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Lemminkäinen Suite
Cycle oftone poems byJean Sibelius
The composer (c. 1895)
Native name	Lemminkäis-sarja
Opus	22
Based on	Kalevala (No. 1: Runo XXIX; No. 2: Runo XIV; No. 3: Runo XV, No. 4: Runo XXX)
Composed	1893 (1893)–1895,rev. 1897 (all), 1900 (Nos. 2, 4), 1939 (Nos. 1, 3)
Publisher	Wasenius [fi] (1901,Nos. 2, 4)[1] Breitkopf & Härtel (1954,Nos. 1, 3)[2]
Duration	50 mins.[3]
Movements	4
Premiere
Date	13 April 1896 (1896-04-13)[4]
Location	Helsinki,Grand Duchy of Finland
Conductor	Jean Sibelius
Performers	Helsinki Philharmonic Society

TheLemminkäinen Suite, or more correctlyFour Legends from the Kalevala, Op. 22, is a sequence of fourtone poems for orchestra completed in 1896 by the Finnish composerJean Sibelius. The work was conceived asVeneen luominen (The Building of the Boat), an opera with a mythological setting, before taking its form as a suite. There is a narrative thread: the exploits are followed of the heroic characterLemminkäinen from theKalevala, which is a collection of folkloric, mythic,epic poetry. The second tone poem,The Swan of Tuonela, is popular as a standalone orchestral work.

The piece was originally conceived as a mythological opera before Sibelius abandoned the idea and made it a piece consisting of four distinct movements.^[5] The first two though were withdrawn by the composer soon after its premiere and were neither performed, nor added to the published score of the suite until 1935. Sibelius changed the order of the movements when he made his final revisions in 1939, placingThe Swan of Tuonela second, andLemminkäinen in Tuonela third.^[6][7]

Sibelius revised the score in 1897 and 1939.

• Lemminkäinen and the Maidens of the Island is based onCanto 29 ("Conquests"^[8]) of the Kalevala, where Lemminkäinen travels to an island and seduces many of the women there, before fleeing the rage of the men on the island. The movement is also known asLemminkäinen and the Maidens of Saari, Saari being the Finnish word for island.
• The Swan of Tuonela is the most popular of the four tone poems and often is featured alone from the suite in orchestral programs. It has a prominentcor anglais solo. The music paints a gossamer, transcendental image of a mystical swan swimming around Tuonela, the island of the dead. Lemminkäinen has been tasked with killing the sacred swan, but on the way he is shot with apoisoned arrow, and dies himself.
• Lemminkäinen in Tuonela is based onCanto 14 ("Elk, horse, swan"^[9]) and15 ("Resurrection"^[10]). Lemminkäinen is inTuonela, the land of the dead, to shoot the Swan of Tuonela to be able to claim the daughter ofLouhi, mistress of thePohjola or Northland, in marriage. However, the blind man of the Northland kills Lemminkäinen, whose body is then tossed in the river and dismembered. Lemminkäinen's mother learns of his death, travels to Tuonela, recovers his body parts, reassembles him and restores him to life.
• Lemminkäinen's Return: The storyline in the score roughly parallels the end ofCanto 30 ("Pakkanen"^[11]), where after his adventures in battle, Lemminkäinen journeys home.

The suite is scored for twoflutes (both doublingpiccolo), twooboes (one doublingcor anglais), twoclarinets in B♭ (one doubling onbass clarinet), twobassoons, fourhorns (in E and F), threetrumpets (in E and F), threetrombones,tuba,timpani,triangle,bass drum,cymbals,tambourine,harp, andstrings.

The original versions ofLemminkäinen and the Maidens of the Island andLemminkäinen's Return have been recorded byOsmo Vänskä and theLahti Symphony Orchestra (BIS CD-1015). Other recordings of the full published suite are by theHelsinki Philharmonic Orchestra underLeif Segerstam, the Helsinki Radio Symphony Orchestra underOkko Kamu, theGothenburg Symphony Orchestra underNeeme Järvi, ThePhiladelphia Orchestra underEugene Ormandy, theLos Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra underEsa-Pekka Salonen, theLondon Symphony Orchestra underSir Colin Davis, and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra under Petri Sakari.

• Dahlström, Fabian[in Swedish] (2003).Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke [Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works] (in German). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel.ISBN 3-7651-0333-0.
• Grimley, Daniel M. (2011).Jean Sibelius and His World. Princeton University Press.ISBN 978-1-4008-4020-5.
• Vernon, David (2024).Sun Forest Lake: The Symphonies & Tone Poems of Jean Sibelius. Edinburgh: Candle Row Press.ISBN 978-1739659943.

• Lemminkäinen Suite (Lemminkäis-sarjaan), Op. 22: Scores at theInternational Music Score Library Project

• Suites by Jean Sibelius
• Tone poems by Jean Sibelius
• Music based on the Kalevala

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