Marjatta (in English: The Virgin Mary)[2] was a projected three-
movementoratorio for soloists,
choir, and
orchestra that occupied the Finnish composer
Jean Sibelius from 27 June to late-October 1905,[1] at which point he abandoned the project. The
libretto, a collaboration with the Finnish author
Jalmari Finne [
fi], freely adapted the story of
Kiesus'smiraculous birth to
Marjatta from
Runo L of the Kalevala, Finland's
national epic. Although Sibelius initially worked on the oratorio with alacrity, he soon soured on the project, perhaps finding Finne's text an unwelcome constraint on his "
absolute music". Sibelius never again attempted an oratorio, making it one of the few major genres of classical music in which he did not produce a viable work.
As with other aborted projects—for example, the
Wagnerian operaThe Building of the Boat (Veneen luominen, 1893–1894) and the
orchestral songThe Raven (Der Rabe, 1910)[a]—Sibelius did not discard, but rather repurposed, the fruits of his labor. In this case, he incorporated material from Marjatta into several subsequent compositions, most conclusively: the
Third Symphony (Op. 52, 1907); a never-realized Kalevala-themed
tone poem on the subject of
Luonnotar,[b] which in 1906 evolved into Pohjola's Daughter (Op. 49); and the second movement of Scènes historiques II (Op. 66, 1912).
The Birth of Christ (Kristuksen syntymä), 64 lines
Burial (Hautaus), 116 lines
Resurrection (Ylösnouseminen), 85 lines
Sibelius began working on the Marjattaoratorio in 1905, but soon abandoned his plans the same year, likely due to a waning enthusiasm for
Finne'slibretto (based on the
Kalevala's biblically inspired
Runo L). ; the second movement (Love Song) of 1912's Scènes historiques II (Op. 66); and, possibly, 1905's Not with Lamentation (Ej med klagan, JS 69), for mixed choir a cappella; 1909's In memoriam (Op. 59); and 1922's Andante festivo (JS 34a).[3]
Notes, references, and sources
Notes
^The Finnish
musicologistFabian Dahlström [
fi] does not, in his authoritative supplementary
JS numbering system, provide The Building of the Boat, Marjatta, and The Raven with catalogue designations. This is in contrast to Sibelius's most notorious abandoned project, the
Eighth Symphony (mid 1920s–
c. late 1930s–1945), which Dahlström labels JS 190. Dahlström finalized his list in 2003 with the publication of Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works. It runs from JS 1 to 225 and includes not only compositions Sibelius demoted from his opus list but also those that never held an opus number at any point during his career.
^The abandoned 'Luonnotar' tone poem from 1906 is not to be confused with the thematically-distinct Luonnotar (Op. 70), for soprano and orchestra, which arrived in 1913.
Barnett, Andrew (2007). Sibelius. New Haven: Yale University Press.
ISBN978-0-300-11159-0.
Dahlström, Fabian[in Swedish] (2003). Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke [Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works] (in German). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel.
ISBN3-7651-0333-0.
Virtanen, Timo (2010). "Sibelius's "Resurrection Symphony"?: The Third Symphony and the "Marjatta" Oratorio". In
Jackson, Timothy;
Murtomäki, Veijo[in Finnish];
Davis, Colin; Virtanen, Timo (eds.). In Sibelius in the Old and New World: Aspects of His Music, Its Interpretation, and Reception. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. pp. 319–331.
ISBN978-3-631-56025-9.