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IMPROMPTU
(Alla marcia)
Op. 5, No. 3
by Jean Sibelius
(1893)
Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957) was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity.The core of Sibelius's oeuvre is his set of seven symphonies, each of which he used to evolve his compositional style and to released his most profound personal energy and emotion. In addition to the symphonies, Sibelius's best-known compositions include Finlandia, Valse Triste, the Violin Concerto, the Karelia Suite and The Swan of Tuonela (one of the four movements of the Lemminkäinen Suite). Sibelius composed prolifically until the mid-1920s, but soon after completing his Seventh Symphony (1924), the incidental music to The Tempest (1926), and the tone poem Tapiola (1926), he produced no large scale works for the remaining thirty years of his life. Although he is reputed to have stopped composing, he did attempt to continue, including aborted attempts to compose an eighth symphony. He wrote some Masonic music and re-edited some earlier works during this last period of his life and retained an active interest in new developments in music, though he did not always view modern music favorably.
The Six Impromptus from 1893 stem from early in his creative period, during which time he composed his first popular orchestral works Kullervo (1892), and the Karelia Suite (1893). Impromptu No. 3 is moderate in tempo and folk-like in character, unmistakably in the style of a march.
Mark E. Maronde received a Bachelor of Music degree in music theory and composition from Lawrence University in 1979, where he studied with James Ming and Steven Stucky. He has also pursued graduate work in choral conducting at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and in music theory at the University of Minnesota. He has worked in the software industry for the past 24 years. Mr. Maronde is active as a composer, arranger, and church musician in the Twin Cities.