Characteristic Numbers

Sibelius completed his final opus-number compositions, opp. 115 and 116, in 1929. They were originally composed at the suggestion of the publishers Carl Fischer, Inc., but were then refused acceptance due to their high performance demands. There, as “characteristic numbers […] for general purposes,” something else had evidently been envisioned – above all, something easier to sell. After some delays, the pieces were published instead by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1930. If earlier on Sibelius had composed smaller chamber music works especially to earn money from their sales, this was no longer necessary by the end of the 1920s. He then seemed to use this artistic freedom to experiment once again with “his” instruments (devoting himself in particular to the violin besides the piano). Op. 115 consists of four programmatically titled pieces in which we find not only melodic lines and introverted sounds, but also virtuosic runs as well as lively rhythms, presupposing perfect ensemble playing by pianist and violinist.