Jean Sibelius
Between 1899 and 1924 Sibelius composed the 7 symphonies which made him famous worldwide. His friend, the conductor Kajanus, conducted Sibelius’s works when he took the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra on tour around Europe. His wife was becoming worried about how much alcohol he was drinking in Helsinki, so 1903 she persuaded him to move the family to a place called Ainola in the Finnish countryside. They had a house built in Järvenpää. Apart from a few short periods in Helsinki he spent the rest of his life there. The first works he wrote there were his Symphony no 2 and the Violin Concerto . He became seriously ill in 1908 and for several years he had to stop smoking cigars and drinking alcohol. He continued to travel and visited England several times and the United States in 1914 where he was very popular. After the war he continued to write more symphonies as well as some short, light pieces. The last great work that he wrote was the tone-poem Tapiola in 1926. He tried to write another symphony (no 8) but gave up and destroyed it. He never wrote any more music. He continued to live in retirement in his house in the Finnish country for another 30 years. He died of a brain hemorrhage. The house is now a Sibelius museum.