In 1904 Sibelius and his family moved into the beautiful new house, Ainola (named after his wife Aino), which he had had built for them in the countryside 20 miles north of Helsinki and which still stands as a museum and shrine to its hallowed occupant. Thus began a new phase of stability; Sibelius ceased to be merely a Finnish composer, but stepped back from nationalistic expression, becoming a symphonist of truly international outlook. As he wrote to Aino in 1905 after a successful performance of his Second Symphony in Berlin: “This is the crucial hour, the last chance to make something of myself and achieve great things. My youth has now gone for ever. And I must learn, despite my thirty-nine years, really to work.” And so he retrenched, concentrating the most important elements, melody and structure, into as modest an orchestra and as compressed a time-scale as was possible, a kind of recouler pour mieux sauter. This took time to crystallise; though this was the first big canvas he worked on in the new house, a couple of other pieces emerged along the way (Pelléas et Mélisande and Pohjola's Daughter), and it was summer 1907 before the symphony was ready. It was first performed in Helsinki in September under Sibelius's direction, and mystified those who had expected something full-blooded and extrovert like the finale of the Second. It has remained something of a Cinderella, but with its wealth of expressive melody ought rather to be enjoyed and treasured in the true tradition of grand works in C major.

sources

A  Autograph full score (1907), in the National Library of Finland, Helsinki; only the first two pages, with the first 23 bars, are missing

B  Stichvorlage score copied from A, in the archives of Robert Lienau Musikverlag, Frankfurt; has some corrections in Sibelius's hand

C  Manuscript score of I only, copied from A by August Österberg (one of Sibelius's main copyists and trumpeter in the Helsinki Philharmonic)

PX  Manuscript parts used for the first performance, Stichvorlage for P; only Str for II, III survive, Vl 2 only as far as III 132, remainder lost

E,P  First edition score and parts, published by R. Lienau, Berlin in 1907 (this first printing of the string parts is coded P1)