Sibelius went on to become one of the most important symphonists of the early twentieth century: his seven numbered symphonies, written between 1899 (the Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39) and 1924 (the Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 105), are the core of his and stalwarts of the concert repertoire. However, the standard cycle is predated by two projects that Sibelius, during the compositional process, referred to as "symphonies". First, in 1891, Sibelius wrote the Overture in E major (JS 145) and (JS 163), which he had intended as the initial two movements of a symphony before abandoning his plan. Second, in 1891 and early 1892, Sibelius continually labeled Kullervo a "symphony" ("") in letters to Aino Järnefelt, Kajanus, and Wegelius, before settling on "symphonic poem" ("") for the April premiere—a title that newspaper advertisements and program shared. Sibelius likely "shrank" from the former classification due both to Kullervo programmatic nature, as well as its deployment of a hybrid structure in which a "quasi-operatic ... " essentially 'interrupts' an up-to-that-point 'normal' work for orchestra. Nevertheless, in retirement while reflecting on his career, Sibelius returned to describing Kullervo as a symphony. For instance, in 1945 the City of Loviisa requested Sibelius's blessing for a plaque in his honor that included in its description "[here] Jean Sibelius composed his Kullervo Suite". On 27 February, Sibelius sent the following correction: "Kullervo (not suite)" (emphasis and underlining in the original). Presumably, had he still considered the work a symphonic poem, he could have written so. Also, later in life, Sibelius conceded that in fact he had written symphonies, Kullervo and the Lemminkäinen Suite (Op. 22) inclusive. The symphonic poem appellation has struck many commentators as ill-fitting; an early example is that, after examining the score in 1915, Furuhjelm re-conceptualized Kullervo as an "epic drama" in two acts (Movements III and V), with two preludes (I and II) and an intermezzo (IV). More commonly, however, scholars have categorized Kullervo as a choral symphony, a descendant of Beethoven's Ninth (1824), Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette (1839), and Liszt's Dante (1856) and Faust (1857), as well as a contemporary of Mahler's Resurrection Symphony (1894). This perspective emphasizes the internal cohesion of the work and its faithfulness to, rather than deviation from, established symphonic practice. As Tawaststjerna has argued: Similarly, Layton's verdict is that although in Kullervo Sibelius "embraces concepts that, strictly speaking, lie outside