Valse Triste, Op. 44
Sibelius’ shorter works have had an even rougher critical ride than Grieg’s. Although he was a master of the miniature, Sibelius, unlike Grieg, was also a master of the Symphony, arguably this century’s greatest. It ill befitted the lofty northern genius to turn out musical morsels so tuneful and well-crafted that they were immediately taken up by café orchestras and salon musicians across Europe - or so critical orthodoxy once had it. For this was what happened to Valse Triste. Written in 1903 to accompany the play "Kuolema" ("Death") by Sibelius’ relative-by-marriage Arvid Järnefelt, it portrays a dance of death between a dying woman and the grim reaper. But so memorable is its central waltz-melody, so haunting the poignant opening and closing passages for muted strings, and so evocatively does it use its small orchestra, that it immediately became a favourite orchestral "lollipop" - so overplayed in the middle years of the century that it has now all but vanished from the concert halls. This is unfair - it retains every one of the qualities which made it a "hit" in the first place, and perhaps now the time is right for it to retake its place in the repertoire. Quality will tell in the long run, and contemporary audiences are more willing to accept that a work can be only a minor work of a genius, and still be a masterpiece. In its modest way, this perfectly-crafted miniature tone-poem is just that.
R. G. Bratby
Copyright Classical Notes.co.uk 2000
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