On the brink of a new century, and amid a tense political situation between Finland and Russia, this symphony was premiered in 1899 and revised into its definitive version in 1900—a difficult moment in the composer's life, due to the death of his infant daughter. The work demonstrates the Romantic influence of Brahms and Tchaikovsky, suffused with the volcanic, irrepressible force of a highly personal new language—a combination that met with international success, playing to acclaim in cities like Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, and Paris. Nationalist melodies are developed within the composer's bold and distinctive idiom, heroic and lyrical even in his very first contribution to the symphonic genre.