The seventh symphony in C, Op. 105, was originally planned as a three-movement work. Evidence also suggested that at one point, the composer was considering four. Sibelius planned it alongside the composition of the Fifth and Sixth symphonies, which were also the final homes for material from Kuutar (a never-realised multi-movement tone poem which means something as "[Feminine] Moon Spirit". One of the themes of this work is related to material from the opening "Adagio" section of the Seventh Symphony; this was called Tähtölä - "Where the Stars Dwell") Although his first mention of the Seventh occured in December 1918, the source for its material has been traced back to around 1914/15, the period of the Fifth Symphony.
Before attaining its final home key of C, the Symphony existed in embryonic form in the key of D. There was a time when composing in C was considered fruitless - it had "nothing more to offer." But in response to the Seventh, the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams declared that only Sibelius could make C major sound completely fresh. Peter Franklin, writing of it in the Segerstam/Chandos cycle, calls the apocalyptic conclusion "the grandest celebration of C major there ever was." Sibelius apparently abandoned the multi-movement plan in favour of a continuous single movement in 1923, and the Seventh was completed on 2 March 1924, 75 years ago. Except that it wasn't then considered a "symphony". It was premiered in Stockholm in the autumn of 1925 as the Fantasia sinfonica or "Symphonic Fantasy". The composer grappled with the name (and its subtitles) for quite a while, and only on February 25, 1925, with the publication of the score, did he finally direct the publisher, Hansen, to title it "Symphony No.7 (in one movement)". At some point, Sibelius seemed to realise that what he had created was perhaps what he had always sought in symphonic thought: total unity of musical expression based on the organic development of the briefest of material. The seventh symphony can in fact be analysed into four parts. Many CD recordings of the work make this clear by dividing the 20+ minute work on four tracks. Sibelius did not publish another symphony after the seventh, even though he lived for another 33 years. Pestered by supporters, fans, critics and conductors alike, Sibelius struggled with his Eighth Symphony through the 1930s and probably the 40s. In 1945, he even said that he had "finished [it] many times", but was unsatisfied with it. Eventually, Sibelius seemed to come to terms with the fact that he could not improve on the symphonic perfection of the Seventh. The score of the Eighth, in whatever form it may have existed, was destroyed in the flames of his fireplace around the mid-1940s. A symphony is an extended piece of music usually for orchestra and comprising several movements. ... In music theory, the major scale is one of the diatonic scales. ... Opus is a Latin word which means work (in the sense of a work of art). Some composers musical pieces are identified by opus numbers which generally run either in order of composition or in order of publication. ... In music, a movement is a large division of a larger composition or musical form. ... March 2 is the 61st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (62nd in leap years). ... 1924 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...