphony Orchestra (3)	1998	17:01	Walthamstow Assembly Hall	RCA Red Seal	^[r]
18	Jukka-Pekka Saraste (2)	Toronto Symphony Orchestra	1998	14:19	Massey Hall	Finlandia	^[s]
19	Osmo Vänskä	Lahti Symphony Orchestra	2001	17:20	Sibelius Hall	BIS	^[t]
20	Pietari Inkinen	New Zealand Symphony Orchestra	2007	16:38	Michael Fowler Centre	Naxos	^[u]

Notes, references, and sources

Notes

^ Refers to the year in which the performers recorded the work; this may not be the same as the year in which the recording was first released to the general public.
^ A. Boult–Warner Classics (0825646053179) 2015
^ A. Collins–Beulah (3PD8) 1994
^ E. Jochum–DG (449 718–2) 1996
^ A. Boult–Somm (SOMMCD 093) 2009
^ G. Prêtre–RCA Red Seal (88985475672) 2017
^ A. Doráti–EMI Classics (7243 5 85785 2 2) 2007
^ H. Stein–Decca (482 3922) 2015
^ A. Gibson–Chandos (CHAN 241–19) 2004
^ S. Rattle–EMI (0825646198788) 2015
^ K. Sanderling–Brilliant Classics (6328/5) 2002
^ N. Järvi–BIS (CD–311) 1986
^ J. Saraste–RCA Red Seal (194397048124) 2020
^ V. Sinaisky–Brilliant Classics (BC9212) 2010
^ N. Järvi–DG (453 426–2) 1997
^ P. Järvi–Virgin Classics (243 5 45213 2 4) 1996
^ L. Segerstam–Ondine (ODE 914–2) 1998
^ C. Davis–RCA Red Seal (09026–68770–2) 1999
^ J. Saraste–Finlandia (3984–27890–2) 2000
^ O. Vänskä–BIS (CD–1225) 2002
^ P. Inkinen–Naxos (8.570763) 2008

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Dahlström 2003, p. 256.
^ Tawaststjerna 1986, pp. 100–101.
^ Tawaststjerna 1986, p. 96-97.

Sources

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.
Tawaststjerna, Erik W. (1986). Sibelius, Volume II: 1904–1914. Translated by Robert Layton. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0571247738.

External links

Night Ride and Sunrise (Öinen ratsastus ja auringonnousu), Op. 55: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
On-line biography of Jean Sibelius, "Inner voices 1908-1914".

Jean Sibelius

Symphonies

Kullervo (1892)
Symphony No. 1 (1899, rev. 1900)
Symphony No. 2 (1902)
Symphony No. 3 (1907)
Symphony No. 4 (1911)
Symphony No. 5 (1915, rev. 1916, 1919)
Symphony No. 6 (1923)
Symphony No. 7 (1924)
Symphony No. 8 (mid 1920s–c. 1938, abandoned)

Concertante

Violin Concerto (1904, rev. 1905)
Two Serenades (1912–1913)
Two Serious Melodies (1914–1915)
Six Humoresques (1917–1918, No. 1 rev. 1940)
Suite for Violin and String Orchestra (1929)

Tone poems

En saga (1892, rev. 1902)
Spring Song (1894, rev. 1895)
The Wood Nymph (1895)
Lemminkäinen Suite
- 1895, rev. 1897, 1900, 1939; includes The Swan of Tuonela
Finlandia (1899)
Pohjola's Daughter (1906)
Nightride and Sunrise (1909)
The Dryad (1910)
The Bard (1913)
Luonnotar (1913)
The Oceanides (1914, rev. 1914)
Tapiola (1926)

Opera & theatre

The Building of the Boat (1893–1894, abandoned)
The Maiden in the Tower (1896)
King Christian II (1898)
Kuolema
- 1903; includes Valse triste
Pelléas et Mélisande (1905)
Belshazzar's Feast (1906)
Swanwhite (1908)
The Lizard (1909)
The Language of the Birds (1911)
Scaramouche (1913)
Everyman (1916)
The Tempest (1925)

Cantatas

Cantata for the University Graduation Ceremonies of 1894
Cantata for the Coronation of Nicholas II (1896)
Cantata for the University Graduation Ceremonies of 1897
The Origin of Fire (1902, rev. 1910)
The Captive Queen (1906)
My Own Land (1918)
Song of the Earth (1919)
Hymn of the Earth (1920)
Väinämöinen's Song (1926)

Other voice(s) & orchestra

The Rapids-Rider's Brides (1897)
The Breaking of the Ice on the Oulu River (1899)
Snöfrid (1900)
Marjatta (1905, abandoned)
Impromptu (1902, rev. 1910)
The Raven (1910, abandoned)

Other orchestral

Overture in E major (1891)
Ballet Scene (1891)
Karelia Suite (1893)
Rakastava (1894, arr. 1912)
Scènes historiques I (1899, arr. 1911)
Overture in A minor (1902)
Romance in C major (1904)
Cassazione (1904, rev. 1905)
Pan and Echo (1906)
In memoriam (1909, rev. 1910)
Scènes historiques II (1912)
Suite mignonne (1921)
Suite champêtre (1922)
Suite caractéristique (1922)

String quartets

String Quartet in E-flat major (1885)
String Quartet in A minor (1889)
String Quartet in B-flat major (1890)
String Quartet in D minor, Voces intimae (1909)
Andante festivo (1922, orch. 1938)

Piano trios

Piano Trio in A minor, Hafträsk (1886)
Piano Trio in D major, Korpo (1887)
Piano Trio in C major, Lovisa (1888)

Other chamber

Water Droplets (c. 1875–1881)
Pieces for brass septet (1889–1899)
Piano Quintet (1890)
Malinconia (1900)
Violin Sonatina (1915)

Piano

Six Impromptus (1893)
Piano Sonata (1893)
Ten Pieces, Op. 24 (1895–1903)
Kyllikki (1904)
Three Sonatinas (1912)
The Bells of Kallio Church (1912, arr. 1912)
Two Rondinos (1912)
Five Pieces, The Trees, Op. 75 (1914)
Five Pieces, The Flowers, Op. 85 (1916–1917)
Five Esquisses (1929)

Songs

Seven Runeberg Songs, Op. 13 (1891–1892)
"Serenad", JS 168 (1894–1895)
Six Songs, Op. 36 (1899–1900)
Five Songs, Op. 37 (1900–1902)
Seven Songs, Op. 17 (1891–1904)
Five Songs, Op. 38 (1903–1904; includes "Höstkväll")
Six Songs, Op. 50 (1906)
Two Songs, Op. 35 (1908)
"Kom nu hit, död", Op. 60/1 (1909, orch. 1957)
"Arioso", Op. 3 (1911)
Five Christmas Songs, Op. 1 (1897–1913; includes "Giv mig ej glans, ej guld, ej prakt")
Six Runeberg Songs, Op. 90 (1917)