On his return to Finland in 1891 he produced his first major composition, the Kullervo Symphony, based on an episode from the great Finnish epic poem Kalevala. In 1889 Sibelius went off to Berlin for further study, then to Vienna as a pupil of Karl Goldmark. Busoni was on the staff of the Music Academy and a lifelong friendship developed between the two. The law drew him briefly at Helsinki University but music quickly took over. The usual early music lessons (piano and violin were his chosen instruments) led to his first composition effort aged 10, followed by a series of juvenilia, influenced by the likes of Mozart and Grieg. (He adopted the name Jean after coming across a set of visiting cards used by his sea-faring uncle who had gallicised his name from Johan to Jean.) Sibelius was born in a small town in south central Finland, the son of a regimental doctor who died during the cholera epidemic of 1867-68, and was brought up by his mother and grandmother. ‘He is Finland in music and he is Finnish music,’ observed one critic. Probably no composer in history has meant so much to his native country as did Sibelius. While he was still alive the Finnish government issued stamps with his portrait and would have erected a statue to him as well had not Sibelius himself discouraged the project. To most people Sibelius is the composer of Finlandia and the Karelia Suite to others he is one of the great symphony composers to the people of Finland he is these things and a national hero.
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