Happy independence day to all my fellow Finns everywhere.

Don't you ever dare to forget that, no matter what anyone says, you live in a truly great country, and even though we have gone through some tough and dark times in the past, we've still always pulled through, and prevailed.

We Finns know what it feels like to fight against a very real possibility of losing your freedom and independence on your own soil, and that is something what most other countries will never truly understand, or have to go through.

Your grandfathers, and grandfathers' fathers sacrificed untold amounts to secure our liberty, and I ask that respect all those sacrifices, and never let them be forgotten. They weren't in vain.

Facts about this piece:

Finlandia (Opus number 26) is a symphonic poem by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

The first version was written in 1899, and it was revised in 1900.

At the time, Finland was still known as The Grand Duchy of Finland, an autonomous part Russia, and the piece was composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the Russian Empire, as the last of seven musical pieces, each performed as an accompaniment to a tableau depicting episodes from Finnish history. The premiere was on 2 July, 1900, in the capital city of Helsinki, with the Helsinki Philharmonic Society conducted by Robert Kajanus. A typical performance takes anywhere from 7½ to 9 minutes.

A recurrent joke within Finland at this time was the renaming of Finlandia at various musical concerts, so as to avoid Russian censorship. Titles under which the piece masqueraded were numerous, a famously flippant example being "Happy Feelings at the awakening of Finnish Spring".

Most of the piece is taken up by rousing and turbulent music, evoking the national struggle of the Finnish people, but towards the end, a calm comes over the orchestra, and the serenely melodic Finlandia Hymn is heard. Often incorrectly cited as a traditional folk melody, the Hymn section is of Sibelius' own creation.

Although initially composed for orchestra, in 1900 Sibelius arranged the entire work for solo piano.

On December 6th, 1917, Finland finally declared itself independent from the Russian Empire.