Six Humoresques Explained

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 (due to publishing technicalities), 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 (Op. 82), as well as Song of the Earth (Op. 93), a cantata for mixed choir.

In the autumn of 1940, Sibelius revised No. 1's instrumentation (most notably, he eliminated the harp part); 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:

• Soloist: violin
• Woodwinds: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B), and 2 bassoons
• Brass

2 horns (in F)

• Percussion

timpani

• Strings: violins, violas, cellos, and double basses

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 (in B), 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:

	Conductor	Orchestra	Soloist		Time	Recording venue	Label
1		Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra			17:10	[{{em|Unknown}}]	Vox
2		Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (1)		1964	20:47	YLE	Finlandia Classics
3		London Symphony Orchestra		1979	20:27	All Saints' Church, Tooting	Decca
4		Philharmonia Orchestra		1979	20:43	EMI Recording Studios	Erato
5		Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin		1980	20:18		Schwann, Koch
6		Tapiola Sinfonietta (1)		1989	21:53	Tapiola Hall, Espoo Cultural Centre	Finlandia
7		Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra		1989	20:17		BIS
8		Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (2)		1990	20:53	Kulttuuritalo	RCA Red Seal
9		Danish National Symphony Orchestra		2002	18:41	Danish Radio Concert Hall (old)	Virgin Classics
10		Tapiola Sinfonietta (2)		2006	20:50	Tapiola Hall, Espoo Cultural Centre	Ondine
11				2011	19:54	Kristinehallen, Falun	Naxos
12		Orquestra Vigo 430		2014	22:43	Martín Códax Auditorium, Vigo Conservatory of Music
13		Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra		2014	20:37	Lighthouse, Poole	Somm
14		BBC National Orchestra of Wales		2020	20:48	BBC Hoddinott Hall	Resonus Classics
15		Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra		2023		Grieg Hall	Chandos

Notes, references, and sources

• Book: Barnett. Andrew. 2007. Sibelius. New Haven. Yale University Press. 978-0-300-11159-0.
• Book: Dahlström, Fabian.

  sv:Fabian Dahlström

  . Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke. Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works. 2003. Breitkopf & Härtel. Wiesbaden. de. 3-7651-0333-0.
• Book: Eskola. Jari. 2016. Jean Sibelius: Six Humoresques for Violin and Orchestra, . Urtext. Painojussit, Kerava. Fennica Gehrman. Jaako. Mäntyjärvi. 979-0-55011-261-2.
• Book: Tawaststjerna, Erik. Erik W. Tawaststjerna. Sibelius: Volume III, 1914–1957. 2008. 1978/1988;  1997. Robert. Layton. London. Faber and Faber. 978-0-571-24774-5.