The Swan of Tuonela (in Finnish: ), Op. 22/2 (originally Op. 22/3), is a single-movement tone poem for cor anglais solo and orchestra written from 1893 to 1895 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It is part of the Lemminkäinen Suite, a collection of four tone poems based on legends from the Kalevala, Finland's national epic.
The Swan of Tuonela was originally composed in 1893 as the prelude to a projected opera called The Building of the Boat. Sibelius revised it two years later, making it the second section of his ' of four tone poems, which was premiered in 1896. He twice further revised the piece, in 1897 and 1900. Sibelius left posterity no personal account of his writing of the tone poem, and its original manuscript no longer exists (the date of its disappearance is unknown). The work was first published by K. F. Wasenius in Helsingfors (Helsinki), Finland, in April 1901. The German firm Breitkopf & Härtel also published it in Leipzig, also in 1901. The work was recorded for the first time by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra in May 1929.
The British premiere of the piece was on 31 August 1905 at the Promenade Concerts at Queen's Hall, conducted by Henry Wood.
The Swan of Tuonela is scored for the following instruments, organized by family (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):
The cor anglais is the voice of the swan, and its solo is one of the best known solos in the orchestral literature for that instrument. The string section is divided.
The music paints a gossamer, transcendental image of a mystical swan floating through Tuonela, the realm of the dead. , the hero of the epic, has been tasked with killing the sacred swan, but on the way he is shot with a poisoned arrow and dies. In the next part of the story he is restored to life.
The piece has the tempo marking of Andante molto sostenuto and is in time. It is in the key of A minor.
The British conductor Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra made the world premiere studio recording of The Swan of Tuonela in 1929 for His Master's Voice.
â = Part of a recording of the entire Lemminkäinen Suite