Jean Sibelius and His Music Jean Sibelius felt very much alone because he couldn't accept the music of that day. He believed that one should be able to make for oneself an ideal by reflection, and thought that modern music did not progress because it marked time without moving a step farther. When he began work on his Fifth Symphony, Europe and his beloved Finland were being ravaged by World War I. He wrote in September of 1914. 'But I already begin to see dimly the mountain that I shall certainly ascend—God opens His door for a moment and His orchestra plays the Fifth Symphony.' But from the very first he was full of doubts about this work. He wasn't sure whether or not he should have begun on the Fifth Symphony. He suffered a good deal for having persevered in composing symphonies at a time when practically all composers had turned to other forms of expression. The Fifth Symphony was completed late in 1915. It was performed on the composer's fiftieth birthday which was declared a national holiday. Sibelius conducted the concert but he was not satisfied with this new work. In October of 1916, he revised the symphony but a performance two months later still did not satisfy him. Why did Jean Sibelius feel alone?