Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957)

Jean Sibelius

Ean Sibelius, birth name Swedish Johan Julius Christian Sibelius, is a Finnish symphonic composer and a prominent representative of the Finnish national art.

Sibelius was born in a city belonging to the Russian Empire to a family of Finnish Swedes. At the age of about 20, he left Finland to pursue music studies in Berlin and Vienna, before returning to his homeland. Sibelius' first large-scale orchestral work, the Kullervo Symphony ((Kullervo, 1892), created a sensation in his homeland. His next works - En Saga (1892), Karelian Music and Four Legends - established him as Finland's leading national composer working in the Romantic tradition. These were years of patriotic upheaval in Finland, and in recognition of his merit and genius, the Finnish Senate granted Sibelius a lifetime pension.

The composer's main creative achievements relate to orchestral music, including 7 symphonies, symphonic poems and suites. The violin concerto, the orchestral "Sad Waltz" and the choral "Hymn of Finland" are also widely known. Many of Sibelius' compositions are directly or generalized related to Finnish national themes. He is a prominent representative of the "golden age" of Finnish art in the period 1880-1910.