Sibelius grew to maturity at a time of fervent Finnish nationalism, as the country broke away from its earlier Swedish and later Russian overlords. Brought up in a Swedish-speaking family, Sibelius acquired a knowledge of Finnish language and traditional literature at school and the early Finnish sagas proved a strong influence on his subsequent work as a composer. After early training in Helsinki and later in Berlin, Sibelius made his career in Finland, where he was awarded a state pension. Although he lived until 1957, he wrote little after 1926, feeling out of sympathy with current trends in music.

Stage Works

Sibelius wrote incidental music for Maeterlinck's Pelléas et Mélisande and for Belshazzar's Feast, a play by Procope, with a Prelude and two suites from a score for Shakespeare's The Tempest. His well known Karelia Suite was derived from incidental music for a pageant. His popular Valse triste was originally written for Järnefelt's play Death, and in fact accompanies a death-bed scene.

Orchestral Music

Sibelius wrote seven symphonies, an additional eighth apparently completed but destroyed. The first two of these enjoy particular popularity.

Symphonic poems by Sibelius, their inspiration usually from ancient Finnish legend, include En Saga, the Lemminkäinen Suite, of which the Swan of Tuonela and Lemminkäinen's Return form a part, Pohjola's Daughter and Tapiola. Finlandia was adapted from music provided for Press Pension celebrations in 1899.

Chamber Music

Chamber music by Sibelius includes a string quartet, "Voces intimae", a sonatina for violin and a number of short pieces for violin and piano.