En saga

En saga
Tone poem by Jean Sibelius
The composer in 1913
English	A Fairy Tale
Catalogue	Op. 9
Period	Late Romantic
Composed	1892 (r. 1902)
Premiere
Date	16 February 1893 (1893-02-16)
Location	Helsinki, Finland
Conductor	Jean Sibelius

En saga (English translation: A fairy tale or A saga) is a tone poem written by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius in 1892. After hearing Sibelius's choral work Kullervo, the conductor Robert Kajanus encouraged Sibelius to compose a purely orchestral piece, which eventually transpired into this work. The evolution of this work is rather vague, although it is known that in 1890–1891 Sibelius had begun composing an octet for strings, flute, and clarinet. The octet evolved into a septet by September 1892, and had acquired the title Ballet Scene No. 2 by November of that year. However, a letter to Adolf Paul dated 10 December 1892 stated that Sibelius had finished "the orchestral piece En saga".

Sibelius conducted the first performance on 16 February 1893 in Helsinki. In the context of an invitation from Ferruccio Busoni in 1902 to conduct the work in Berlin, Sibelius revised it, and Robert Kajanus conducted the first performance of the final version in Helsinki on 2 November 1902.

The title is in Swedish, Sibelius's mother tongue. He did not specify any story in it, although he did comment that any general literary inspiration was more from the Icelandic Eddas rather than the Kalevala (the Finnish national epic). In his later years, Sibelius recounted to his secretary Santeri Levas:

En saga is the expression of a state of mind. I had undergone a number of painful experiences at the time and in no other work have I revealed myself so completely. It is for this reason that I find all literary explanations quite alien.

It is scored for an orchestra including two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets (in B♭), two bassoons, four horns (in F), three trumpets (in F), three trombones, tuba, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, and strings.