Cantique and Devotion opus 77

No. 1 Laetare anima mea (Cantique). Completed 1914; first performance in Helsinki, 30th March 1916 (Ossian Fohström, cello, Helsinki City Orchestra under Jean Sibelius). Arrangement for violin or cello and piano 1915.

No. 2 Devotion (Ab imo pectore). Completed in 1915; first performance in Helsinki, 30th March 1916 (Ossian Fohström, cello, Helsinki City Orchestra under Jean Sibelius). Arrangement for violin or cello and piano 1915.

The Zwei ernste Melodien, "Two serious melodies", opus 77, are very interesting works. Cantique (Laetare anima mea) was completed on 1st December 1914. Other early suggestions for a name included Lovsång (Song of Praise) and Lauda Sion.

One can understand the seriousness of Sibelius's moods. In the summer of 1914 he had succeeded brilliantly when he conducted his music at the Norfolk Music Festival in the United States. He came back with dreams of dollars going through his head, but was bitterly disappointed when the First World War prevented a second visit. Soon Sibelius's German publisher, too, was in trouble, while Sibelius himself was stuck at home in Finland, facing a deepening spiral of debt.

In the autumn of 1914 Sibelius was forced to churn out one miniature after another for Finnish publishers, in order to ease his debt burden of 83,000 marks (240,000 euros today). However, it is clear that Cantique for violin and small orchestra was not written purely to make money. Sibelius himself considered the use of "Laetare anima mea" for a church concert and pointed out that the accompanying orchestra would be small enough to be placed in the organ loft. He also suggested writing an arrangement for organ and harps, but almost immediately in December 1914 he arranged the work for violin and piano. People have even claimed to discern echoes of the adagio of the seventh symphony in the music.

Devotion (Ab imo pectore) became a partner for the opus 77 Cantique in a roundabout way. In a letter to his publisher in January 1915 Sibelius first suggested the Romance in F major (which was later included in opus 78) as "the earthly counterpart" of his Cantique. However, he did not find a suitable partner for the Cantique until he completed Devotion on 9th July 1915.

Devotion was first written as a work for violin and piano. The orchestral version was completed two days later. In his book on Sibelius, Erkki Salmenhaara argues that the arrangement for violin and piano is more balanced that the orchestral version of Devotion.

If the Cantique expresses the joy of the spirit at the grace of the Saviour, Devotion could describe a sense of doubt and vain endeavour that wells forth from the bottom of the heart – all the more shocking if the work is played as a continuation to the elevated Cantique. Interestingly enough, at the first public performance on 30th March 1916 Devotion was played before Cantique.

It was probably Ossian Fohström, the solo cellist of Helsinki City Orchestra, who inspired Sibelius to arrange the solo parts of the opus 77 works to be played with either violin or cello. Sibelius dedicated the compositions to Fohström, who performed them for the first time at a concert of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra concert conducted by Sibelius himself.

Otto Kotilainen, the critic of Helsingin Sanomat, wrote that "the short melodies, beautiful and devout in their simplicity, are probably intended more for the elevation of the congregation than for concert performance". Fohström was praised for his "succulent cantilena playing", but Kotilainen did not find the cello solos "particularly rewarding". He added, "the accompaniment moved too much on the same pitch as the soloist, which tended to obscure the line of the solo instrument. It might be that the pieces would sing out more clearly as violin solos."

The violin had in fact been Sibelius's first choice as the solo instrument for opus 77.