The Bard, op. 64

The Bard (in Swedish: Barden), Op. 64, tone poem for orchestra written in 1913 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It was first performed in Helsinki on 27 March 1913 by the Philharmonic Society Orchestra, conducted by the composer himself, but he revised it in 1914. The new version was first performed in Helsinki on 9 January 1916, again under the baton of the composer. In Britain, Adrian Boult and the BBC Symphony Orchestra recorded the tone poem in January 1936 for broadcast. The first public performance in the UK was given by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1938. The tone poem itself provides a profound, yet cryptic glimpse of an elegiac, poetic world: an initial, harp-led stillness and reflection are succeeded by elemental, eruptive surges and, finally, a sense of renunciation or maybe death.