Karelia Suite, Op. 11 is a subset of pieces from the longer Karelia Music (named after the region of Karelia) written by Jean Sibelius in 1893 for the Viipuri Students' Association and premiered, with Sibelius conducting, at the Imperial Alexander University in Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland, on 23 November of that year. Sibelius first conducted the shorter Suite ten days later; it remains one of his most popular works.[1]
Karelia Music was written in the beginning of Sibelius's compositional career, and the complete Music consists of an Overture, 8 Tableaux, and 2 Intermezzi; it runs for about 44 minutes, whereas the Suite lasts about 12 minutes.
The rough-hewn character of the Music was deliberate – the aesthetic intention was not to dazzle with technique but to capture the quality of naive, folk-based authenticity. Historical comments have noted the nationalistic character of the music.[2]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
sibelius.fiwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Lyle, Watson (1927). "The "Nationalism" of Sibelius". The Musical Quarterly. 13 (4): 617–629. doi:10.1093/mq/xiii.4.617.