Although Jean Sibelius was born within a decade of Puccini, Mahler, Debussy, Richard Strauss, Scriabin, Rachmaninoff and Schoenberg, he was an anomaly among them. His early works were clearly influenced by both the German and Russian schools - especially Brahms and Tchaikovsky - but the voice of his mature compositions is as uncategorizable, although not as hard to penetrate, as that of his contemporary and friend, Busoni. Sibelius was born into a middle-class family at a time when the country was dominated politically by Russia and culturally by Sweden. When he was 19, he enrolled in the law faculty of the University of Helsinki, but he soon gave up his law studies and began to study composition seriously. (He was already a reasonably accomplished violinist, and for a time he entertained hopes of becoming a professional virtuoso). He went to Berlin and Vienna for further study, and he led a dissipated life abroad and after his return home. In 1892, however, following his first professional success with the choral symphony Kullervo and his marriage to Aino Järnefelt, the daughter of a leading Finnish nationalist, he became a little more settled - although problems with drink and debts continued to manifest themselves from time to time. Sibelius achieved fame mainly as an orchestral composer: his seven symphonies, Violin Concerto, many tone-poems and the Karelia Suite all became part of the international symphonic repertoire. He was so self-critical that he destroyed his eagerly awaited Eighth Symphony, which he had begun in 1929 and probably completed in 1934, and he virtually ceased to compose 30 years before his death at his country home, Ainola; he was nearly 92. His tone-poems, especially the remarkable, visionary nature-painting Tapiola, and his symphonies - profoundly original works - are among the masterpieces of 20th-century music. Harvey Sachs Biographical notes (c) 1996, reprinted by permission of Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, HamburgA selection of major works: Orchestral: 7 Symphonies, The Dryad, En Saga, Finlandia, "Karelia" Suite, The Oceanides, Pohjola's Daughter, Rakastava, The Swan of Tuonela, Tapiola, The Wood Nymph, Valse triste, Violin Concerto, 6 Humoresques (violin and orchestra), Chamber: Malinconia, Pieces for Violin and Piano, String Quartets (the best known being "Voces intimae"), Violin Sonata. Instrumental solo: Bagatelles, Lyric Pieces, Piano Sonata, Sonatinas, Piano Pieces. Vocal: Christmas Songs, Luonnotar, Men from Plain and Sea, Songs. Choral: Finlandia, Kullervo, The Origin of Fire, Our Native Land (cantata). Stage works: Belshazzar's Feast, The Maiden in the Tower (opera), Pelleas and Melisande (incidental music), Scaramouche (incidental music), The Tempest (incidental music).