This third part of a biography of Jean Sibelius provides an account of his career from the outbreak of World War I, which found him poised on the brink of his 5th Symphony, to his death in 1957. It traces the genesis of the 5th Symphony and gives a portrait of Finland during the early years of independence and civil war. The author relates in detail Sibelius's financial plight during these years, and his struggles with his own psyche. He follows the composer's career through to the 7th Symphony and "Tapiola", and the increasing corrosive streak of self-criticism which blighted his last years, resulting in the destruction of the 8th Symphony.