Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of classical music. He was one of the most popular composers of the late 19th and early 20th century. His music went into playing an important role in forming the Finnish national identity. The central pieces of Sibelius’s music are his collection of seven symphonies. He used his love of nature and the Finnish landscape as inspiration for many of his works. He was a prolific writer until 1926; although he lived into his nineties, he completed almost no compositions in the last 30 years of his life.