In Memoriam (Sibelius)

In Memoriam (In memory), Op. 59, is a funeral march for orchestra by Jean Sibelius. It was written in memory of Eugen Schauman. Sibelius composed a first version in 1909 and completed a final version in 1910. He conducted the first performance in Oslo on 8 October 1910. The piece was performed at his own funeral.

In Memoriam
Funeral march by Jean Sibelius
The composer in 1904, by Albert Edelfelt
CatalogueOp. 59
Composed1909 (1909)/1910
Performed8 October 1910 (1910-10-08)
Scoringorchestra

History
Eugen Schauman, in whose memory the work was conceived

The work was written to commemorate Eugen Schauman who had in 1904 shot Governor-General Nikolay Bobrikov and then killed himself.[1] Sibelius mentioned on New Year's Day of 1905 "that he intended to write a requiem in memory of Eugen Schauman and that he had already started to work on it. – I just hope it will be worthy of its subject matter! After all, it will be the only monument that we can raise for him!"[1]

Only in 1909, after his throat surgery which made him think of death, he returned to the idea. Erik Tawaststjerna assumes that he wrote it also for himself. He composed a first version in 1909, completed on 14 December 1909.[1] His models were the funeral marches of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 "Eroica" and Wagner's Götterdämmerung. The work in sonata form is introduced by the violins and violas, with a main theme developing "like the approach of a distant cortege".[2] He sent the work to the publisher Breitkopf.[2]

Reading the proofs, Sibelius was not satisfied, especially with the instrumentation. He revised the piece, completing the work in March 1910. Sibelius first performed it on 8 October 1910, played by the Musikforeningen, in concerts in Kristiania, now Oslo, Norway.[1]

In Memoriam was played at the funeral of Sibelius in 1957.[1]

Literature
  • Tomi Mäkelä: "Jean Sibelius und seine Zeit" (German), Laaber-Verlag, Regensburg 2013

References
  1. "Other orchestral works / In Memoriam". Jean Sibelius. Finnish Club of Helsinki. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  2. Barnett, Rob (2003). Jean Sibelius (1865–1957). musicweb-international.com. pp. 201–203. ISBN 0300111592. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
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