The piece was a collaboration with the Finnish author Rafael Hertzberg, the Swedish-language libretto of whom tells a "simple tale of chivalry" that may nonetheless have had allegorical ambitions: the Bailiff (Imperial Russia) abducts and imprisons the Maiden (the Grand Duchy of Finland); although she endures hardship, she remains true to herself and is freed subsequently (Finland's independence) by her Lover (Finnish nationalists) and the Chatelaine of the castle (social reformers).

In the intervening decades, The Maiden in the Tower has entered neither the Finnish nor the international repertories, and its significance is therefore primarily as a historical curiosity: Sibelius's lone opera.

On 25 April 1896 Sibelius promised the Finnish mezzo-soprano Emmy Achté that he would write a one-act stage work[6] for a lottery soirée to benefit Robert Kajanus's Helsinki Philharmonic Society and music school.

[7] It was a curious moment in his career for Sibelius to agree to an opera-like project: since August 1894, he had labored to convert his abandoned, Finnish-language grand opera The Building of the Boat (Veneen luominen) into the tone poems The Wood Nymph (Skogsrået, Op.

[6] Although little is known about Hertzberg's writing process,[11] he produced a Swedish-language libretto based on a popular,[12] traditional Karelian,[13] Finnish-language folk ballad, Neitsyt kammiossa (In a Maiden's Bower),[14] which he described as "the oldest known Finnish drama—or rather an opera, because everything is sung".

[17] According to Achté, by the time rehearsals began a fortnight before the premiere, Sibelius had not yet finished the finale: "I constantly have to ... give him a very necessary reminder that we can't guess what his music is; we need the notes on the page".

[22] The four soloists, who sang before a "striking" backdrop of a towered castle to the right of a springtime birch forest,[20] were: the soprano Ida Flodin [fi] as the Maiden, the baritone Abraham Ojanperä as the Bailiff, the tenor E. Eklund as the Lover,[e] and Achté as the Chatelaine.

In particular, Flodin described Scene 1 as "poignant", with vocal writing for the Bailiff that "breathes insistent, hot longing" and for the Maiden that shows "disgust and trembling fear".

[24] In Päivälehti, Oskar Merikanto echoed Flodin: Hertzberg's libretto was "monotonous" and lacking in action, and Sibelius's music—though "masterful[ly]" orchestrated—exacerbated this "dull[ness]" with "interludes that were too long ... [leaving] the stage completely empty".

"[25][g] Uusi Suometar ran an anonymous column that also noted The Maiden in the Tower's "Finnish stamp", before proclaiming its "pan-Europeanness", which the reviewer thought would be to the work's "great advantage ... because it has the opportunity to become a sensation even beyond our borders".

[28] When Emmy's daughter, the soprano Aino Ackté, wrote to him in November 1913 requesting to program The Maiden in the Tower in Finnish for the 1914 Mikkeli Song Festival,[i] Sibelius refused to budge: "With all my soul, I would like to be at your service ... But—it is absolutely impossible!

[37][36] Moreover, to resurrect the opera, Jalas commissioned new fair copies of the score, using Sibelius's autograph manuscript and the original orchestral parts by copyist Ernst Röllig.

[13] Before Hannikainen's research, scholars had assumed that Sibelius had conducted in Turku the opera's original overture, despite the fact that it would have made an ineffective concert piece due to its short duration and inconclusive ending.

[56] In Scene 3, the Maiden overhears peasants singing about the change of season: "Now in forest the winds of spring are sighing ... winter's darkened skies flee the gaze of the sun".

[57] After a second orchestral interlude, Scene 4 finds the Maiden's true love, a freeborn peasant[20] singing an aria in which he dreamily proclaims his desires ("Ack, när jag ser hennes drag"), although he wonders why she has been delayed from their rendezvous.

[59] In Scene 6, the Lover accuses the Bailiff of wrongdoing, to which the imperious lawman responds with threats of reprisal: "And if thou wouldst defy me yet, let castle-dungeon thy repentance bring".

[63] The Maiden in the Tower is scored for soprano, contralto,[k] tenor, baritone, mixed choir, flute (doubling piccolo), oboe, 2 clarinets (in B♭ and A), bassoon, 2 horns (in F), trumpet (in F), trombone, strings, bass drum, tambourine, triangle, and cymbals.

[64] Relative to his other orchestral works, the forces Sibelius requires for The Maiden in the Tower are modest: only the clarinet and the horn is doubled, and he makes do with neither expansive percussion nor a large string section.

[66] Coloristically, the opera's idiom is relatively cheerful for Sibelius,[13] who is known for his darker textures and melancholy sound—although, Karl Flodin still discerned the composer's "distinctive basso continuo".

[24] Stylistically, commentators have detected echoes of Gounod's "erotic lyricism",[20] as well as Puccini's Italian verismo and "vocally grateful" bel canto in Scenes 2 and 4.

[73] Instead, Sibelius may have taken as his model Pietro Mascagni's one-act opera Cavalleria rusticana (1890), the melodic, compact, and passionate nature of which had impressed him when he heard it performed in Vienna during the spring of 1891.

[87] Sibelius had seemed an obvious candidate to inaugurate a new vernacular era, as he had become a favorite of the Fennomans with his Finnish-language masterpiece Kullervo, a setting of The Kalevala for soloists, male choir, and orchestra.

[96] Indeed, not only was Sibelius's The Maiden in the Tower balanced during its premiere with the performance of a Finnish-language version of Bonsoir, Monsieur Pantalon!, an 1851 opéra comique by the Belgian composer Albert Grisar,[23] but afterwards, Yrjö Weilin [fi] was selected to translate Hertzberg's libretto into Finnish.

Hannikainen describes The Maiden in the Tower as an "early masterwork ... in spite of some weaknesses",[98] while the music critic David Hurwitz calls it a "slender but typically appealing effort ... [with] vocal writing throughout [that] is effective and confident".

[18] Tawaststjerna argues that "Sibelius shows ... considerable talent for musical drama"; in particular, he cites the Maiden's part as "anticipat[ing his] 'great' solo songs", such as Autumn Evening (Höstkväll; Op.

[50] "Considering that it is a first attempt," he continues, "The Maiden in the Tower has moments of unmistakable effectiveness ... as in the symphonies, Sibelius shows his command of musical movement and his capacity to build up a convincingly realized climax".

[18] Modern commentators have criticized Hertberg's libretto as "a lifeless concoction",[105] "bland",[106] "thinly-plotted",[18] "tarnished by naïveté",[102] and "startlingly silly ... its inanities on dreadful display from the opening lines".

In BBC Music Magazine, John Allison argues that, although The Maiden in the Tower "may not be top-drawer Sibelius", it nonetheless makes an "appreciable impact" in Paavo Järvi's "more compelling" interpretation.

[115] Rob Barnett of MusicWeb International concurs, writing that "the music constantly intrigues and engages the listener"; the younger Järvi "makes this piece really sing", although the BIS recording benefits from the Finnish baritone Jorma Hynninen's "darker and huskier" vocal work as the Bailiff.

For example, Allison writes that she "sings glowingly ... and is haunting in her prayer [Scene 2]",[115] while Andrew Achenbach of Gramophone applauds her for "cop[ing] valiantly with Sibelius's occasionally stratospheric demands ... [of] the heroine".