Feature: Finland recalls its "world composer" as normal person on his 150th birthday

Some 1,000 people singing the hymn part of "Finlandia" composed by Finnish legend Jean Sibelius at a square in downtown Helsinki, and a festive concert in his birthplace, Hameenlinna, were some of the highlights as Finland celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of its "world composer" on Tuesday.

While Sibelius used to be adored as a distant genius, the 150th anniversary finally gave the nation a chance to see this composer of seven symphonies and numerous other works as an ordinary person.

Until the end of the Cold War, Sibelius had also been a political publicity asset -- used not only by Finland, but made use for the interest of other states as well, from Nazi Germany to the United States.

Sibelius wrote "Finlandia" in 1899 to protest Russian limitations of Finnish self-rule. While inseparably symbolizing Finnish national identity, Sibelius and "Finlandia" were also of interest to propagandists worldwide for decades.

As late as 1965, the White House used the centenary of Sibelius to issue a proclamation. Then U.S. President Lyndon Johnson defined "Finlandia" as a "symbol of man's will for freedom."

Talking to Xinhua, Matti Vainio, a retired professor of music of Jyvaskyla University, said Finnish political leaders did not find such usage disturbing.

"Sibelius had been known to be pro-Western anyhow and until his death leading representatives of classical music kept visiting him, both from the East and the West," said Vainio.

When Sibelius died in 1957, the UN General Assembly was in session and the then GA President Sir Leslie Munro ordered a silent moment in the meeting. "The music of Sibelius belonged to the whole world," Munro said.

Even though his works are still a key part of Finnish national symbolism, the composer finally became an ordinary person on his 150th birthday, with a life of ups and downs.

At the time of his funeral in 1957, local media "thanked God for giving such a genius to Finland," but in 2015 Finnish national broadcaster Yle produced a research-based fiction written by journalists Minna Lindgren and Pia Hirvensalo where Sibelius was depicted as a real person.

Vainio said the prevailing social atmosphere during the old decades did not allow more. "His problems with money and alcohol were always known by a certain crowd, but they were not publically talked about. Now that the diaries of Sibelius and most of his letters have been published, the life story has been told honestly," Vainio said.

"Finlandia" never became Finnish national anthem as the position had already been given to a composition by the mid-19th century composer Fredrik Pacius. But reports said that famed conductor Leopold Stokowski had once suggested "Finlandia" should become "the anthem of the world."

There have been various versions of lyrics in the hymn part of the "Finlandia" although Sibelius himself did not write the lyrics. During World War II when Finland was on the Axis side, lyrics used in North America took distance from Finnish nationalist themes, for example. Recent research has revealed the first lyrics were done by Finnish communists years before the currently best known patriotic words by V. A. Koskenniemi.

Vainio noted the growing interest in Sibelius in Asia. "He has always been very popular in Japan, but lately the interest has widened to the Asian continent," he said. Endi