The Breaking of the Ice on the Oulu River

{{stack|File:JSibelius IslossningeniUleåälv 21Oct1899 Hufvudstadsbladet.png for the premiere of The Breaking of the Ice on the Oulu River]]}}

The Breaking of the Ice on the Oulu River is scored for the following instruments and voices,{{sfn|Dahlström|2003|p=134}} organized by family (vocalists, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):

• Narrator and male choir ({{abbr|TTBB|four-part male choir}})
• 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, and 2 bassoons
• 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, and tuba
• Timpani, bass drum, and cymbals
• Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, and double basses

Sibelius composed {{lang|sv|Islossningen i Uleå älv}}{{efn|The composition is called Islossningen i Uleå älv in the original sheet music, it is later referred to as Islossningen i Ule älv.}} in a political context. Most of what is now Finland had been part of Sweden until Russia won the territory in the Finnish War and ruled it as a Grand Duchy. It was first autonomous in terms of a parliament, money, and schools in Swedish and Finnish, but Nikolay Bobrikov, the Russian Governor-General, tried to limit these liberties and even proposed schooling only in Russian.

Sibelius composed music as patriotic statements against the restricting censorship, in {{lang|sv|Islossningen i Uleå älv}}, first performed on 21{{nbsp}}October at a lottery of the Savo-Karelian Students' Association in Helsinki, and in Finlandia, first performed as part of the Press Celebration Music two weeks later.

Sibelius conducted the first performance, the premiere. He used the choral theme again for children's choir a cappella, The Landscape Breathes (Nejden andas). After the first performance, Sibelius made a note about the composition, "should be revised", which he later did.

The breaking of the ice is an annual event in some northern countries, releasing winter and ending immobility. The text for {{lang|sv|Islossningen i Uleå älv}} is a poem by Zachris Topelius, a Swedish-language Finnish poet. The poem lists many rivers besides the one in the title, summarizing Finland. He dedicated it to Tsar Alexander II, thus protecting it from censorship. Sibelius, like the poet, interpreted the frozen river as a symbol of the Russian oppression, and the breaking of the ice as an image of freedom. Sibelius confirmed the underlying meaning of the music when he programmed its premiere to be followed by Song of the Athenians, a song for freedom first performed half a year earlier and held high by Finnish nationalists.

The composition is subtitled "improvisation for narrator, men's chorus and orchestra". The subtitle is Sibelius' own description of the work, it has otherwise been described as a melodrama, cantata and choir suite. It begins and ends with recitation for the narrator, accented by brass chords. The center of the work is a dramatic chorus, often in unison and accompanied by a symphony orchestra. It has been considered as a test piece for Finlandia in terms of accessibility and some effects of orchestration.

The Finnish conductor Rauno Rännäli and the {{ill|Oulu Conservatory|lt=Oulu Conservatory Orchestra|fi|Oulun konservatorio}} made the world premiere studio recording of The Breaking of the Ice on the Oulu River—albeit of a Finnish-language translation—in 1990; the male choir was Pohjan Laulu, while the narrator was the Finnish baritone Hannu Heikkilä.{{sfn|Dahlström|2003|p=134}} The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings::

In addition, the Finnish choral director Hannu Norjanen and the {{ill|Tapiola Chamber Choir|fi|Tapiolan Kamarikuoro}} made the world premiere studio recording of The Landscape Breathes for female choir {{em|a cappella}} {{c.|1997}} for Finlandia.{{sfn|Dahlström|2003|p=134}} The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

{{noteslist}}

{{reflist |30em|

| refs =

{{cite web

| last = Stevenson

| first = Joseph

| url = http://www.allmusic.com/composition/the-breaking-of-the-ice-on-the-river-oulu-improvisation-for-reciter-male-chorus-orchestra-op-30-mc0002451272

| title = Jean Sibelius / The Breaking of the Ice on the River Oulu, improvisation for reciter, male chorus & orchestra, Op. 30

| publisher = AllMusic

| access-date = 5 December 2015

}}

{{cite web

| url = http://www.sibelius.fi/english/musiikki/ork_kuoro_orkesteri.htm

| title = Works for choir and orchestra / The Breaking of the Ice on Oulu River

| work = Jean Sibelius

| publisher = Finnish Club of Helsinki

| access-date = 5 December 2015

}}

{{cite web

| last = Blom

| first = Bertil

| url = http://svenska.yle.fi/artikel/2015/03/18/veckans-sibbe-islossningen-i-ule-alv-var-politisk-1899

| title = Veckans Sibbe: Islossningen i Ule älv var politisk 1899

|trans-title=This week's Sibbe: The Breaking of the Ice on the River Oulu was political in 1899

| publisher = Yle

| date = 18 March 2015

| language = sv

| access-date = 5 January 2016

}}

}}

• {{cite book|last=Mäkelä|first=Tomi|author-link=Tomi Mäkelä|title=Jean Sibelius und seine Zeit|trans-title=Jean Sibelius and his time|language=de|publisher=Laaber-Verlag|location=Regensburg|date=2013|series=Große Komponisten und ihre Zeit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUxrmwEACAAJ&dq=Jean+Sibelius+und+seine+Zeit&hl}}
• {{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}}

{{Jean Sibelius|state=collapsed}}

{{Portalbar|Classical Music}}

{{italic title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Islossningen i Ulea alv}}

Category:Melodramas by Jean Sibelius

Category:1899 compositions

Category:Compositions with a narrator

Category:Choral compositions by Jean Sibelius

Category:Musical settings of poems by Zacharias Topelius