Six Humoresques


The Six Humoresques, Opp. 87 and 89, are concertante compositions for violin and orchestra written from 1917 to 1918 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. Despite spanning two opus numbers, the composer—who originally considered calling the humoresques impromptus or lyrical dances—intended them as a suite. They are the:
  • Humoresque No. 1 in D minor, Op. 87/1. Commodo
  • Humoresque No. 2 in D major, Op. 87/2. Allegro assai
  • Humoresque No. 3 in G minor, Op. 89/1. Alla gavotta
  • Humoresque No. 4 in G minor, Op. 89/2. Andantino
  • Humoresque No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 89/3. Commodo
  • Humoresque No. 6 in G minor, Op. 89/4. Allegro
The Six Humoresques premiered on 24 November 1919 in Helsinki, with Sibelius conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra; the soloist was the Russian-Finnish-American violinist Paul Cherkassky. Also on the program was the definitive version of the Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, as well as Song of the Earth, a cantata for mixed choir.
In the autumn of 1940, Sibelius revised No. 1's instrumentation ; the original, while promised to Wilhelm Hansen in February 1917, was never published. The violinist premiered the revised No. 1 on 15 December 1940, with Toivo Haapanen conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Hansen, who had published the other five humoresques in 1923, completed the set in 1942. The 1917 version is extant.

Instrumentation

The Humoresque No. 1 is scored for the following instruments:
The Humoresque No. 2 has identical scoring, except for the omission of the entire woodwind section. The Op. 89 pieces are even more delicately scored. In addition to the soloist, Humoresques Nos. 3 and 4 utilize strings only. No. 5 adds to this scoring three woodwinds: 2 flutes, 2 clarinets, and 2 bassoons, while No. 6 omits the clarinets but retains the flutes and bassoons.

Recordings

The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of the Six Humoresques:
ConductorOrchestraSoloistTimeRecording venueLabel
1Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra17:10Vox
2Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra 196420:47YLE
3London Symphony Orchestra197920:27All Saints' Church, TootingDecca
4Philharmonia Orchestra197920:43EMI Recording StudiosErato
5Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin198020:18Jesus-Christus-Kirche, BerlinSchwann, Koch
6Tapiola Sinfonietta 198921:53Tapiola Hall, Espoo Cultural CentreFinlandia
7Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra198920:17Gothenburg Concert HallBIS
8Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra 199020:53KulttuuritaloRCA Red Seal
9Danish National Symphony Orchestra200218:41Danish Radio Concert Hall Virgin Classics
10Västerås Sinfonietta200422:06
11Tapiola Sinfonietta 200620:50Tapiola Hall, Espoo Cultural CentreOndine
12201119:54Kristinehallen, FalunNaxos
13Orquestra Vigo 430201422:43Martín Códax Auditorium, Vigo Conservatory of Music
14Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra201420:37Lighthouse, PooleSomm
15BBC National Orchestra of Wales202020:48BBC Hoddinott HallResonus Classics
16Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra202320:21Grieg HallChandos