Sibelius’ “Finlandia”: A Tone Poem for Independence
At the time of Jean Sibelius’ birth in 1865, Finland was an autonomous grand duchy within the Russian Empire, having separated from Sweden in 1809. In general, the Finnish people found the political arrangement to be amicable. That changed in 1899 when Tsar Nicholas II instituted the February Manifesto which subordinated Finnish laws, dissolved the Finnish army, and enforced Russian as the principal language. This was the environment in which Sibelius composed …