Spring Song (Sibelius)

The piece was initially composed as Improvisation for Orchestra, in the key of D major. It was premiered on 21 July 1894 at an outdoor festival in Vaasa, organized by the (). Short, lyrical, and delicately scored, Sibelius's piece was ill-suited for the open-air concert, and the audience received it less enthusiastically than another work on the program: Korsholm, by Sibelius's brother-in-law and friend Armas Järnefelt. Shortly therefore, Sibelius withdrew Improvisation for revision. In 1895, he recast it in F major and retitled the work Spring Song (), appending the subtitle "The Sadness of Spring" to that (unpublished) version. ==Instrumentation==

Spring Song is scored for the following instruments, organized by family (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings): • 2 flutes (each doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B), and 2 bassoons • 4 horns (in F), 3 trumpets (in F), 3 trombones, and tuba • Timpani and tubular bells ("glocken") • Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, and double basses The piece contains an optimism that is relatively rare among Sibelius' works. It is known for its prominent use of tubular bells at the end of the song. ==Structure==

Spring Song takes about 8 minutes to play. {{Image frame|align=center|width=800|caption=Measures 5–12|content= {\new PianoStaff { ( e8] fis4\! e4.) \) \ \( fis8 d8]\! ) e2.\) \ ( d8] e4\! d4.) \) \ \( e8 c8]\! ) d2.\) \>}}}} ==Discography==

The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of Spring Song: ==Notes, references, and sources==

; ; ; • • • • ==External links==