| Type: | Tone poem |
| The Dryad | |
| Native Name: | Finnish: Dryadi |
| Image Upright: | .9 |
| Border: | Yes |
| Opus: | 45/1 |
| Publisher: | Breitkopf & Härtel (1910) |
| Duration: | 6 mins. |
| Premiere Location: | Kristiania, Norway |
| Premiere Conductor: | Jean Sibelius |
| Premiere Performers: | Kristiania Musical Association |
The Dryad (in Finnish: Finnish: Dryadi), Op. 45/1, is a tone poem for orchestra written in 1910 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. He completed it between skiing trips. He conducted the first performance in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway, on 8 October 1910, together with the premiere of In memoriam. He arranged it for piano in 1910 (German: Die Dryade). The piece has been regarded as one of the composer's "shortest and most original orchestral works", as an "impressionist miniature", proceeding from fragments to a "dance-like theme".
The work is scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B), bass clarinet (in B), 2 bassoons, 4 horns (in F), 3 trumpets (in B), 3 trombones, tuba, tambourine, castanets, snare drum, bass drum and strings.[1]
The Finnish conductor Nils-Eric Fougstedt and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra made the world premiere studio recording of The Dryad in 1959 for the (in Finnish: Finnish: Suomen Säveltäjät). The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:
| Conductor | Ensemble | Time | Recording venue | Label | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra | 1959 | ? | ? | ||||
| 2 | Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra | 1975 | 6:01 | Liverpool Philharmonic Hall | EMI Classics | |||
| 3 | Royal Scottish National Orchestra | 1977 | 5:44 | Glasgow City Halls | Chandos | |||
| 4 | Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra | 1985 | 5:41 | Gothenburg Concert Hall | BIS | |||
| 5 | Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra | 1991 | 5:43 | Mosfilm Studios | Brilliant Classics | |||
| 6 | 2002 | 6:02 | Finlandia | |||||
| 7 | Lahti Symphony Orchestra | 2000 | 5:07 | Sibelius Hall | BIS | |||
| 8 | New Zealand Symphony Orchestra | 2007 | 5:46 | Michael Fowler Centre | Naxos |
In addition, the Finnish pianist Erik T. Tawaststjerna made the world premiere studio recording of Sibelius's piano transcription of The Dryad in 1987 for BIS. The table below includes this and other commercially available recordings:
| Pianist | Time | Recording venue | Label | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1987 | 5:45 | Danderyd Grammar School | BIS | |||
| 2 | 2007 | 5:10 | BIS |
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.