Nightride and Sunrise

History#

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. 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.

Instrumentation#

Nightride and Sunrise is scored for the following instruments, organized by family (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings): *1 piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B), 1 bass clarinet (in B), 2 bassoons, and 1 contrabassoon *4 horns (in F), 2 trumpets (in F), 3 trombones, and tuba *Timpani, bass drum, snare drum, suspended cymbal, tambourine, and triangle *Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, and double basses

Structure#

A typical performance takes about fourteen minutes. The composition begins with a dramatic burst from the brass and percussion, followed by a brisk, trotting figure in the strings, reminiscent of Schubert but with more harmonic instability and color. This motive persists for a significant portion of the piece, with the first melody appearing about three minutes in, characterized by a bleak, simple rising figure followed by a descending scale. As the piece progresses, the initial rhythmic figure in the strings continues, eventually blending with the melody. A notable transition occurs when Sibelius reorders the principal melody’s notes, creating a rich, Slavic chorale texture. This transformation shifts the music from ominous to warm and familiar. The final third of “Nightride and Sunrise” builds with increasing confidence and splendor, featuring chorales and climaxes. The piece concludes with a magical moment as a crescendo in the strings abruptly reveals a soft E-flat major triad, which fades away gently.

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 Master’s Voice (released in 2015 by Warner Classics). The sortable table below contains this and other commercially available recordings:

External links#

• • On-line biography of Jean Sibelius, “Inner voices 1908-1914”.