Symphony No. 2 (Sibelius)

Symphony No. 2
by Jean Sibelius
Sibelius in 1904, by Albert Engström
Key	D major
Catalogue	Op. 43
Composed	1901 (1901)–02
Published	1903 (1903) (ed. Breitkopf & Härtel)
Movements	4
Premiere
Date	8 March 1902
Location	Helsinki
Conductor	Jean Sibelius
Performers	Helsinki Philharmonic Society

The Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43, by Jean Sibelius is a symphony started in winter 1901 in Rapallo, Italy, shortly after the successful premiere of the popular Finlandia, and finished in 1902 in Finland. Sibelius said, "My second symphony is a confession of the soul."

Baron Axel Carpelan, who gave Sibelius' well-known tone poem Finlandia its name, wrote to the composer shortly after its successful premiere, writing, "You have been sitting at home for quite a while, Mr. Sibelius, it is high time for you to travel. You will spend the late autumn and the winter in Italy, a country where one learns cantabile, balance and harmony, plasticity and symmetry of lines, a country where everything is beautiful – even the ugly. You remember what Italy meant for Tchaikovsky’s development and for Richard Strauss." Although Baron Carpelan was penniless, he raised sufficient funds for Sibelius to stay in a mountain villa near Rapallo, Italy. Here, Sibelius jotted down the first notes to his second symphony.

After more than a year since the first motifs were penned, the second symphony was premiered by the Helsinki Philharmonic Society on 8 March 1902, with the composer conducting. After three sold out performances, Sibelius made some revisions, and the revised version was given its first performance by Armas Järnefelt on 10 November 1903 in .Oskar Merikanto, who attended the premiere, exclaimed that the premiere "exceeded even the highest expectations."

While critics were divided following the symphony's premiere, the public generally admired the piece as its grandiose finale was connected by some with the struggle for Finland's independence, causing it to even being popularly dubbed the "Symphony of Independence", as it was written at a time of Russian sanctions on Finnish language and culture. Sibelius's reaction to this has been widely debated; some claim that he had not intended any patriotic message and that the symphony was only identified by others as a nationalist composition, while others believe that he wrote the piece with an independent Finland in mind. Finnish composer Sulho Ranta said, "There is something about this music — at least for us — that leads us to ecstasy; almost like a shaman with his magic drum."