Overture in A minor. Completed 1902; first public performance in Helsinki, 8th March 1902 (Orchestra of Helsinki Philharmonic Society under Jean Sibelius).

The overture in A minor was a stopgap piece which Sibelius wrote for the concert in which the second symphony was premiered. Karl Flodin was critical of the work, and Erkki Salmenhaara considered it to be “hackwork”.

In fact the overture is not without merit. The musicologist Veijo Murtomäki has found in the extensive transition episode “the most buffo Sibelius – obviously pointing towards the violin concerto and the third symphony – and in this respect genuinely good Sibelius”. Up to the present the work has not become part of the standard repertoire. It is one of Sibelius’s least performed orchestral works.