Unlike that of his contemporary, the Finn Jean Sibelius, Nielsen's reputation abroad did not start to evolve until after World War II. For some time, international interest was largely directed towards his symphonies while his other works, many of them highly popular in Denmark, have only recently started to become part of the world repertoire. Even in Denmark, many of his compositions failed to impress. It was only in 1897 after the first performance of "Hymnus amoris" that he received support from the critics, to be substantially reinforced in 1906 by their enthusiastic reception of "Masquerade".