The Origin of Fire (in Finnish: ), Op. 32, is a single-movement, patriotic cantata for baritone, male choir, and orchestra written in 1902 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece, which is a setting of Runo XLVII (lines 41–110) of the Kalevala, Finland's national epic, is chronologically the fourth of Sibelius's nine orchestral cantatas.
It premiered on 9 April 1902 at the opening of the Finnish National Theatre, conducted by the composer. It was later revised in 1910. Some of the sketches for the piece can be related back to 1893 to 1894.
Instrumentation The revised version of The Origin of Fire is scored for the following instruments and voices, organized by family (vocalists, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):
Baritone and male choir () 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, and 2 bassoons 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, and tuba Timpani, glockenspiel, bass drum, cymbals, and triangle Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, and double basses
The original version of the piece is scored identically, with the exception that triangle is omitted.
Discography The American conductor Thor Johnson and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra made the world premiere studio recording of The Origin of Fire in 1953 for Remington Records (later reissued by Varèse Sarabande); they were joined by the Finnish baritone and the YL Male Voice Choir (then the Helsinki University Chorus). The sortable table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:
Conductor Orchestra Baritone Chorus Time Venue Label 1 Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra YL Male Voice Choir (1) 1953 8:47 ? Varèse Sarabande 2 Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra YL Male Voice Choir (2)Estonian National Male Choir 1985 8:34 Kulttuuritalo EMI 3 Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra 1985 9:54 Gothenburg Concert Hall BIS 4 (1) Lahti Symphony Orchestra (1) (1) YL Male Voice Choir (3) 2005 9:03 Sibelius Hall BIS † (2) Lahti Symphony Orchestra (2) (2) YL Male Voice Choir (4) 2005 11:20 Sibelius Hall BIS † = original version (1902)
Notes, references, and sources
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