Six Partsongs Explained

Six Partsongs
Type:	Choral works
Image Upright:	.9
Border:	Yes
Opus:	18
Language:	Finnish
Composed:	–1901
Publisher:	piecemeal by several firms

The Six Partsongs (sometimes listed as the Six Songs; deprecated title Nine Partsongs or Nine Songs), Op. 18, is a collection of Finnish-language choral pieces written from 1893 to 1901 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Originally composed for male choir, the composer subsequently arranged Nos. 1, 3–4, and 6 (under the same catalogue number) for mixed choir. The Six Partsongs are as follows:

• "Finnish: Sortunut ääni|italics=no" ("The Broken Voice"), Op. 18/1 (1898–1899, for SATB 1898–1899)
• "Finnish: Terve kuu|italics=no" ("Hail, Moon"), Op. 18/2 (1901)
• "Finnish: Venemakta|italics=no" ("The Boat Journey"), Op. 18/3 (1893, for SATB 1914)
• "Finnish: Saarella palaa|italics=no" ("Fire on the Island"), Op. 18/4 (1895, for SATB 1898)
• "Finnish: Metsämiehen laulu|italics=no" ("The Woodsman's Song"), Op. 18/5 (1899)
• "Finnish: Sydämeni laulu|italics=no" ("Song of My Heart"), Op. 18/6 (1898, for SATB 1904)

The lyrics for Nos. 2–3 come from Finland's national epic, the Kalevala, while Nos. 1 and 4 draw on its companion book of poetry, the Kanteletar; finally, for Nos. 5–6 Sibelius set excerpts from the novel Seven Brothers (Finnish: Seitsemän veljestä) by Aleksis Kivi.

Music

No. 1: "Finnish: Sortunut ääni|italics=no"

• 1898–1899 for male choir; arranged for mixed choir in 1898–1899
• The tempo marking is: Finnish: Ei liian hitaasti [''Not too slowly''; {{lang|de|Nicht zu langsam}}].
• It has a duration of about 1.5 minutes.
• The text comes from poem No. LVII (57) of the Kanteletar.
• Version for male choir premiered on 21 April 1899 in Helsinki by and the YL Male Voice Choir.
• The male choir version was published by YL.
• Dahlström does not report the premiere of the version for mixed choir.
• The mixed choir version was published by in 1898 as part of Finnish: Sävelistö music magazine, edited by

No. 2: "Finnish: Terve kuu|italics=no"

• 1901 for male choir
• The tempo marking is: Finnish: Reippaasti, musta vakavasti [''Briskly, but solemnly''; {{lang|de|Frisch, aber ernst}}].
• It has a duration of about three minutes.
• The text comes from the Kalevala, Runo XLIX (49) (lines 403–422).
• Premiered on 30 May 1901 by Klemetti and .
• Published by in 1902.
• Was not arranged for mixed choir.

No. 3: "Finnish: Venemakta|italics=no"

• 1893 for male choir; arranged for mixed choir in 1914
• The tempo marking is: Finnish: Reippaasti [''Briskly''; {{lang|de|Frisch}}]
• It has a duration of about two minutes.
• The text comes from the Kalevala, Runo XL (40) (lines 1–16).
• Version for male choir premiered on 4 April 1893 in Helsinki by and the YL Male Voice Choir.
• The male choir version was published by in 1895.

No. 4: "Finnish: Saarella palaa|italics=no"

• Op. 18/4 (1895; arranged for mixed choir in 1898)
• The text is the Kanteletar
• for SATB

No. 5: "Finnish: Metsämiehen laulu|italics=no"

• Op. 18/5 (1899)
• The tempo marking is: Alla marcia
• The text is from Seven Brothers

No. 6: "Finnish: Sydämeni laulu|italics=no"

• Op. 18/6 (1898; arranged for mixed choir in 1904)
• The tempo marking is: Lento assai
• The text is from Seven Brothers

Partsongs related to Op. 18

The following three partsongs were at one time listed by Sibelius under the Op. 18 catalogue number but were removed subsequently. The deprecated title of Nine Partsongs, then, refers to their inclusion:

• "Finnish: Isanmaalle|italics=no" ("To the Fatherland"), JS 98 (1899; revised and arranged for mixed choir 1900; revised version arranged for male choir in 1908) ... text by Paavo Cajander
• "Finnish: Veljeni vierailla maalla|italics=no" ("My Brothers Abroad"), JS 217 (1904) ... text by Juhani Aho
• "Finnish: Min rastas raataa|italics=no" ("Busy as a Thrush"), JS 129 (1898) ... for mixed choir only ... text from the Kanteletar

Discography

The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of the Op. 18 partsongs, as well as the three related partsongs noted above:

	Ensemble	Conductor	Partsong runtime		Recording venue	Label
scope="col"
1	YL Male Voice Choir (1)	(1)	1:33	3:28	2:00	1:25	1:40	2:38	2:01		3:31	1986		Finlandia
2			1:30			1:34		2:09				1987	[{{em|Unknown}}], Espoo	Finlandia
3	(1)	(1)	1:24		2:17	1:07		2:06		1:15		1992		Ondine
4	(2)	(2)	1:22		2:16	1:12		2:56	2:19	1:17		1996		BIS
5			1:25		1:51	1:32		2:55	2:01	1:22		1997		Finlandia
6	Accentus Chamber Choir		1:49						2:11			2001	Church Notre Dame de Liban	Naive
7	YL Male Voice Choir (2)	(2)	1:20	3:10	1:34	1:23	1:36	2:12	1:47		3:13	2006	, Kauniainen	BIS
8	Polytech Choir		1:09	2:56		1:10		2:26				2007		PK
9			1:32		1:37	1:19		3:01	2:03	1:17		2010	, Kauniainen	BIS
10			1:37		1:43							2010	Tampere Hall
11	Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir		1:23		1:44	1:13		2:55	2:05	1:10		2014		Ondine
12			1:46					2:32	2:08			2016	German: Zur Ratte|italics=no, Leipzig	Genuin

Notes, references, and sources

Sources

• Book: Barnett, Andrew. Sibelius. 2007. New Haven, Connecticut. Yale University Press. 978-0-300-16397-1.
• Book: Dahlström, Fabian.

  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.