SKU: BR.SON-626
ISBN 9790004803288. 10 x 12.5 inches.
A main work by Sibelius as facsimile edition The large orchestral song Luonnotar is considered as one of the boldest works of Jean Sibelius. This alone would be reason enough to print the autograph sources (full score and piano reduction) as a color facsimile for the Sibelius Anniversary Year 2015. In addition, the autograph score also has a special significance for the transmission: it ensured the survival of the entire work after World War II; the source material for the printer compiled by Breitkopf & Hartel had been destroyed in an air-raid bombing in 1943. The meticulously elucidated volume is the first complete facsimile edition of an orchestral work by Jean Sibelius - a milestone in Sibelius editorial history that meaningfully supplements the complete edition Jean Sibelius Werke as a truly special volume.
SKU: BR.SON-627
ISBN 9790004803295. 10 x 12.5 inches.
In 1998, at the end of the 20th century, Breitkopf & Hartel started the publication of the Complete Edition, which is made possible thanks to the cooperation of the various Sibelius publishers. The Editors (Helsinki University Library and The Sibelius Society of Finland) and the Editorial Committee (Chairman: Timo Virtanen, Helsinki) believe that the volumes of JSW will provide the basis for a now conception of the creative work of Jean Sibelius.Reviews: One immediately recognizes the towering production quality of these volumes - a point that can be extended to all volumes thus far published in the set. The music is a joy to read; and the lucidity and thoroughness of the texts … are models of scholarly editions, and should be required reading for all bibliography and music-editing courses. … In sum, the JSW is a remarkable project: the scholarship is impeccable, the music scores and texts are simply a joy to study. Edward Jurkowski, Notes December 2011: 442-443At the back of this magnificent book are pages of critical commentary on a bar-by-bar analysis of an endless supply of musical notation requiring interpretation by the editor. … For the general, non-musically trained, purchaser of the edition there is the magisterial introduction to read, and fascinating reading it is. Edward W. Clark, Sibelius Society Newsletter 2009 The Sibelius pieces, however, are a revelation. I opened this magnificently produced volume - complete with multilingual critical report and generous facsimiles of original manuscripts - expecting Grieg-style quasi-nationalistic character pieces, and was instead presented with an incredible array of styles, textures, harmonic languages and levels of difficulty. Chris White, Piano Professional Summer 2009: 2This is not only a scholarly edition of one of the composer's major works, it is also a model for the philological editing of music in general. … JSW has chosen to have the emendations reflected in two places, in certain cases even in three: as graphic indications in the music text, in prose form in the critical commentary, and sometimes also in the form of a warning footnote on the music page. There can be no doubt that such a procedure is very user-friendly, but it disturbs the appearance of the music and may mislead the user into thinking that there are two or more equally valid readings. Niels Krabbe, Fontes Artis Musicae 54/2, 2007: 248 Editorial standards are high throughout, and maintain a careful balance between the competing demands of practical exigency and the need to provide as much scholarly evidence of variants as possible. The critical commentaries provide concise and effective descriptions of the sources and, where appropriate, information on compositional genesis and historical context. The introduction to each volume provide useful background information on historical reception, including much new material not previously brought to light in Tawaststjerna's biography. Daniel M. Grimley, Nineteenth-Century Music Review 2/2, 2005: 244.
SKU: BR.SON-624
ISBN 9790004803264. 9 x 12 inches.
In 1998, at the end of the 20th century, Breitkopf & Hartel started the publication of the Complete Edition, which is made possible thanks to the cooperation of the various Sibelius publishers. The Editors (Helsinki University Library and The Sibelius Society of Finland) and the Editorial Committee (Chairman: Timo Virtanen, Helsinki) believe that the volumes of JSW will provide the basis for a now conception of the creative work of Jean Sibelius.Reviews: One immediately recognizes the towering production quality of these volumes - a point that can be extended to all volumes thus far published in the set. The music is a joy to read; and the lucidity and thoroughness of the texts ... are models of scholarly editions, and should be required reading for all bibliography and music-editing courses. ... In sum, the JSW is a remarkable project: the scholarship is impeccable, the music scores and texts are simply a joy to study. Edward Jurkowski, Notes December 2011: 442-443At the back of this magnificent book are pages of critical commentary on a bar-by-bar analysis of an endless supply of musical notation requiring interpretation by the editor. ... For the general, non-musically trained, purchaser of the edition there is the magisterial introduction to read, and fascinating reading it is. Edward W. Clark, Sibelius Society Newsletter 2009 The Sibelius pieces, however, are a revelation. I opened this magnificently produced volume - complete with multilingual critical report and generous facsimiles of original manuscripts - expecting Grieg-style quasi-nationalistic character pieces, and was instead presented with an incredible array of styles, textures, harmonic languages and levels of difficulty. Chris White, Piano Professional Summer 2009: 2This is not only a scholarly edition of one of the composer's major works, it is also a model for the philological editing of music in general. ... JSW has chosen to have the emendations reflected in two places, in certain cases even in three: as graphic indications in the music text, in prose form in the critical commentary, and sometimes also in the form of a warning footnote on the music page. There can be no doubt that such a procedure is very user-friendly, but it disturbs the appearance of the music and may mislead the user into thinking that there are two or more equally valid readings. Niels Krabbe, Fontes Artis Musicae 54/2, 2007: 248 Editorial standards are high throughout, and maintain a careful balance between the competing demands of practical exigency and the need to provide as much scholarly evidence of variants as possible. The critical commentaries provide concise and effective descriptions of the sources and, where appropriate, information on compositional genesis and historical context. The introduction to each volume provide useful background information on historical reception, including much new material not previously brought to light in Tawaststjerna's biography. Daniel M. Grimley, Nineteenth-Century Music Review 2/2, 2005: 244.
SKU: BR.SON-625
ISBN 9790004803271. 10 x 12.5 inches.
SKU: BR.SON-637
ISBN 9790004803929. 9 x 12 inches.
SKU: BR.SON-605
ISBN 9790004802472. 10 x 12.5 inches.
Sibelius secured his international reputation as a 20th-century classic above all with his large orchestral works. However, his vocal works, including the songs for voice and orchestra, are just as important and innovative. They combine Sibelius's masterful command of the orchestral apparatus with a uniquely sensitive feeling for the textual sources. They range from the dramatic ballad Koskenlaskijan morsiamet Op. 33 to the intimate, lyrical Arioso Op. 3, and from the post-Wagnerian Serenad JS 183 (presented here for the first time) to the boldly orchestrated vision Luonnotar Op. 70. Following the two books of songs with piano accompaniment, this volume of the Sibelius Complete Edition (JSW) will definitely make an important contribution to the international reception of Sibelius' works.
SKU: BR.SON-631
ISBN 9790004803660. 9 x 12 inches.
Early Work Even before enrolling at the Helsinki Music Institute in 1885, Jean Sibelius had already composed several piano trios mainly intended for ensemble playing within his family and with his circle of friends. These works also gave young Janne the opportunity to try his compositional ideas out in practice. His last known work in this scoring originated in 1888. The volume of Jean Sibelius Works edited by Anna Pulkkis contains all piano trios, including the Havtrask Trio, the Korpo Trio, and Lovisa Trio forming the core of this repertoire. Already on display here are the melodic ingenuity and powerful expressive depth of Sibelius' later works.
SKU: BR.SON-601
Awarded the German Music Edition Prize
ISBN 9790004802274. 9 x 12 inches.
Officially launching the JSW is Jukka Tiilikainens edition of the first volume of the series containing Sibeliuss songs for voice and piano. It contains highlights from the Finnish composers vast lied production such as Opp. 13, 17 and 35-38. It also features the only collection with original German language texts, Op. 50.
SKU: BR.SON-609
ISBN 9790004802717. 10 x 12.5 inches.
Sibelius orchestral works rediscovered It was a minor sensation when in 1996 the conductor Osmo Vanska recorded a completely unknown, more than 20-minute-long orchestral work by the young Jean Sibelius in Lahti: Skogsraet (The Forest Nymph) had suddenly re-emerged. But this was no mere rediscovery, since in his later years, Sibelius had graciously agreed that his early work could be performed in a radically abridged form. He thus left his score in a rather confusing condition. Varsang (Spring Song), the second work in this volume of the Complete Edition, has two (or even three?) early versions, which makes for a most complicated source examination. Tuija Wicklund thus faced a mountain of problems in preparing the edition. The editor's meticulous work ultimately yielded three complete orchestral scores from the years 1894/95, thus from a period in which no one can claim that such pieces are early works. By this time, Sibelius had already made a name for himself in Finland with his first masterpieces Kullervo (1892), En saga (first version, 1892), the Karelia Suite (1893) and Rakastava (1894).
SKU: BR.SON-616
More than 40 unloved works?
ISBN 9790004803189. 9 x 12 inches.
The Complete Edition Jean Sibelius Works has made a big step forward with this volume: the publication of all piano works which the composer personally supplied with opus numbers, thus bequeathing them to posterity in an authorized form. The piano pieces with opus numbers ranging between 85 and 114 were written partly during World War I and, more importantly, during the first post-war years up to 1924. This is when for various reasons, and not only for lack of funds Sibelius once again applied himself intensively to the composition of piano pieces. The more than 40 works eloquently refute the claim that the composer had little esteem for the piano. With the little collection of op. 114, Sibelius leads us into the memorable year 1929, when he ended his compositional activity once and for all.
SKU: BR.SON-629
ISBN 9790004803431. 10 x 12.5 inches.
Rarities for strings Jean Sibelius wrote eight works for string orchestra in close to 45 years. Most of these are either arrangements of earlier compositions or were composed in conjunction with a piano version. One exception is the artistic Romanze in C op. 42 of only five minute's duration, which Sibelius composed presumably in 1904 specifically for string orchestra. Breitkopf & Hartel first published the popular and often-played piece for strings in 1909. The present volume III/1 of the complete edition of the Jean Sibelius Works contains all the works by Sibelius for string orchestra, including three first publications.
SKU: BR.SON-617
ISBN 9790004803196. 9 x 12 inches.
There is still much to discover in Sibelius oeuvre: with the first volume of the choral works, the Complete Edition is now opening up a new chapter. The Finnish composers many little a cappella choral pieces are still hardly known beyond the borders of Finland and Sweden. They are often very simple pieces that consciously seek the proximity of the folk song. Thanks to the complete CD recording of Sibelius works, we are able to listen to everything he wrote, and the white spots still found on the Sibelius map have been livened up with little splashes of color. Its time to discover these Northern Lights!
SKU: BR.SON-632
ISBN 9790004803677. 10 x 12.5 inches.
The present volume contains four works for choir and orchestra that were composed and premiered at the turn of the 20th century. The works in the volume are arranged according to their opus numbers, though this does not fully reflect their chronology: Impromptu (Op. 19) for female choir and orchestra, composed and premiered in 1902; Sandels (Op. 28) for male choir and orchestra, composed in 1898 and premiered in 1900; Snofrid (Op. 29) for reciter, mixed choir, and orchestra, composed and premiered in 1900; and Islossningen i Ulea alv (Op. 30) for reciter, male choir, and orchestra, composed and premiered in 1899. Sibelius planned to revise all four works, but he only revised Impromptu in 1910 and Sandels in 1915. Both versions of these two works appear in the volume. All four works are settings of poems by Swedish-speaking authors, namely Viktor Rydberg (1828-1895), Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804-1877) and Zacharias Topelius (1818-1898). Thorough introductions for all the works are include along with some facsimile pages. One might hope that the availability of the critical edition would encoure performances of these fine, neglected works. The music deserves to be heard more often. (Andrew Barnett & Ian Maxwell, www.sibeliusone.com).
SKU: BR.SON-630
ISBN 9790004803578. 10 x 12.5 inches.
The present volume of the Sibelius Complete Edition contains seven orchestral works, five of which Jean Sibelius originally composed as stage music but later separated from the incidental-music connection to be performed as individual compositions in concerts. The tone poem Finlandia Op. 26 originates from the Music for the Press Celebration Days (JS 137, 1899). Valse triste and Scen med tranorna (Scene with the Cranes, Op. 44 Nos. 1 and 2) were composed for the 1903 premiere of Arvid Jarnefelt's play Kuolema (Death, incidental music JS 113); Canzonetta and Valse romantique (Op. 62a and 62b) were additions to a 1911 stage production of Kuolema. The two waltzes under the opus number 96, Valse lyrique (Op. 96a) and Valse chevaleresque (Op. 96c), are orchestral versions of works also known as compositions for piano. Of the works only Scen med tranorna remained unpublished during Sibelius's lifetime. It was also probably intended to be published - the autograph score is preserved under Breitkopf & Hartel tenure in the Sachsisches Staatsarchiv in Leipzig - but the first edition of the score and the parts were not printed until 1973. This print was made from a scribal copy by an unknown copyist, and the edition of Scen med tranorna based on Sibelius's autograph is available for the first time in the present volume.
SKU: BR.SON-623
ISBN 9790004803257. 9 x 12 inches.
Three volumes of the Complete Edition and many single publications derived from them featuring piano music by Jean Sibelius have brought this weighty work group to center stage once again. The fourth volume, Piano Works Without Opus Number, rounds off this enjoyable collection. The sheer number of the pieces is enough to contradict the familiar prejudice that the piano played a subordinate role in Sibelius oeuvre. The Finnish composer repeatedly returned to this instrument for a variety of reasons, and in the wealth of small piano forms, one finds many a musical idea that was later elaborated and bore fruits for the large orchestral works.
SKU: BR.SON-621
Chamber music by Jean Sibelius - a welcome addition to the chamber music repertoire for strings with piano.
ISBN 9790004803233. 9 x 12 inches.
This volume presents partly less known, but undoubtedly interesting and highly welcome additions to the chamber music repertoire for violinists and cellists in the reliable Urtext of the Complete Edition. The violin was Sibelius's instrument. He was active as a violinist mainly during his studies at the Helsinki Music Institute from 1885-1889 and for a short time thereafter. The present volume contains Jean Sibelius's opus-numbered works for violin or cello and piano, 36 compositions in total. Most of the works of this volume were created at the beginning of the 20th century and remained unpublished until the early 1920s. Sibelius composed far less music for the cello than for the violin. Malinconia (Op. 20), published in 1911, remained his only opus-numbered work exclusively for cello and piano. This volume also includes Two Pieces (Op. 77) and Four Pieces (Op. 78) as versions for violin with piano and for cello with piano.Chamber music by Jean Sibelius - a welcome addition to the chamber music repertoire for strings with piano.
SKU: BR.SON-603
ISBN 9790004802342. 9 x 12 inches.
Begun in early 1999, the Sibelius Complete Edition brings to a close the publication of the songs for voice and piano with opus numbers in this volume, Series VIII/3 (Works for Voice). Book 3 contains collections written after 1900, when Sibelius was conceiving his songs both textually and stylistically in a more cohesive context without, however, grouping them officially into cycles. As could already be seen in Book 2, Sibelius also shows a preference here for poems in Swedish. Indeed, the Finnish composer's vocal oeuvre is stamped by poets such as Ernst Josephson, Johan Ludvig Runeberg and Karl August Tawaststjerna.
SKU: BR.SON-612
ISBN 9790004802786. 9 x 12 inches.
The present volume of the Complete Edition comprises a truly homogenous group: all the piano works from the Ten Piano Pieces op. 58 to the Treize Morceaux Op. 76. No doubt the best known pieces among them are the Three Sonatinas op. 67, which were played so masterfully (and were so highly esteemed) by Glenn Gould. All the pieces were written within the space of ten years, between 1909 and 1919, at a time when Sibelius was already an internationally renowned composer. He was, however, dependent on the smaller, short-term commissions and their honorariums for his livelihood. During World War I, it was impossible for Sibelius in Helsinki to maintain his contacts with the major European concert halls. This difficult situation also helped prompt the creation of the pieces written after 1914 and grouped by the composer and his Finnish publishers into the opp. 75 and 76.
SKU: BR.SON-633
ISBN 9790004803684. 10 x 12.5 inches.
Symphony, symphonic poem, fantasy, or something else entirely different? For a long time while working on the Sixth Symphony, Sibelius was not certain what his new orchestral work was now about to become or what to call it. He had to interrupt work on the symphony time and again during the Finnish civil war and because of financial difficulties that forced him to earn a living with little things. So, it is not surprising that many small ideas for other works repeatedly culminated in the Sixth. In a letter to a friend, he describes his early ideas for the work: The 6th symphony is wild and turbulent in character. Gloomy with pastoral contrasts. Probably in 4 movements with a conclusion growing into a dark orchestral shower in which the main theme drowns. The editor Kai Lindberg now presents the definitive version within the context of the Sibelius Complete Edition.
SKU: BR.SON-618
Sibelius No. Zero?
ISBN 9790004803202. 10 x 12.5 inches.
Whoever is looking for orchestral works in several movements by Sibelius before the seven officially numbered symphonies will run into Kullervo op. 7, as well as Lemminkainen op. 22. Sibelius follows a cyclical concept in these four tone poems, so that Lemminkainen, owing to its time of origin, can truly be labeled as his Symphony No. Zero. The previously unprinted early versions, presented in the respective volume of the Complete Edition for the first time, can be dated to the year 1895/96. The first revision was made in 1897, after the world premiere. Only after this premiere did Sibelius write his First Symphony before he again revised the Lemminkainen scores some of them much later and had them published.
SKU: BR.SON-608
First version of February 1892
ISBN 9790004802649. 9 x 12 inches.
A look into Kullervo's workshop Jean Sibelius's own piano-vocal scores of the two choral movements from his Kullervo Symphony Op. 7 were forgotten for nearly a century. It was not until 1982 that the manuscripts were transferred from the composer's estate to the Helsinki University Library. They will be printed for the first time in the Complete Edition. They allow scholars a fascinating insight into the revisions that Sibelius made even before the world premiere, and they supplement the new edition of the first text-critical score recently presented by Glenda Dawn Goss within the framework of the Complete Edition. We can see how explosive Kullervo's vocal text must have been in 1892 by the fact that the composer decided to replace the original women's chorus with a male chorus. His teacher Martin Wegelius had advised him to bear in mind that female choral singers might refuse to perform the incestuous seduction scene.
SKU: BR.SON-607
ISBN 9790004802632. 10 x 12.5 inches.
No longer just a facsimile: Sibelius's Symphony No. 0 in a proper edition With the world premiere of Kullervo in 1892, Jean Sibelius staked his claim at the age of 27 to the front ranks of the symphonists of his day, long before he began writing his purely instrumental symphonies and tone poems. At the same time, he defined himself as a modern-day Finnish composer through his choice of the text from the Kalevala epic, whose title role he interpreted with modern psychological means. By the time Sibelius was celebrating his major international triumphs in the early 20th century, his Symphony No. 0 was long forgotten. After a provisory first edition of Kullervo in 1966, the work quickly gained the esteem of Sibelius conductors who also performed the work with the Finnish vocal text outside of their native country. Yet in spite of pioneer recordings such as those of Paavo Berglund, Colin Davis, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Osmo Vanska, the grandiose work had not been adequately present in international concert life up to now not least because there was no practicable edition. The volumes of the Complete Edition edited by Glenda Dawn Goss now offer a musicologically accurate music text for the first time. This music text will form the basis for the projected performance material. The complete edition Jean Sibelius Werke intends to pave the way for a new evaluation of the Finnish composer and, in particular, of this hitherto editorially neglected work, the composer's only choral symphony.
SKU: BR.SON-636
ISBN 9790004803912. 10 x 12.5 inches.
The present volume contains five orchestral works, which Sibelius composed in 1904-1910: Die Dryade (Op. 45 No. 1), Musik zu einer Szene [Op. 45 No. 2/1904], Tanz-Intermezzo (Op. 45 No. 2), Pohjolas Tochter (Op. 49), and Pan und Echo (Op. 53a). An early version of Tanz-Intermezzo is included as an appendix. In addition, a fragment illustrating the unrealized plan of a symphonic poem called Luonnotar, which Sibelius reworked into Pohjolas Tochter, appears as a facsimile. Musik zu einer Szene is now published for the first time. Except for Pohjolas Tochter, all the works were composed for a choreographic purpose, (sub-)titled or referred to as dance intermezzos, or related to opus 45.
SKU: BR.SON-606
ISBN 9790004802564. 9 x 12 inches.
Jean Sibelius overall composed more than 100 solo songs for voice and piano. Volume 4 mostly contains first editions. These songs were generally unknown. Only a few of them have been available for performers in manuscript copies and have also appeared on concert programs. The volume contains also the first printed Sibelius' work Serenad and in contrast to the other two volumes with solo-songs it contains arrangements for voice and piano for the first time. Sibelius arranged three types of works for voice and piano: songs from incidental music, works for voice and piano, and one choral work. The arrangements were not made for the purpose of producing rehearsal scores, but rather as genuine concert pieces to be used in recitals. Rarely are such arrangements simply reductions of the orchestral score, as rehearsal scores tend to be. Instead, Sibelius gave the piano parts of his arrangements the same dedication and seriousness as he gave his solo songs. The independance of his arrangements is especially pointed to the very virtuoso piano part of the ballad Koskenlaskijan morsiamet Op. 33.
SKU: BR.SON-615
Two versions, one first edition
ISBN 9790004803172. 10 x 12.5 inches.
Cassazione op. 6 is still regarded as a hot tip for fans of Sibelius music: both the heretofore unpublished version with full orchestra and the version with reduced scoring were given their first performances in 1904, but then receded to the back of the composers mind. Since he never picked up on the cautious hints he had made about revising the work, it is up to posterity and the text-critical work of the Complete Edition to provide the first comprehensive evaluation and the first text-critical edition of the Cassazione op. 6.
SKU: BR.SON-613
ISBN 9790004802816. 10 x 12.5 inches.
Written in 1892, En saga takes its place at the beginning of Jean Sibelius's symphonic poems, and is also the first orchestral work by the Finnish composer to have won a lasting place in the concert repertoire. After ten years and many successful performances, Sibelius was still unsatisfied with his work, which ultimately led him to radically shorten and revise the score. From then on, the revised version published in 1903 was the only valid one. The early version was left unprinted, and the manuscript initially thought to be lost. Both versions will be printed in their entirety in the Complete Edition Jean Sibelius Werke. Following En saga [op. 9/1892], the first edition of the early version, comes En saga op. 9, the first text-critical score of the definitive version.
SKU: BR.SON-620
The American tone poems
ISBN 9790004803226. 10 x 12.5 inches.
Jean Sibelius wrote his last two tone poems Aallottaret op. 73 and Tapiola op. 112 as commissions for the United States. Aallottaret is the original Finnish title of op. 73, as is found on the autograph. Discreetly concealed behind this title, however, is the title The Oceanides, which also stems from Sibelius, and which Breitkopf & Hartel gladly placed in first position for the first edition of 1915, thus facilitating the diffusion of the work. The previously unpublished early version of Aallottaret is also presented in the volume of the Complete Edition; it had been hastily rejected shortly before the world premiere. Compared with this genesis, the origin of Tapiola , Sibelius last great symphonic poem, is relatively unspectacular: though he was under pressure to write and publish the work, Sibelius produced no different versions. There was only one printed edition from Breitkopf and no further revisions. Thanks are given to Professor Nors S. Josephson for his valuable work on this volume, the editing of which he began.
SKU: BR.SON-619
Lemminkainens Happy Ending
ISBN 9790004803219. 10 x 12.5 inches.
The four orchestral scores which are brought together in Lemminkainen op. 22 can be understood with a bit of imagination as a kind of program symphony. All the more surprising is the Revision History that occurred after the first performances and versions in 1896 and 1897: Sibelius soon revised two pieces, the Swan of Tuonela (which was soon to become very popular) and Lemminkainen returns home (op. 22 no. 4). He had both scores printed, but stowed the two other pieces away in a drawer for nearly 40 years before he gave them their last polish. The entire cycle in its last authorized version was published in 1954, just as the composer wished. This happy ending is comprehensively documented in Volume I/12b of the Sibelius Complete Edition.
SKU: BR.SON-628
ISBN 9790004803417. 9 x 12 inches.
To all intents and purposes, Jean Sibelius wrote his Violin Concerto practically twice. To begin with, there are glaring discrepancies between the original version of 1903/04, which the composer self-critically withdrew immediately after the first performances, and the revision of 1905, which was so successful that posterity wonders why Sibelius composed only one work for this genre. The present volume contains a critical edition of the piano score of the 1905 version. From the 1904 version, the surviving fragment of the scribal copy of the piano score of movement I appears as a facsimile, and movements II and III are published as reconstructions as complete as possible based on the sources.
SKU: BR.SON-634
ISBN 9790004803691. 9 x 12 inches.
Sibelius's oeuvre contains four string quartets. They appeared over a long time span and in different phases of his professional career. Most of his early compositions were chamber music, and he composed his three earliest quartets (in E flat major (JS 184, 1885), A minor (JS 183, 1889), B flat major (Op. 4, 1890)) around his study years. They remained unprinted during his lifetime, and the string quartet in E flat major was also not performed in public. The quartet in D minor Voces intimae op. 56, on the other hand, was completed in London in the spring of 1909, and Sibelius wrote to his wife Aino: It became wonderful. Just the kind that raises a smile on one's face even at the moment of death. Voces intimae was published in the same year. Even later, Sibelius seemed to be very satisfied with his composition, for he wrote in his diary: It is generally claimed to be my best work. I do not think quite that, but it does belong among my best ones..
