The Bells of Kallio Church

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|image1=Heikki Klemetti 1910s.jpg

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|caption1={{ill|Heikki Klemetti|fi}} arranged the chorale without permission.

|image2=Kallio Church Helsinki 1912.jpg

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|caption2=Helsinki's Kallio Church in the year of its inauguration (1912)

|image3=Kallion kirkon neljä ylintä kirkonkelloa 2011-10-01.jpg

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|caption3=The church contains seven bronze church bells in its steeple, four of which are utilized in Sibelius's piece.

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On 13 July 1908, construction began on a new Lutheran church in the Kallio subdistrict of Helsinki; the Finnish architect Lars Sonck designed the building, which stylistically incorporates both national romantic and Art Nouveau influences. The steeple of Kallio Church contains a carillon of seven bronze church bells (pitched D{{music|#}}¹ to C{{music|#}}² and weighing a total of 4,800 kilograms), which were commissioned from the celebrated Apolda-based, German clockmaker {{ill|Franz Schilling & Söhne|de|Schilling (Glockengießerfamilie)}}; the clock and playing drum mechanism, in turn, was built by {{ill|Friedrich Bokelmann|lt=Bokelmann & Kuhlo|de|Friedrich Bokelmann}}.{{sfn|Valsta|2015}}

In 1910, Sibelius broke off work on the Fourth Symphony (1911) to hold discussions with the church's building committee, which hoped the composer would provide a melody for the mechanized carillon.{{sfn|Barnett|2007|p=207}} Sibelius accepted the offer, and even consulted—along with the Finnish composers Oskar Merikanto and {{ill|Ilmari Krohn|fi}}—on the make and pitching of the bells.{{sfn|Valsta|2015}} By January 1911, however, Sibelius had still not settled on a melody, although he toyed with the idea of using the last few measures from his Second Symphony (1902).{{sfn|Barnett|2007|p=209}}

The Bells of Kallio Church premiered on Sunday, 1 September 1912.{{sfn|Ylivuori|2021|p=2}} For this occasion, the Finnish choral master {{ill|Heikki Klemetti|fi}} arranged the chorale (without Sibelius's blessing and, thus, to his annoyance) to a poem by {{ill|Julius Engström|fi}}, the priest of the new church.{{sfn|Ylivuori|2021|p=2}} Klemetti's intrusion confused the Finnish press: some newspapers credited both men for the tune, while a few others—such as Helsingin Sanomat and Hufvudstadsbladet—omitted Sibelius's name entirely.{{sfn|Ylivuori|2021|p=2}}

"Klemetti's attempt at the bell tune for the inauguration annoyed me", Sibelius confided in his diary. "I was furious but, after a couple of hours, became wholly indifferent to his impudence".{{sfn|Barnett|2007|p=224}}

Sibelius, in a move intended to reclaim sole artistic ownership of The Bells of Kallio Church, arranged the piece for solo piano a few days after the consecration; on 13 September, he supplanted Klemetti's arrangement with his own for mixed choir {{em|a cappella}}.{{sfn|Ylivuori|2021|p=2}} Sibelius sold both arrangements in October to the Leipzig-based music publisher Breitkopf & Härtel. According to the musicologist Sakari Ylivuori, an authority on Sibelius's choral music, the autograph manuscript of the arrangement for mixed choir contains no text underlaid, apparently because Sibelius had disliked Engström's "mediocre" poem and had hoped that the Finnish poet Otto Manninen would contribute a new text. In the end, Sibelius settled—ironically—for a new lyrics penned by Klemetti, which Breitkopf received on 17 December.{{sfn|Ylivuori|2021|p=2}}

{{Image frame|align=center|width=800|caption=The original for carillon, corresponding to measures 1–8 in the piano arrangement{{sfn|Dahlström|2003|p=294}} (with tubular bells as the midi-instrument)

|content={{vpad|1em}}

{\new Staff {<<\new Voice = "first" \relative c'{ \voiceOne \set Staff.midiInstrument=#"tubular bells" \time 4/4 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo "[No tempo marking]" 4=60 \clef bass \key ges \major ^"Carillon" |bes4 aes4 << { \voiceOne bes2} \new Voice { \voiceTwo f2} >>| \oneVoice aes4 ges4 << { \voiceOne aes2} \new Voice { \voiceTwo ees2} >>| \oneVoice bes'4 ces4 des4 bes4| \time 2/4 << { \voiceOne aes2} \new Voice { \voiceTwo r8 ees4.} >>| \oneVoice \time 4/4 des'4 bes4 << { \voiceOne aes2} \new Voice { \voiceTwo ees2} >>| \oneVoice bes'4 ges4 << { \voiceOne f2} \new Voice { \voiceTwo r8 bes4.} >>| \oneVoice ges4 aes4 bes4 ges4| << { \voiceOne f4 ees2.} \new Voice { \voiceTwo r8 bes'2..} >>|} >>}}\layout {ragged-right = ##t \context {\Staff \omit TimeSignature \omit BarLine}}}}

{{vpad|1em}}

{{Image frame|align=center|width=800|caption=Measures 1–8 from the piano arrangement{{sfn|Dahlström|2003|p=296}}

|content={{vpad|1em}}

{\new Staff {<<\new Voice = "first" \relative c'{ \voiceOne \set Staff.midiInstrument=#"piano" \time 4/4 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo "Andante assai" 4=60 \clef bass \key g \major ^"Piano" |_\markup {\italic "poco marcato"} b4-> a4-> << { \voiceOne b2->} \new Voice { \voiceTwo fis2} >>| \oneVoice a4-> g4-> << { \voiceOne a2->} \new Voice { \voiceTwo e2} >>| \oneVoice b'4-> c4-> d4-> b4->| \time 2/4 << { \voiceOne a2->} \new Voice { \voiceTwo r8 e4.->} >>| \oneVoice \time 4/4 d'4-> b4-> << { \voiceOne a2->} \new Voice { \voiceTwo e2} >>| \oneVoice b'4-> g4-> << { \voiceOne fis2} \new Voice { \voiceTwo r8 b4.->} >>| \oneVoice g4-> a4-> b4-> g4->| << { \voiceOne fis4-> e2.->} \new Voice { \voiceTwo r8 b'2..->} >>|} >>}}}}

{{vpad|1em}}

{{Image frame|align=center|width=800|caption=Measures 1–8 from the choral arrangement{{sfn|Dahlström|2003|p=295}}{{sfn|Ylivuori|2021|p=10}} (with harp as the midi-instrument)

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{

\new ChoirStaff <<

\new Staff {

\new Voice = "tenors" {

\relative {\set Staff.midiInstrument=#"orchestral harp" \time 4/4 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo "Andante assai" 4=60 \clef treble \key g \major ^"Tenors" |b'4 a4 b2|a4 g4 a2|b4 c4 d4 b4| \time 2/4 a2| \break \time 4/4 d4 b4 a2|b4 g4 fis2|g4 a4 b4 g4|fis4 e2 r4|}

}

}

\new Lyrics = "tenors"

\new Staff {

\new Voice = "baritones" {

\relative {\set Staff.midiInstrument=#"orchestral harp" \set breathMarkType = #'outsidecomma \time 4/4 \clef bass \key g \major ^"Baritones" |b4 a4 b2|a4 g4 a2|b4 c4 d4 b4| \time 2/4 a2| \time 4/4 d4 b4 a2|b4 g4 fis2|g4 a4 b4 g4|fis4 e2 r4|}

}

}

\context Lyrics = "tenors" {

\lyricsto "tenors" {

Päät -- tyy työ,

jou -- tuu yö,

het -- ki le -- von

lyö;

ku -- kin saa

kii -- ruh -- taa

u -- nen tai -- ka --

ma -- jaan.

}

}

>>}}}

{{vpad|1em}}

The table below lists commercially available recordings of the piano arrangement of The Bells of Kallio Church:

The table below lists commercially available recordings of the choral arrangement of The Bells of Kallio Church:

In addition, Volume 15 of BIS Record's Sibelius Edition (CD–1936/38) includes the released—originally recorded by Finlandia Records (0630–19054–2) in the spring of 1996—of JS 102, played on the carillon of Kallio Church.{{sfn|Barnett|2011|pp=10, 139}}{{efn|Volume 15 of BIS Record's Sibelius Edition also includes the world premiere recording (two versions, respectively in D-flat major and G-flat major) of the Second Symphony's concluding bars, which Sibelius had proposed to the church commission on 18 January 1911.{{sfn|Barnett|2011|p=29}} The Sibelius biographer and project advisor Andrew Barnett plays the two drafts on the glockenspiel (manuscript HUL 1209 at the Library of the University of Helsinki.{{sfn|Barnett|2011|p=10}})}}

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{{Reflist|colwidth=20em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book|last=Barnett|first=Andrew|title=Sibelius|date=2007|location=New Haven, Connecticut|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-16397-1}}
• {{Cite AV media notes|first=Andrew|last=Barnett|title=The Sibelius Edition, Vol. XIII: Miscellaneous Works|year=2011|type=CD booklet|publisher=BIS|id=CD–1936/38|url=https://www.eclassical.com/labels/bis/the-sibelius-edition-vol13-miscellaneous-works.html}} {{oclc|}}
• {{cite book|last=Dahlström|first=Fabian|author-link=:sv:Fabian Dahlström|title=Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke|trans-title=Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works|date=2003|publisher=Breitkopf & Härtel|location=Wiesbaden|language=de|isbn=3-7651-0333-0}}
• {{cite web|first=Heikki|last=Valsta|url=https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2014/12/18/sibelius-soi-kirkonkelloissa|title=Sibelius soi kirkonkelloissa|trans-title=Sibelius rings the church bells|date=2 February 2015|website=yle.fi|publisher=Finnish Broadcasting Company|access-date=17 August 2023}}
• {{cite book|editor-first=Sakari|editor-last=Ylivuori|chapter=Vorwort/ Preface|language=de, en|chapter-url=https://issuu.com/breitkopf/docs/chb_5373-02_issuu?fr=sN2I1YjM2NzU3NDY|title=Sibelius: Two Part-Songs for Mixed Choir a cappella, Op. 65|id=ChB 5373|year=2021|publisher=Breitkopf & Härtel|type=Urtext|ismn=979-0-004-41303-6|url=https://www.breitkopf.com/work/20374/2-part-songs-op-65}}

{{refend}}

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Category:Piano music by Jean Sibelius

Category:1912 compositions