King Christian II (Sibelius)

King Christian II (Kuningas Kristian II), Op. 27, is incidental music by Jean Sibelius for the Scandinavian historical play of the same name, written by his friend Adolf Paul. The original play deals with the love of King Christian II, ruler of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, for a Dutch girl, Dyvecke, a commoner. Sibelius composed in 1898 seven movements. He conducted the first performance of the first four parts the Swedish Theatre in Helsinki on 24 February 1898. In the following summer, he composed three more movements, Nocturne, Serenade and Ballad. The Nocturne was an interlude between the first act and the second. The position of the serenade changed. The ballad is a dramatic piece about the 1520 bloodbath which the king ordered in Stockholm. This movement shows already traits of the later First Symphony.

Sibelius derived from the incidental music a suite of five movements. A complete performance of the suite takes about 25 minutes. It was first performed in December 1898, conducted by Robert Kajanus. Sibelius wrote in a letter: “The music sounded excellent and the tempi seem to be right. I think this is the first time that I have managed to make something complete.”