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Never one to just relax and take a holiday, however, this intellectually prodigious composer actively wrote music and absorbed diverse cultures the entire time he was making a three-year "Grand Tour" of Europe. These travels frequently impacted his artistic life—a trip to Scotland gave him endless opportunities for landscape sketching, and brought him into contact with one of his favorite authors. It also fed his appetite for folk music, as can be heard in the finale to this well-known symphony.