Sibelius's sketchbooks during the First World War are full of many and disparate themes and ideas for several different works. The Fifth and Sixth symphonies are frequently mixed up, the allocation of material to specific works still uncertain. This now seems extraordinary, given how unified each appears to be, the idea of anything in one being transferred to the other unthinkable. Shortly after the Sixth's premiere, in Helsinki in February 1923, he was asked by a journalist if he would provide it with a suitable motto. Sibelius replied: “When shadows lengthen.” However, he also said: “It is rather impossible to explain art with words, therefore I don't like to speak about my music. When I do I regret it the next day. The listener has unlimited possibilities of misunderstanding me and limited possibilities of understanding me.” The enigmatic Sixth Symphony, in some respects the antithesis of the optimistic Fifth, is therefore probably best left without further explanation, except to say that D minor is a misnomer; rather, the symphony is in the Dorian mode.

sources

A  Autograph score (completed 1923), in the Sibelius Museum, Turku

E,P  First edition score (Pl. No. 2712) and parts (2728), published by Abr. Hirsch in 1924, reprinted identically by Wilhelm Hansen. The text of P is different from that in E, and often more reliable. A few bowings are in E (e.g. pp.8–9, 24); P Vls, Vla have many more. At the time of writing IMSLP has only E; I am grateful to Adrian Brown for obtaining a set of P for my inspection

F  Revised edition of score, edited by Paavo Berglund (though this is not stated in the score) and published by Hansen in 1981. A handful of corrections was entered, rather roughly and by hand, without explanation

For this report P has been exhaustively proof-read against F.

(N)  indicates that the issue is additionally discussed in Del Mar 1981 (published prior to F), pp.209–12