melodic. Second, although Sibelius gives themes to the Maiden (see first music example), the Bailiff, and the Lover (see second music example), he does not use Wagnerian leitmotif technique in the traditional sense, because these themes are not developed—either musically or psychologically—upon their returns. Finally, 's small scale, in terms of both duration and instrumentation, is the antithesis of Wagnerian opera. Instead, Sibelius may have taken as his model Pietro Mascagni's one-act opera (1890), the melodic, compact, and passionate nature of which had impressed him when he heard it performed in Vienna during the spring of 1891. According to Tawaststjerna, however, the Sibelius opera nevertheless "has greater symphonic unity" than its famous Italian counterpart. Context and analysis The plot as allegory Several commentators have discerned within the plot of The Maiden in the Tower a possible allegory for the period's Russo-Finnish relations. This is part due to Sibelius's role in the 1890s as an artist at the center of the nationalist cause in Finland: he not only married into an aristocratic family identified with the Finnish resistance, but also he joined the Päivälehti circle of liberal artists and writers. "Opera was an obvious choice for giving wings to the spirit of national aspirations," Goss writes, the theme of an innocent maid cruelly incarcerated against her will offered the perfect subtext to the Finnish minded, who had been personifying their beloved country as 'the Maid of Finland' since 1890". Read from this perspective, the story transforms: the Bailiff (Imperial Russia) abducts and imprisons the Maiden (the Grand Duchy of Finland); although she endures hardship, she remains true to herself and is freed subsequently (Finland's struggle for independence) by her Lover (Finnish nationalists) and the Chatelaine (social reformers). It is unclear, however, whether the simplicity of Hertzberg's libretto is evidence for or against an allegorical interpretation: while the music author Christopher Webber argues that the decision by Sibelius and Hertzberg to use "generic, nameless characters" indicates that they were more interested in political messaging than good storytelling. The Sibelius biographer Andrew Barnett concedes Sibelius may have found the libretto too shallow to support a deeper meaning. Opera and Finland's language strife From the 1870s to the 1890s, the politics of Finland featured a struggle between the Svecomans and the Fennomans. Whereas the former sought to preserve the privileged position of the Swedish language, the latter desired to promote Finnish as a means