The Captive Queen

The Captive Queen, Op. 48, is a single-movement, patriotic cantata for mixed choir and orchestra written in 1906 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece, which is a setting of the Finnish author Paavo Cajander's Finnish-language poem of the same name, is chronologically the fifth of Sibelius's nine orchestral cantatas.
The Captive Queen was first performed in Helsinki on 12 May 1906 by the Orchestra of Helsinki Philharmonic Society, conducted by the composer; however, it premiered under the title "There Sings the Queen" in order to avoid the attention of the imperial censors. Sibelius arranged the piece for male choir in 1910; this version was first performed on 28 November 1913 by the Choir of the Students' Union, with conducting.

Instrumentation

The Captive Queen is scored for the following instruments and voices, organized by family :

Mixed choir or male choir
2 flutes, 2 oboes, 1 clarinet, 1 bass clarinet, and 1 bassoon
4 horns, 2 trumpets, and 3 trombones
Timpani, bass drum, cymbals, and triangle
Violins, violas, cellos, and double basses

History

Sibelius composed the cantata for the centennial festivities that marked the birth of Johan Vilhelm Snellman, a philosopher and statesman who was an important contributor to the Fennoman cause.
The Finnish composer Oskar Merikanto also contributed a new piece for the occasion, the Cantata in Memory of J. V. Snellman. This premiered two hours before The Captive Queen, albeit at a different venue: the Finnish National Theatre.

Discography

The Finnish conductor Jorma Panula and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra made the world premiere studio recording of The Captive Queen in September 1987 for Ondine; they were joined by a mixed choir credited as the "Academic Choir of Helsinki University"., in his 2003 catalogue of Sibelius works, however, connects this ensemble to, which was founded in 1953 as the mixed choir of the Student Union of the University of Helsinki. The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

	Conductor	Orchestra	Chorus		Time	Venue	Label
1		Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra		1987	11:22	Kulttuuritalo	Ondine
2		Lahti Symphony Orchestra		2004	9:16	Sibelius Hall	BIS
3		Lahti Symphony Orchestra	YL Male Voice Choir	2005	9:27	Sibelius Hall	BIS
4		Malmö Opera Orchestra	Lunds Studentsångförening	2011	10:11		Naxos