| Type: | Song cycle |
| Songs for Mixed Chorus from the 1897 Promotional Cantata | |
| Native Name: | Finnish: Lauluja sekaköörille 1897 vuoden promotiooni kantaatista |
| Image Upright: | .9 |
| Composer: | Jean Sibelius |
| Catalogue: | JS 106 (original cantata) |
| Opus: | 23 (song cycle) |
| Language: | Finnish |
| Text: | A. V. Koskimies |
| Composed: | , 1897 or 1898 |
| Publisher: | (1899) |
| Duration: | 19.5 mins. (Op. 23) |
| Premiere Date: | (JS 104) |
| Premiere Location: | Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland |
| Premiere Conductor: | Jean Sibelius |
The Songs for Mixed Chorus from the 1897 Promotional Cantata (in Finnish: Finnish: Lauluja sekaköörille 1897 vuoden promotiooni kantaatista; sometimes abbreviated as the Nine Songs), Op. 23, is a song cycle of pieces for soprano, baritone, and mixed choir arranged in 1898 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Sung in Finnish to words by the poet A. V. Koskimies, the songs were originally part of a larger orchestral work: the Cantata for the University Graduation Ceremonies of 1897 (French: Kantaatti tohtorinja maisterinvihkijäisissä 1897), JS 106. It is chronologically the third of Sibelius's nine orchestral cantatas, and belongs to a series of three such pieces—along with the Promotional Cantata of 1894 (JS 105) and the Coronation Cantata (JS 104, 1896)—that he wrote on commission from his employer at the time, the Imperial Alexander University (today the University of Helsinki). The complete score, however, is lost, although—in addition to the Op. 23 songs—some orchestral parts, as well as a rehearsal score with piano accompaniment, are extant.
The ten constituent songs in the cycle are as follows:
Several of the song cycle's numbers, especially Nos. 1, 6a, and 6b, remain popular in Finland. Moreover, in 1913, Sibelius arranged No. 6a for female choir.
The Finnish choral director and the Finnish: Eteläsuomalaisen Osakunnan Laulajat|italics=nom (EOL) made the world premiere studio recording of the Op. 23 songs in 1975 for RCA Victor. The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:
| scope=col | Choral director | scope=col | Ensemble | scope=col | Soprano | scope=col | Baritone | scope=col | Runtime | scope=col | scope=col | Recording venue | scope=col | Label | scope=col class="unsortable" | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eteläsuomalaisen Osakunnan Laulajat | 19:23 | 1975 | RCA Victor | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | (1) | (1) | (1) | 19:14 | 1992 | Ondine | ||||||||||||
| 3 | 20:09 | 1997 | Finlandia | |||||||||||||||
| 4 | (2) | (2) | (2) | 19:18 | 1998 | Tapiola Hall | BIS | |||||||||||
| 5 | Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir | 18:36 | 2014 | Ondine |
sv:Fabian Dahlström
. Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke. Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works. 2003. Breitkopf & Härtel. Wiesbaden. de. 3-7651-0333-0.