Marjatta (Sibelius)


Marjatta was a projected three-movement oratorio for soloists, choir, and orchestra that occupied the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius from 27 June to late-October 1905, at which point he abandoned the project. The libretto, a collaboration with the Finnish author, freely adapted the story of Kiesus's miraculous 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 opera The Building of the Boat and the orchestral song The Raven —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 ; a never-realized Kalevala-themed tone poem on the subject of Luonnotar, which in 1906 evolved into Pohjola's Daughter ; and the second movement of Scènes historiques II.

Composition and abandonment

  1. The Birth of Christ, 64 lines
  2. Burial, 116 lines
  3. Resurrection, 85 lines
Sibelius began working on the Marjatta oratorio in 1905, but soon abandoned his plans the same year, likely due to a waning enthusiasm for Finne's libretto ; the second movement of 1912's Scènes historiques II ; and, possibly, 1905's Not with Lamentation, for mixed choir ; 1909's In memoriam ; and 1922's Andante festivo.