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Final years and death

From 1903 and for many years thereafter Sibelius lived in the countryside. From 1939 he and Aino again had a home in Helsinki, but they moved back to Ainola in 1941, only occasionally visiting the city. After the war he returned to Helsinki only a couple of times. The so-called "silence of Järvenpää" became something of a myth, as in addition to countless official visitors and colleagues, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren also spent their holidays there.

Sibelius avoided public statements about other composers, but Erik W. Tawaststjerna and Sibelius's secretary Santeri Levas have documented private conversations in which he admired Richard Strauss and considered Béla Bartók and Dmitri Shostakovich the most talented composers of the younger generation. In the 1950s he promoted the young Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara.

His 90th birthday, in 1955, was widely celebrated, and both the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham gave special performances of his music.

Tawaststjerna also relates an anecdote in connection with Sibelius's death:

was returning from his customary morning walk. Exhilarated, he told his wife Aino that he had seen a flock of cranes approaching. "There they come, the birds of my youth," he exclaimed. Suddenly, one of the birds broke away from the formation and circled once above Ainola. It then rejoined the flock to continue its journey.

Two years later in Ainola, on the evening of 20 September 1957, Sibelius died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 91. At the time of his death, his Fifth Symphony, conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent, was being broadcast by radio from Helsinki. At the same time, the United Nations General Assembly was in session, and the then President of the Assembly, Sir Leslie Munro of New Zealand, called for a moment of silence and delivered a eulogy: "Sibelius belonged to the whole world. He enriched the life of the entire human race with his music". Another well-known Finnish composer, Heino Kaski, died on the same day, but his death was overshadowed by that of Sibelius. Sibelius was honoured with a state funeral and is buried in the garden at Ainola.

Aino Sibelius continued to live in Ainola for the next 12 years until her death on 8 June 1969 at the age of 97. She is buried next to her husband.