Aino Sibelius
| Aino Sibelius | |
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Aino Sibelius (then Järnefelt) in 1888
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| Born |
Aino Järnefelt 10 August 1871 Helsinki, Finland |
| Died | 8 June 1969 (aged 97) Järvenpää, Finland |
| Spouse(s) | Jean Sibelius |
Aino Sibelius (née Järnefelt; 10 August 1871 – 8 June 1969) was the wife of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. They lived most of their 65 years of married life at their home Ainola near Lake Tuusula, Järvenpää, Finland. They had six daughters: Eva (1893–1978), Ruth (1894–1976), Kirsti (1898–1900), Katarina (1903–1984), Margareta (1908–1988) and Heidi (1911–1982).
Aino Järnefelt was born in Helsinki, into the strict and disciplined family of General Alexander Järnefelt and his wife Elisabeth (née Clodt von Jürgensburg) in 1871. She had six older siblings, including the writer Arvid Järnefelt, the painter Eero Järnefelt and the composer and conductor Armas Järnefelt.
It was her brother Armas who brought his friend and fellow student, Jean Sibelius, to the family home in the winter of 1889. At the time, the writer Juhani Aho was expressing affection towards Aino, but he did not receive the response he sought. Within the next few years, Aino became engaged to Jean Sibelius, and they were married with her father's blessing at Maxmo on 10 June 1892.
From the time of their engagement they had talked of a house of their own in the country, and had looked for a house near Lake Tuusula as early as 1898. However, when her husband's wealthy bachelor uncle died in July 1903, they bought about 2.5 acres (10,000 m2) of land in Järvenpää near Lake Tuusula, and used his share of his uncle's estate to pay the architect Lars Sonck to design their house, which they called Ainola. They moved there in the autumn of 1904, having borrowed a substantial amount of money to buy the land and build the house.
Aino's early years in Järvenpää were stressful and difficult, caused partly by financial worries and partly by her husband's drinking and partying lifestyle. She sought to eke out the family budget by creating a vegetable garden from the stony ground near the house. And since they could not afford schooling for the children, Aino taught them at home, a task which she performed very successfully, since they all did well when they later went to school. She spent a period in 1907 convalescing in Hyvinkää Sanatorium.
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