Sibelius is widely regarded as Finland's greatest composer. His work was strongly reflected the Finnish natural environment - its sweeping forests and expanse of lakes. His enchantment with the national epic, the Kalevala was also expressed in his music. He composed seven symphonies. He apparently burnt the score of his eighth symphony. For the last thirty years of his life, Sibelius did not publish a single new work.
During his long life Sibelius became a national figure - Finlandia, written in 1901 as part of a pageant portraying the history of Finland - established his importance in terms of Finnish national self-awareness. Sibelius had become the symbol of national self-determination and his fame spread to parts of the world that had only the vaguest of ideas about Finland.
Sibelius was born in 1865 at Hämeenlinna. His was a complex and many-faceted personality: on the one hand he was the demanding artist who subjected his work to the deepest scrutiny and on the other hand he was beset by self-doubt. This celebrated son of the Finnish soil died in 1957.
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