150th Birthday of Jean Sibelius

A star-filled sky with stars of varying sizes. The right half of the coin shows treetops; on the left the inscription "JEAN SIBELIUS" and the year of issue "2015". The country abbreviation "FI" and the mint mark are shown on the right.

For Finland, Jean Sibelius is more than a composer — he is a founding figure of national self-confidence. In the second half of the 19th century, when Finland still belonged to the Russian Empire and the Finnish language had little cultural standing, Sibelius created with his tone poem Finlandia (1899) a work that became the anthem of the independence movement. Russian authorities banned it at times under various titles. Sibelius initially studied law but soon turned to music, studying in Helsinki, Berlin and Vienna before returning permanently to Finland. His seven symphonies, the Violin Concerto in D minor and the Kullervo Symphony, based on the Finnish national epic the Kalevala, established his international reputation. Until his death in 1957, he lived at his country estate Ainola north of Helsinki.

Sibelius's late work is marked by a peculiar silence — he is said to have destroyed his eighth symphony, and the reasons remain not fully understood to this day. Internationally, he is among the most frequently performed composers of the 20th century; in Finland, his face is immortalised on the old fifty-markka note, and the Sibelius Park in Helsinki, with its expressive monument by Eila Hiltunen, is among the country's most visited sights. Finland honoured Jean Sibelius on his 150th birthday in 2015 with a 2-euro commemorative coin, reaffirming his standing as a figure of cultural identification far beyond the country's borders.