Finlandia
The music of Finlandia is exciting and dramatic. It sounds like the Finnish people struggling to be free. Towards the end the music becomes calm and a lovely tune is played. It is a hymn tune which became known as Finlandia. Many years later Sibelius set some words to this hymn and it is often sung as a separate piece by a choir. The words were written by Veikko Antero Koskenniemi. It has become Finland's best known song and almost feels like a second Finnish national anthem. It is often sung as a hymn in Christian churches to the words "Be still, my soul: the Lord is on your side". The tune was also used as the national anthem of the short-lived African country Biafra.