Scènes historiques I and II

Op. 25 Scènes historiques I, suite: 1. All'overtura, 2. Scèna, 3. Festivo. Revised versions of the music for the Days of the Press (movements All’overtura, Scèna and Quasi bolero, 1899); first performance in Helsinki, 11th October 1911 (Orchestra of Helsinki Philharmonic Society under Jean Sibelius).

Op. 66 Scènes historiques II, suite for orchestra: 1. Metsästys (The Chase), 2. Minnelaulu (The Minnesong), 3. Nostosillalla (On the Drawbridge). Completed 1912; first performance in Helsinki, 29th March 1912 (Orchestra of Helsinki Philharmonic Society under Jean Sibelius).

In 1899 Jean Sibelius wrote a number of pieces for the Days of the Press. As early as 14th December 1899 he used the best pieces in an orchestral suite, which included the overture, Scena, Quasi Bolero and Finale. It was this Finale (referred to around this time also as "Finland Awakes") that became Finlandia when an arrangement of it for piano appeared in 1900. The Finlandia music was the first of the pieces to be printed, and it quickly became popular all over the world.

It was not until 1911 that the composer decided to look again at the Days of the Press music and rework the suite of December 1899. Thus, the Song of Väinämöinen ultimately became All' overtura, the fourth tableau, Finns in the Thirty Years' War, became Scena, and the third tableau, i.e. Bolero, which depicted the court of Duke John, became Festivo. Accordingly, the only pieces that eventually remained unpublished were the short Preludio, the second tableau, The Baptism of the Finns, and the fifth tableau, the powerful but short piece called The Great Hate.

In his diary Sibelius initially called the work Suite caractéristique and in September 1911 he wrote in his diary that the style of the overture was old-fashioned. A little later he invented the name Scènes historiques. The movements All' overtura, Scena and Festivo took their final shape on 24th September 1911.

Soon audiences could enjoy the fresh melodic inventiveness of the young Sibelius, together with the subtle improvements made to the pieces by the experienced orchestral composer. For example, he emphasised even further the strongly dramatic atmosphere of the Scena and its fascinating tone colours. Sibelius gave the suite a relatively early opus number (opus 25).

In the spring of 1912 Sibelius was working on three of his more recent orchestral compositions. He decided to combine them to create a suite which he called Scènes historiques II. The compositions were completed at the very last moment before the first public performance on 29th March 1912.

The first movement, The Chase, is reminiscent of Sibelius's plan for the composition dating from 1909. The French horn parts that he wrote for this piece were extremely demanding. According to Robert Layton the movement shows craftsmanship of the highest order. The second movement, The Minnesong, includes a beautiful theme which Sibelius had taken out of Pohjola's Daughter when he was finishing the work. In his sketchbook he had written the word "Aino" above the theme. The third movement, On the Drawbridge, concludes the work in a lighter vein, with the violins being used to provide guitar-like effects.

The first public performance was a complete success. Scènes historiques II delighted Otto Kotilainen, the music critic of Helsingin Sanomat. He saw the work as related to the fourth symphony and he praised "the wonderful richness of colour and the ingenuity of the thematic treatment".

After the concert Sibelius prepared Scènes historiques II for publication. It received the opus number 66. In this way he emphasised the fact that the work had nothing in common with the Scènes historiques I of opus 25 except that historical subject matter had inspired both works. One could probably also argue that the first suite depicts events in Finnish history while the second suite is more generally European in its connotations.

Erik Tawaststjerna thought that the new suite was a "romantic excursion" which helped Sibelius to relax after the fourth symphony. Erkki Salmenhaara, who tended to take a more critical attitude towards Sibelius's minor orchestral works than Tawaststjerna, considered the suite to be disjointed, and unexceptional in quality.