Have you ever heard Sibelius speak? I mean, his actual speaking voice? Here’s a rare interview he granted in 1948. Click on the settings cog beneath the video for English translations. Sibelius was two days shy of his 83rd birthday. I imagine he sounds very much like Iku-Torso, the malevolent sea monster of Finnish mythology, who rises from the deep to defend the Sampo in the Kalevala. Clearly, the cigars and vodka have done their work!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NBrwJi4WoU

Some contemporaneous footage of Sibelius enjoying a cigar with his long-suffering wife, Aino: