Couling, Busoni's biographer, the concerts courted controversy from the beginning: Busoni's decision to feature new, modern (largely non-German/Austrian) music in a city famous for its devotion to celebrated homegrown talent only reinforced the perception in Berlin that Busoni was a bit of a "maverick". In June, Busoni invited Sibelius, his longtime friend, to conduct En saga (he also suggested as substitutes both the Second Symphony and the tone poem The Wood Nymph) at the beginning of November: Sibelius seems to have countered with a choral work (possibly the recently completed cantata The Origin of Fire), since Busoni later replied, "Unfortunately I cannot give myself up to the uncertainty and inconvenience caused by singers ... Therefore, I believe we had better stick to the 'pure' orchestra". Although Sibelius remained undecided between the Second Symphony and En saga until October, he eventually opted for the tone poem in revised form. Sibelius took the decision to revise En saga while summering in Tvärminne (Hanko), as evidenced by a July 28 letter Axel Carpelan, Sibelius's friend and patron, wrote to his cousin after having visited the composer in Tvärminne. Nevertheless, delay ensued: Sibelius did not receive the manuscript in Tvärminne until (at least) September 24. Up against the November deadline, Sibelius raced to complete the revisions in a month, and to save time, he likely reused pages from the original manuscript that required little alteration. According to Wicklund, it is this technique that probably accounts for the fact that the autograph manuscript of the original version does not survive. Performances The original version of the tone poem premiered on 16 February 1893 at Solemnity Hall of the University of Helsinki with Sibelius conducting the Helsinki Orchestral Association; the concert program also included Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite II and Robert Schumann's Manfred, as well as songs by various composers, all of which Kajanus conducted. As noted above, both Kajanus and Schnéevoigt included En saga on various subsequent concert tours. German breakthrough Although Sibelius had overhauled En saga expressly for the Busoni concert, the premiere of the revised version of the tone poem fell not to Berlin but to Helsinki on 2 November 1902, with Kajanus conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Society; the program also included Svendsen's Second Symphony and Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1. While Finnish critics praised En saga, there was a palpable sense the Helsinki concert was merely a dress rehearsal for the