Two Serenades

The Two Serenades, Op. 69, are concertante compositions for violin and orchestra, written from 1912 to 1913 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. They are the:

• Serenade No. 1 in D major, Op. 69a. Andante assai
• Serenade No. 2 in G minor, Op. 69b. Lento assai

The Two Serenades premiered on 8 December 1915 during the composer's semicentennial celebration. Sibelius conducted the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra; the soloist was Polish-American violinist Richard Burgin. Also on the program was the initial version of the Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major (Op. 82), as well as the tone poem The Oceanides (Op. 78).

Instrumentation

The Serenade No. 1 is scored for the following instruments:

• Soloist: violin
• Woodwinds: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in A), and 2 bassoons
• Brass: 4 horns (in F)
• Percussion: timpani
• Strings: violins, violas, cellos, and double basses

The Serenade No. 2 has identical scoring, except for the addition of triangle to the percussion section; it also has the clarinetists switch to B clarinet.

Recordings

The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of the Two Serenades:

Notes, references, and sources