THE CONNECTION – The Sibelius Violin Concerto is among the most popular concerti on Utah Symphony Masterworks programs. Also that year, Britain and France signed the Entente Cordiale, Charles Dillon Perrine discovered Jupiter’s largest irregular moon Himalia and Jack London published The Sea-Wolf. THE WORLD – The Russo-Japanese War began in 1904. A pity, as he correctly believed Sibelius’ Concerto to be on par with Tchaikovsky’s and deserved a more close association with it. He auditioned, unsuccessfully, for a place in the Vienna Philharmonic when he was 26, and it was difficult for him to overcome this disappointment when he was not accepted. By all accounts Novacek was not up to it and though Burmeister was willing to forgive the initial insult, he did not get to premiere the revised version either. Composer Jean Sibelius was trained as a violinist, although he never became a virtuoso performer. In any case, the change did work in Burmeister’s calendar and Viktor Novacek played instead. These “circumstances” were almost certainly related to money woes. Unfortunately, circumstances pressed the composer towards an earlier date. Sibelius wrote the concerto during 1903 and settled on a premiere date for Burmeister in March of the following year. He was a fine player but had been a late starter and probably didn’t need any help imagining the virtuoso performance career that might have been. As a violinist himself, Sibelius must have liked the idea. He eventually helped convince the composer to craft a concerto for him. Willy Burmeister was a leading violin soloist of the day and was greatly impressed with Sibelius. It would seem, at least in part, that an avid admirer talked him into it. His was a more solemn disposition, so solemn that one wonders why he agreed to take on such a project. As a composer, Sibelius was not cut from the showy sort of cloth that produced the virtuoso concerti of his day. THE MUSIC – Coincident with the gradual departure from Helsinki was the creation of the Violin Concerto. A little distance from the capital and its social climate was needed and, though it took a year to complete, his new home in the village of Järvenpää provided some genuine, though ultimately insufficient, solace. He had vowed to cope with his alcohol issues “with all strength” but was not having much success. THE COMPOSER – JEAN SIBELIUS (1865-1957) – Sibelius’ busy schedule and heavy drinking necessitated an escape from the pressures of Helsinki in 1903. The solo violin emerges out of a murmuring bed of strings. Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, strings. Sibelius gave the concerto a superbly atmospheric opening that casts an immediate spell of mystery. Sibelius – Concerto in D Minor for Violin and Orchestra, op.

Sibelius violin concerto