Monday, November 9, 2015

The Collection and Publication of National Airs in Finland 1795-1900


I. 

Since the 18th century efforts were underway in Europe to define, collect and and publish what was regarded as the national song tradition. Every country had a different history in this respect. Some were very early, like Scotland, others were latecomers, like for example Norway, where the systematic collection of "national airs" only started in the 1840s (see in this blog: Some Early Song Collections from Denmark & Norway). Here I will discuss the development in Finland until the end of the 19th century. 

This is only an attempt at a short bibliographical survey for comparative purposes. When did the collection and publication of Finnish national airs, - in German "Volkslieder" - start? Who collected them? When did the first relevant anthologies appear and who published them? What was the reception outside of Finland, particularly in Germany and England? I am interested here in the songs including the music, not in collections of only the texts. I can't discuss the different genres of the Finnish song tradition here, but it will become clear what kind of songs were predominantly collected and published. Also the music of Finland's Swedish minority has been left out. This is a different problem that would deserve an own article. 

And besides that I also wanted to know which of the relevant publications are now available online. Much to my surprise most of them have been digitized and can easily be used. Particular thanks go to the Suomen Kirjallisuuden Seura (Finnish Literature Society). Their small but excellent Digital Library (SKS Digikirjasto) offers nearly all the early collections with helpful introductory notes. Of great help was also the repository of the Finnish libraries at Doria.fi where additional important works are available. 

II. 

Bits and pieces of information about Finnish folk culture were already published in the 16th century. For example reformator Michael Agricola (1509-1557) included a poem made up of names of pagan deities in the preface of his psalm-book (Dauidin Psaltari, 1551, [p. 22], available at Doria.fi; see Sarajas, pp. 10-11). The earliest reference to music in Finland may be an interesting vignette in Olaus Magnus' famous Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (1555, p. 141, at the Internet Archive & Google Books):


Here we can see six people dancing and two musicians playing fiddle and bagpipe. It is claimed that this is from Lapland but there is good reason to assume that these were really Finns (see Bartens, pp. 8-9). In fact in the older literature Lapps and Finns were often mixed up. 

At first most of the relevant knowledge about the old Finnish culture was collected and published by clergymen who of course also fought against paganism and superstitions. Jaakko Finno complained in the preface to his hymnal - the first in Finnish (Yxi Wäha Suomemkielen Wirsikirja, 1583) - about the "godless, shameful, bawdy and ridiculous songs" of the bards (quoted from Hautala 1968, p. 12; see Sarajas, pp. 16-7). And they taught the people the new hymns, most of them with tunes imported from the continent. The year 1605 saw the publication of Hemming Maskulainen's expanded new hymnbook with the same title (see a later ed., Rostock 1607, at SLUB Dresden).

From the first half of the 17th century we have two manuscripts of tunes, the one from Kangasala (1624) and one called Liber Templi Ilmolensis (see Old Hymn Tunes from Finland, Sibelius Akatemia; also Haapalainen 1976). In 1701 the "New Finnish Songbook" (Uusi Suomenkielen Wirsi-kirja; a later print, 1730, at BB, München, Liturg. 1331 o) was published. It became later known as Vanha Visikirja, the "old songbook". A year later, in 1702, the corresponding book of hymn tunes, Yxi Tarpelinen Nuotti-Kirja, was printed. This was what the people sang and these hymns of course competed against the old popular indigenous tunes. These melodies were then also often used for secular broadside songs and became part of the popular singing tradition (see Niinimäki 2007). 

Already before the end of the 17th century one supposedly old "Finnish" song - but only the text, not the tune - found its way into a German publication. Daniel Georg Morhof included in his groundbreaking Unterricht von der teutschen Sprache und Poesie (1682, here new ed., 1700, pp. 374-6) a bear song, "ein so genanntes Bärenlied [...] welches die Finnen bey ihrer Bärenjagt haben pflegen zu singen". He printed a Finnish text and his own German translation.
 
Morhof had found it in a recent work by Petrus Bång, professor of theology in Åbo, the Historia Ecclesiae Sveo-Gothicae (1675, pp. 213-4). Prof. Bång's source for the Finnish and Swedish texts was an unpublished report from 1673 by another clergyman, Gabriel Tuderus, about a trip to the Lapps in 1669 (later printed in Twå Berättelser..., 1773, here pp. 15-17) and it seems that this was not a Finnish but a Lapp song (see also Sarajas, pp. 76-82). But nonetheless this piece lived on in Germany as "Finnisches Bärenlied". A century later Johann Gottlieb Georgi included his own new translation in Beschreibung aller Nationen des rußischen Reiches (1776, p. 21, see also the English translation, in: Russia: Or A Compleat Historical Account [...], London, I, 1780, pp. 50-1) and even Herder referred to the song in his Volkslieder (II, 1779, notes, p. 304). 

The 18th century saw a growing interest in Finnish language and culture, the first fennophiles and some attempts at collecting indigenous "folk poetry". MacPherson's Ossian and Herder's ideas became known among Finnish scholars and intellectuals. This culminated in two very influential major works: Gabriel Henrik Porthan's De Poësi Fennica (5 Vols, 1766-1788, at the Internet Archive) and Christfried Ganander's Mythologia Fennica (1789, at the Internet Archive & Hathi Trust; see Sarajas, pp. 112- 320, Hautala, pp. 13-18, Laitinen 1998, pp. 40, 43-49). 

But they all discussed only the texts, there was for a long time apparently no interest in the music. This is a little bit surprising. We should remember that for example the very first Latvian and Estonian tunes were printed as early as 1635, in Friedrich Menius' Syntagma de Origine Livonorum (see the reprint in Scriptores Rerum Livonicarum II, 1848, p. 525). In the latter part of the 18th century music from even the most exotic places like China or America was available in Europe, thanks to travellers, scholars, musicians and not at least the new fascination with national airs since the 1720s. 

III. 

By all accounts the first one who actually discussed Finnish traditional songs was Jacob Tengström (1755-1832; see Wikipedia), scholar, public intellectual, professor of theology in Åbo and later bishop there. In July 1795 he held a lecture at the Royal Academy in Stockholm: "Om de Forna Finnars Sällskapnöjen och Tidsfördrif". This was only published 7 years later in the Kongl. Vitterhets Historie och Antiquitets Academiens Handlingar (Vol. 7, 1802, pp. 265-287, at the Internet Archive). A part of this lecture is dedicated to the poetry and music (here pp. 277-87). He offered information about the old "rune songs" including some musical examples and noted their "mycket enkel och monotonisk melodie" and "melankolisk expression". He also mentioned the songs imported from Sweden and Russia as well as the influence of the hymn tunes. 
 
This was a good start but the next contributions to this topic by Finnish writers were slow in coming. During the following decades it were usually foreign musicians and travellers who cared about music from Finland. The first one to publish a Finnish tune was the legendary Abbé Georg JosephVogler (1749-1814), a composer, music educator, musicologist and organ virtuoso and also one of the most controversial music stars of his time. He was working in Stockholm at the Swedish court as the direktör för musiken since 1786 (see Veit, p. 407) and since 1790 he was busy with an interesting and groundbreaking "project": the collection, performance and publication of foreign national airs. One may say that in some way he tried to do for the tunes what Herder had done for the lyrics of what was called "Volkslieder" in Germany even though he of course was not yet a systematic collector of international tunes (see also my earlier blogpost about Vogler' Polymelos). 

His first publication of national airs, Polymelos ou Caractères de Musique de differentes Nations (Bossler, Speyer, 1791; online at BLB Karlsruhe, DonMusDr 272), offered 6 tunes: from Sweden, Russia, Italy, Scotland respectively Poland but not yet one from Finland. But over the years he expanded his repertoire and he used to play these kind of pieces in his spectacular organ concerts. In two shows in Stockholm in November 1794 he performed one called "Finsk nationalmusik". But it is not possible to identify this tune. In November 1796 - also in Stockholm - Vogler played another song: "Finsk Aria: 'Ak minan...'" (dates from Vretblad 1927, pp. 96-7). These are his earliest known performances of Finnish tunes in Stockholm but of course it is possible that he had played them even earlier in other towns. 

The second of these tunes was then also published in a small collection of piano pieces with variations that was a part of an instruction book for pianists. He used predominantly foreign national airs for this work. We find here also tunes from Sweden, Morocco, Africa, China, Russia and Venice: 
  • "Ak minan rakas linduisen. Air Finois", in: Pieces de Clavecin faciles, doigtées, avec des Variations d'une difficulté graduelle pour servir d'exemple à l'ecole de Clavecin. Par L'Abbé Vogler, Stockholm, n. d. [1798], pp. 12-15 (at the Internet Archive; the Clavér-Schola - with notes about the tunes on pp. 34-49 - is available at the UB Greifswald)

Interestingly this one was not an indigenous Finnish melody but one of those imported hymn tunes that were borrowed for secular popular songs on broadsides (the following summarized from Ninimääki 2007, pp. 108-10, p. 263; Haapalainen 1976, No. 43, pp. 108-10). This particular tune was already known in Bohemia in the 15th century and later also used in Poland and Germany. In Finland it became associated with two spiritual texts: "Armon lijton Engell" and "Ihminen jong Jumal loi". The former was first published in Hemming Maskulainen's hymn-book in 1605 (No. 179). The tune can be found in the Kangasala manuscript and the Liber Templi Ilmolensis (see Old Hymn Tunes, No. 172). The new hymn-book published in 1701 included both texts (No. 193, p. 215; No. 407, pp. 521, in a later ed., 1730, at BSB) and melody was first printed in 1702 in the above-mentioned collection of hymn tunes (Yxi Tarpelinen Nuotti-Kirja, 1702). 

A secular text to the tune of "Ihminen jong Jumal loi" was published in 1764 in Turku on a broadside with the title Yxi lystillinen ja kaunis Rackauden Weisu (["One entertaining and beautiful love-song"], reprint 1828 available at BSB & Google Books): "Ah mun rakas lintusein" ["Oh, my dear birdie"], a song with 28 verses. Vogler must have heard it somewhere and I really wonder if he was aware of the tune's history. Nonetheless this tune happened to be the very first printed Finnish national air. By the way, it should be noted this was a very popular song and reprints of the broadside appeared as late as 1876 (see catalog, KK Helsinki). 

Abbé Vogler had at least one more tune but he only used it some years later when he was back in Germany. In 1806 he staged a very spectacular show in Munich where he played organ and was supported by a great choir. The program consisted of Bavarian tunes and foreign national airs. He performed there - on the organ, of course - a flute concert: the Allegro was a Swiss tune, the Andante an "African Romance" and the Rondo "ein finnischer Gesang" (see the program in Königlich-Bairisches Intelligenzblatt 11, No. XII, 22.3.1806, p. 190, at BSB). This was then published as sheet music, but arranged for piano. At least one reviewer liked it very much and noted that it was "Unter allen Originalstücken das Originellste" (in AMZ 9, 1807, p. 386):
  • No. 8: "Rondo. Ein finnischer Gesang", in: Polymelos. Ein nazional-karakteristisches Orgel-Koncert, in zwei Theilen, zu 16 verschiedenen Original-Stücken, aufgeführt, mit Zustimmung eines Chores von 80 Sängern im evangelischen Hofbethaus zu München, den 29. und 31sten März 1806, für's Fortepiano, mit willkürlicher Begleitung einer Violine und Violonzell gesetzt, variiert, und Ihro Majestät der regierenden Königin b. Baiern zugeeignet vom Abt Vogler, Falter, München, n. d. [1806] (see Verzeichnis Falter, 1810, col. 42 [p. 22]; Schafhäutl, No. 185, pp. 267-8; see the incipit in Denkmäler der Tonkunst 16/2, p. LIX)

While the Abbé Vogler was busy with his Polymelos some musically interested travellers visited Finland and brought back more songs and tunes. Giuseppe Acerbi (1773-1846) and A. F. Skjöldebrand (1757-1834; see Svensk Biografiskt Lexikon) were there in 1799. The latter was an officer of the Swedish army but also very much interested in arts and music. He happened to be a pupil and friend of the Abbé Vogler and even wrote the libretto of an opera for him (Schück 1903, f. ex, pp. 18-9, 38-9, 44-5). 

In Åbo they met both Porthan and Frans Michael Franzén, a professor and popular poet. Franzén gave them a "song, composed by a simple Finnish peasant girl". Skjöldebrand was very impressed. He included this piece - the words with a translation and also the tune - in his Voyage Pittoresque au Cap Nord (Stockholm, 1801, pp. 3-4; German ed., Weimar 1805, pp. 77-9; quotes from English ed., London, 1813, pp. 11-2) and noted that it "proves that the germs of so rare a talent are to be found in the blood of that nation":


His partner and companion Acerbi, himself an accomplished musician, published his own report with the title Travels Through Sweden, Finland, And Lapland in The Years 1798 and 1799 in London in 1802. He added some interesting information about the Finns' music and poetry and even used an original Finnish tune in one of his own compositions which he performed there to a very impressed audience: "the moment we began to play their runa every eye was drowned in tears, and the emotion was general" (see f. ex. Vol. 1, pp. 219-20, pp. 281-4, pp. 300-306; quote p. 283). 
 
The second volume (pp. 325-336) included an appendix with some Finnish (and Lapp) tunes, for example a "Runa of the Finlanders" with variations  in 5/4 - it is partly identical to one of the musical examples published by Tengström the same year and nearly completely the same as the tune from Åbo in Skjöldebrand's book, even though the latter noted it in 3/4 time -, "the Tune of a Song of a Finlandish Peasant Girl, who sung at our particular request at Uleaborg" and a "Finlanders Dance [...] played by a blind Fiddler". This was the very first - albeit small - collection of Finnish music published outside of Finland and Sweden. A German edition of this book appeared in 1803 but unfortunately the musical examples were left out (available at BSB). 

Another traveller, Edward Daniel Clarke (1769-1822; see Wikipedia) from England, had just started a great trip through Europe and he happened to be in Finland at the same time as Acerbi. He met him, heard him play and was very impressed by his musical abilities. But he disagreed with him on the quality of Finnish music. Clarke's remarks were only published in 1819 in the third part of his Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa but they are worth quoting nonetheless (pp. 503): 
"Acerbi had taken great pains to ascertain the history of Finnish music. He told us, that the instrument of five strings, which we had seen, was the genuine harp of Finland, adapted to their five notes; that all their musical compositions, dances and songs, were only so many changes upon these five notes. To prove how these five notes might be varied so as to form a beautiful concerto, he sate down to his harpsichord, and began to play one of his own compositions in the Finnish style; introducing in the midst of it a Finnish national air. With all deference, however, to his superior judgment and skill in music, we thought that he was deceived in ascribing any thing beyond a mere humdrum to the national music of the Finns. All the popular airs that we heard in Finland, were either translations from the Swedish, or they were borrowed from Russia: this we took some pain to ascertain. Their convivial songs, for the most part obscene, were of the same nature. The purely national music of Finland is confined to a few doleful ditties, or it is adapted to the hymns and psalms of their churches. Even their dances are not national; they have a coarse kind of waltz, common in the country, but this was originally taught them by the Swedes". 
Besides his dislike for original Finnish tunes this sounds like a reasonable description of the popular music scene there, especially as he also mentioned the imported Swedish and Russian songs as well as the importance of the hymn tunes. Naturally Mr. Clarke did not note any music but confined himself to a few more short remarks (see p. 522, p. 531). 

Interestingly one tune from Acerbi's small collection won a certain popularity in England. The "Runa of the Finlanders" was reprinted by William Crotch in the Specimens of Various Styles of Music (1808, No. 290, p. 139) and also in an unidentified songbook from that time (No. 34, no title page, bound together with some vols. of the Vocal Magazine, at the Internet Archive). That was a very interesting collection with not only songs from Britain but also from Germany, Russia, France and other countries, a nice example for the growing interest for foreign national airs at that time. 

But also popular composer and piano virtuoso Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838; see Wikipedia) made use of the tune. He was originally from Bonn in Germany, had been a pupil of Beethoven and had already traveled through half of Europe. Since 1813 he lived in London and in 1815 he included this Finnish melody with variations in his Selection of Trifles for the Pianoforte (Op. 58, London, n. d., No. 4, pp. 12-3, at SBB Berlin [with wrong date]; see the review in the European Magazine 67, 1815, p. 436). In Germany it was published a year later (No. 4, in: Douze Bagatelles pour le Pianoforte, op. 58, Simrock, Bonn & Köln, n. d. [1816], pp. 14-5, at BSB). Strangely he called this piece "One of the oldest Norwegian Airs" (or "Vieux Air Norwegien" in the German edition). Ries had spent some time in Sweden and surely knew the difference between Norway and Finland. But perhaps his source wasn't Acerbi's book and he had received the tune by personal communication together with the wrong information about its origin. 

But in the other hand: there was a kind of fashion for Norwegian tunes at that time. Carl Maria von Weber had published one in 1812 (IX Variations sur un Air Norvégien, op. 22) as did Ludwig Berger (Air norvégien avec douze Variations pour le Piano-forte, op. 1812) and Friedrich Kuhlau (Variations sur un ancien air Norvégien, op. 15, c. 1815). I wonder if Ries helped himself a little bit by renaming this tune to jump on this particular band-wagon. His piece "became part of English middle-class piano repertory" (Saari 2009) and in fact this was the first Finnish melody that became more widely known outside of Finland. But unfortunately it remained incognito and was - thanks to Ferdinand Ries - taken for a Norwegian tune. 

IV. 

In the meantime Sweden had lost another war and also lost Finland which became part of the Russian empire in 1809. The same year German scholar Friedrich Rühs (1781-1820; see Wikipedia; see Schröder 2001), an expert for Scandinavia - he would later translate the Edda - published his Finnland und seine Bewohner. This was a very interesting work, a concise overview of the country's history and culture. He also discussed songs and poetry (pp. 323-42) but did not include any musical examples. 

10 years later Hans-Rudolf von Schröter (1798-1842) published his work Finnische Runen. Finnisch und Deutsch. Mit einer Musikbeilage (Uppsala, 1819, available at Google Books & HU, Berlin). This was the first collection of German translations of original Finnish "rune songs". A part of the pieces he used he had taken from the available literature, especially Porthan's De Poësi Fennica and Ganander's Mythologia Fennica. But in Uppsala he got the help of some Finnish students who supplied him with some more, up to then unpublished texts. He even included one complete song (Musikbeilage, at UB HU Berlin, text & translation pp. 82-5, at Google Books) that he called "Finnische Rune" ("En ole runun sukua"):
 

These students, among them Carl Axel Gottlund, Johan Josef Pippingsköld and Abraham Poppius - all would play later important roles in Finland's cultural life - showed great interest in their own "folk poetry". The first groundbreaking Swedish collection, Svenska Folk-Visor från Forntiden by Afzelius and Geijer, had just been published (3 Vols., Stockholm, 1814-16) and it also served as an inspiration for them: "I Uppsala var atmosfären alldeles särskilt laddad med folkvisor [...] Deras tankade kretsade kring den Finska folkdiktningen [...] Inom den pippingsköldska kretsen hörde runor till programmat för den kamratliga sammankonsterna" (see Andersson 1921, pp. 74-87; quotes pp. 74-5). Schröter surely learned this song from his Finnish friends. The words can be found in Gottlund's small anthology Pieniä Runoja Suomen Poijille Ratoxi (1818, No. I, at SKS Digikirjasto). The tune - a variant of the "Runa of the Finlanders" in Acerbi's book (1802, Vol. 2, p. 325) - may have been collected by Gottland or by Abraham Poppius. The latter taught Pippingsköld to sing and play these kind of songs (Andersson, p. 75). 

Back home in Turku, Pippingsköld (1792-1832), a jurist and hobby musician, founded a choir and its repertoire included some Finnish traditional songs like this one. He also set out to collect some more folk tunes but never managed to publish them. 21 tunes - all that could be found in his papers - were only printed a century later. But it is not clear where or when exactly he had noted these melodies. At least we can find here also the one used by Schröter which he already knew in Uppsala (see Andersson 1921, pp. 170-75, 263-4, tunes: pp. 265-72, "Finsk Runa", No. 9, p. 267; see also Laitinen 2003, pp. 118-9). 

Only more than a decade later the very first collection of Finnish songs was published: 
  • Carl Axel Gottlund, Suomalaisia Paimen-Sottoja Kantellele ja Sarvella Soitetteva, Stockholm, n. d. [1831?] (Supplement to Gottlund, Otawa eli Suomalaisia Huvituksia I, Stockholm, 1831, complete songtexts there on pp. 283-309, at the Internet Archive; booklet with tunes also available at SKS Digikirjasto
Gottlund (1796-1875; see Wikipedia), a multi-talented and somewhat controversial writer, scholar, editor, political and cultural activist, teacher and collector of Folklore, published his Otava eli Suomalaisia Huvituksia, a very interesting anthology of poetry and articles in Finnish, during the years 1828 to 1832. The collection of "shepherd-songs" was included in Otava as a supplement to an article about Finnish music instruments (pp. 267-282). There were only 13 tunes respectively songs, but with this little booklet a new era in the publication of Finnish tunes had begun. Up to that point all available music had been published by foreigners. Henceforth this task would be overtaken by Finnish collectors and editors. 

Outside of Finland there was at this time not a particularly great interest in Finnish tunes. In England Skjöldebrand's and Acerbi's publications with their musical examples were of course known and - as mentioned above - the latter's "Runa of the Finlanders" was reprinted a couple of times . Otherwise English publishers and editors remained rather reluctant even though foreign national airs were immensely popular and tunes of even the most exotic origin were easily available. But as far as I know not a single Finnish melody can be found in any these publications, for example in Edward Jones' tune collections, Thomas Moore's Popular National Airs or Thomas H. Bayly's Melodies of Various Nations, to name only a few. On the other hand a certain interest for the words of Finnish songs was there. In 1827 one John Bowring wrote an article "On the Runes of Finland" for the Westminster Review (available at SKS, Digikirjasto).

In Germany the situation was only slightly better. Some poets became interested in Finland. Goethe knew the original edition of Skjöldebrand's book and he translated the French text of the song of the peasant girl into German ("Finnisches Lied", 1810, see Hennig 1987, p. 288). Schröter's book surely stimulated the interest for Finnish culture. Ganander's Mythologia Fennica was even translated into German (Reval 1821, at the Internet Archive). But original Finnish traditional tunes remained scarce. In 1834 a new edition of Schröter's Finnische Runen became available and the following years O. L. B. Wolff included the text, tune and translation of "En ole runun sukua" in his Braga, the most comprehensive collection of international "Volkslieder" in Germany at that time (Vol. 14, pp. 10-11). Otherwise not one Finnish tune can be found in the other relevant publications from this time, like Zuccalmaglio's and Baumstark's Bardale (1829) and Friedrich Silcher's Ausländische Volksmelodien (1835-1841). 

Meanwhile in Finland a new era had started. The year 1831 saw the establishment of the Finnish Literature Society (Suomen Kirjallisuuden Seura, SKS) that became instrumental for the further development of the collection of and research into Folklore. Even more important was that Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884), folklorist and country doctor, began to step forward as the most important collector, editor and popularizer of Finnish "folk poetry". His first attempt - Kantele taikka Suomen Kansan, sekä Wanhoja että Nykysempiä Runoja ja Lauluja (available at SKS, Digikirjasto) - had been published in four parts between 1829 and 1831. In 1835 the first version of the Kalevala, the future Finnish national epic, came out: Kalewala taikka Wanhoja Karjalan Runoja Suomen Kansan muinosista ajoista (available at Hathi Trust & Doria.fi, see Branch 1998). Five years later his second major work, the Kanteletar. Suomen Kansan Wanhoja Laulujar ja Wirsiä - "the old Songs and Hymns of the Finnish People" - became available (at BSB, München). I can't discuss his collections of texts here. It should be noted that these pieces were of course songs that were sung. Lönnrot turned them into literature to read. 

But he was also an accomplished musician and could play the Kantele. Besides all these numerous texts he managed to collect some tunes (see Laitinen 2003, pp. 107-160). A small booklet of melodies - only 9 pages with 42 pieces - was added to the third volume of the Kanteletar
  • Elias Lönnrot, Suomen Laulujen ja Runojen Nuotteja, [Suimen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki, 1840] (available at SKS, Digikirjasto; the complete texts of the tunes Nos. 1-22 can be found in Kanteletaar 1, pp. ix-xli
This should remain Lönnrot's only musical publication. But during the next decades some more tune collections were published, most of them initiated and sponsored by the SKS: 
  • [Henrik August Reinholm (ed.) & Karl Collan (arr.)], Suomen Kansan Laulantoja. Pianolla Soitettavia, Suomem Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki, 1849, available at SKS Digikirjasto; BSB, München, 4 Mus.pr. 480-1 [now also at the Internet Archive]; HU Berlin, Zr 54850
  • Valituita Suomalaisia Kansan-Lauluja, 4 Vols, Öhman [2-4: G. W. Edlund], Helsinki, 1854
    1: Pianon muka-soinolle sovittanut Karl Collan, 1854
    2: ko'onut Wilhelm Poppius, Pianon muka-soinolle ja moni-äänisiksi sovittanut Rudolf Lagi, 1855
    3: Pianon muka-soinolle ja moni-äänisiksi sovittanut Karl Collan, 1855
    4: ko'onut Joh. Filip von Schantz, Pianon muka-soinolle ja moni-äänisiksi sovittanut, 1855
    (available at SKS Digikirjasto; 2 sets made up of copies of the 2nd resp. 3rd ed. of this work are available at Sibley Music Library: http://hdl.handle.net/1802/14129; http://hdl.handle.net/1802/14153; the latter now also at the Internet Archive
  • F. V. Illberg, Suomalaisia Kansan-Lauluja ja Soitelmia. Finska Folkvisor och Melodier, F. W. Liewendal, n. d. [1867] (available at SKS Digikirjasto
  • Lauri Hämäläinen, Suomalaisia Kansanlauluja ja Tanssia, G. W. Edlund, Helsingfors, 1868 (not yet digitized; see Happanen, p. 231; catalog KBK
Henrik August Reinholm (1819-1883; see Wikipedia), a clergyman interested in ethnography, went on a field-trip in 1847 - together with David Europaeus (1820-1884), another notable collector and scholar - and managed to note some tunes. 20 songs including the melodies can be found in his little booklet published by the SKS. The arrangements - for piano and vocals - were written by Karl Collan (1828-1871; see Hillila 1997, pp. 46-7; Wikipedia), a young man who would later become known as a composer of songs. But he also made himself a name as scholar, editor, librarian and translator. His dissertation was about Serbian Folk ballads (1860) and he translated the Kalevala into Swedish (1864-1868, at the Internet Archive). 

In 1854 Collan as well as two other young students - Wilhelm Poppius and Filip von Schantz (1835-1865; see Hillila 1997, pp. 365-6) - set out to collect more songs and tunes. This field-trip was also sponsored by the SKS. Their four booklets with "selected Finnish national songs" arranged for vocals and piano or for choirs seem to have been quite successful. A third edition appeared in the 70s. Interestingly we can find here a version of "Ah! mun rakas lintuisen" (Vol. 2, p. 10), the tune of which had been first published by the Abbé Vogler in 1798. This means that this particular song was still in use at that time. 
 
During the 60s both Frederik Wilhelm Illberg (1836-1904), a singing teacher, and young composer Lauri Hämäläinen (1832-1888; see Wikipedia) also collected tunes and expanded the repertoire with their publications. At this point a reasonable amount of traditional melodies had become available.

It is also interesting to have a look at a representative collection of Finnish songs published at that time:
  • Det Sjungande Finland. 50 Inhemska Sånger vid Pianoforte, 3 Vols., K. E. Holm, Helsingfors, 1869-76 (available at Doria.fi: Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3; also at the Internet Archive
Here we can find not only works by popular composers like Karl Collan and Frederik Pacius but also some traditional songs, all apparently taken from the aforementioned publications. The first volume includes for example "Ah! mun rakas lintuisen" (No. 41, p. 60), "Suomen salossa" (No. 44, p. 64) and the famous "Minun kultani kaunis on" ("Kultaselle", No. 9, p. 12), the latter one of the most popular Finnish Folk songs. 
 
Since the publication of Lönnrot's Kalevala the interest for Finnish folk poetry had also grown considerably outside of Finland. For example in 1845 German scholar Jacob Grimm held a lecture Über das finnische Epos (publ. in: in: Zeitschrift für die Wissenschaft der Sprache 1, 1846, pp. 13-55). A German translation of the second edition of Kalavala (1849) by Anton Schiefner was published in 1852 (both bound together, at the Internet Archive). Another book with the title Runen finnischer Volkspoesie by Julius Altmann appeared in 1856 (available at the Internet Archive). But original music from Finland still played a minor role even though foreign "national airs" were highly popular in Germany. A look into Hofmeisters Monatsberichte shows that only very few Finnish tunes found its way to German music fans. 

In 1844 composer Carl Schwencke published one tune in an arrangement for piano, but including the original text: Rondoletto, dans lequel est introduit un Air Finois, pour Piano á 4 Mains (see Musikalische-kritisches Repertorium 1, 1844, p. 181; DonMusDr 4421, BLB Karlsruhe, not yet digitized). Text and tune were taken from Lönnrot's Kanteletaar ("Minun kultani kaukana kukku aina Sajmen ranala", in: Vol. 1, No. 7, pp. xx-xxi, tunebook, No. 7, p. 2). Schwencke spent some time in Finland that year (see Benrath 1902, pp. 158-60) and one may assume that he became familiar with this song when he was there. 

In 1851 composer and scholar Carl Friedrich Weitzmann (1808-1880; see Wikipedia) wrote a very interesting three-part paper about Finnish songs for the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
  • Volksmelodien, II. Finnen, in: NZM 34, 1851, No. 20, pp. 205-209, No. 21, pp. 217-222; No. 22, pp. 229-233; Beilage: Melodien aus Finnland; at the Internet Archive). 
Weitzmann had worked for some years in Riga, Reval and St. Petersburg. He had given concerts in Finland and even in Lapland and also was some kind of expert for more exotic music traditions. Some years later he published a little book about Greek music (Geschichte der griechischen Musik, Berlin, 1855, at BSB, München & the Internet Archive). His article is mostly about the so-called rune-songs but he also discussed other genres. The supplement with tunes from Finland is particularly worthwhile and shows that Weitzmann was familiar with most of the relevant publications so far. Here we find pieces for example from Acerbi's and Schröter's books and even from Gottlund's rather rare collection. 

The 1860s then saw the publication of two works that helped spread some more knowledge of Finnish songs, one in England and the other in Denmark. Carl Engel in his important and influential Introduction to the Study of National Music (London, 1866, at the Internet Archive) discussed Finnish songs, especially the "rune tunes" in 5/4, and also the musical instruments. He knew some of the important literature: Clarke, Acerbi, Schröter, Reinholm's collection as well as Weitzmann's article (see pp. 59, 86-8, 243, 292, 359, 387-8). 

A. P. Berggreen (1801-1880), Danish composer, editor, writer and scholar, was since the 40s busy with his Folke-Sange og Melodier, Fædrelandske og Fremmede, a multi-volume collection of international "national airs" ("Volkslieder") with Danish translation. From the start this happened to be an excellent publication. Unlike many others he did not forget to mention his sources and he also was able to add interesting and helpful notes. The first edition - published between 1842 and 1847 (partly available at Hathi Trust) - did not include a single Finnish song. Neither did a reprint with additions from 1855 (at the Internet Archive & Google Books). This is a little bit surprising, especially for a Scandinavian scholar. 

Only in the 60s he began to make himself familiar with what was available at that time and in 1868 he published a collection of songs from Finland: Finske Folke-sange og Melodier udsatte for Pianoforte. Suomalaisia Kansan-lauluja ja Soitelmia ko’onnut ja pianolle sovittanut (title-list on catalog KK, Helsinki). But apparently these 56 songs were not enough for complete volume of his series and the following year he combined them with Lithuanian, Ungarian, Greek and Turkish songs for the 9th book of the new edition: 
  • A. P. Berggreen, Litauiske, Finske, Ungarske og Nygræske Folke-Sange og Melodier, Samt Nogle Fra Tyrkiet og Forhenværende Provindser, Samlade og Udsatte for Pianoforte (= Folke-Sange og Melodier, Fædrelandske og Fremmede 9, Anden Utgave), C. A. Reitzel, Köbenhavn, 1869 (Finnish songs on pp. 23-82, notes pp. 202-5; available at the Internet Archive) 
Berggreen, one of the most knowledgeable scholars of this genre, offered a good selection of songs from the earlier Finnish publications like Lönnrot's, Reinholm's, Collan's and Illberg's. In some cases he combined tunes with different texts from the Kalevala and the Kanteletaar. All in all this was at that time the most comprehensive and entertaining collection of "kansanlauluja" from Finland. In fact was even better and more informative than all the original Finnish collections, not at least because of Berggreen's helpful notes - in Danish of course but nonetheless worth reading. 

From this point on Finnish songs occasionally appeared in anthologies of "Volkslieder" in Germany. Wilhelm Meyer included three songs - all taken either from Berggreen or from Det sjungande Finland - with German translations in his excellent Volks-Liederbuch. Auserlesene ältere und neuere Volkslieder und Nationalgesänge des In- und Auslandes mit ihren eigenthümlichen Sangweisen (Hannover, 1873, No. 34, p. 34; Nos. 44-5, pp. 45-6). Two of these three pieces can also be found in O. H. Lange's Ausländischer Liederschatz (Leipzig, n. d. [1886], Nos. 66-7, pp. 79-80).
 
Hans Reimann used some more - all in all 10 pieces - in his Internationales Volksliederbuch. Eine Sammlung ausländischer Volkslieder (Berlin, n. d. [1894], I, pp. 65-8; II, pp. 58-63; III, pp. 48-54). But these were exceptions. For reasons I don't understand editors of songbooks in Germany rarely cared about "Volkslieder" from Finland. In Britain it was not much different. There is one lone Finnish piece in James Duff Brown's and Alfred Moffat's Characteristic Songs and Dances of all Nations (London, 1901, p. 147), "Finland's Forest", which is a translation of "Suomen salossa". 

Meanwhile in Finland more collections were published: 
  • Suomalaisia Kansan-Lauluja. Koonut A. A. Borenius. Pianon myotäilykselle sovittanut G. Linsén, K. E. Holm, Helsinki, 1880 (available at SKS Digikirjasto
  • Sydän-Soumesta. 18 Kansanlauluja kesällä 1890 kokosivat Ilmari Krohn ja Mikko Nyberg sekä-Köorille sovitti Ilmari Krohn, 2 Vols., Porvoo, 1891-2 (available at SKS Digikirjasto
  • Johan Victor Tenkanen, Sävelsointuja. Uusia Suomalaisia Kansanlauluja y. m. Koonnut, Kvartetille ja sekä-ääniselle köörille Sovittanut, Mikkeli, 1898 (available at SKS Digikirjasto)
Most interesting here is the very first work by Ilmari Krohn (1867-1960) who would become the most important scholar, collector and editor of Finnish traditional music and songs. At that time Finnish folkloristics happened to be some kind of family business. His father Julius Krohn was an influential scholar in this field and his brother Kaarle Krohn became even more important. Everyone who ever studied folk narrative research knows their names and their work. Ilmari Krohn decided for musicology and took care of musical side of Finnish folk culture. Among his works were a groundbreaking dissertation about religious folk tunes, Über Art und Entstehung der geistlichen Volksmelodien in Finnland (in: Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Aikakauskirja 16, Helsinki, 1899, pp. 1-98) and an influential article about the classification of traditional melodies (in: Sammelbände der Internationalen Musik-Gesellschaft 4, 1902-1903, pp. 634-645). 

Together with his colleagues Armas Launis - author of another standard work: Über Art, Entstehung und Verbreitung der Estnisch-Finnischen Runenmelodien, Helsinki, 1910 (available at the Internet Archive) - and A. O. Väisänen he edited Suomen Kansan Sävelmiä [Tunes of the Finnish People], published in five massive volumes between 1893 and 1933, with around 9000 pieces (see f. ex. Vol. 2, 1904, available at the Internet Archive; see Suomem Kansan eSävelmät, About the Digital Archive of Finnish Folk Tunes). 

But this is another story I can't discuss here (see Haapanen 1939, pp. 232-6, a short overview). Nonetheless it should be noted that in 1917 Väisanen reported that up to that year more than 15000 tunes had been collected (dto. p. 231). This is an impressive number and it shows that the interest in these tunes had been steadily growing since the earliest attempts at collecting a century ago. But the focus has always been on the texts and they were collected in much greater numbers. The quasi-official edition of Finnish Kalevala-meter poetry - Suomen Kansat Vanhat Runot - was published between 1908 and 1948 in 33 volumes (see some early vols. at the Internet Archive). And outside of Finland Lönnrot's Kalevala left a much greater and much more lasting impression than the musical tradition or any particular song, at least during the 19th century. 

Literature:
  • Joseph [i. e. Giuseppe] Acerbi, Travels Through Sweden, Finland, Lapland, to the North Cape, in The Years 1798 and 1799, 2 Vols., J. Mawman, London, 1802 (available at the Internet Archive: Vol. 1, Vol. 2)
  • Joseph [i. e. Giuseppe] Acerbi, Reise durch Schweden und Finnland, bis an die äußersten Gränzen von Lappland, in den Jahren 1798 und 1799. Aus dem Englischen übersetzt von Ch. Weyland. Nebst berichtigenden Bemerkungen eines sachkundigen Gelehrten. Mit zwei Kupfern und einer Landkarte, Voss, Berlin, 1803 (available at BStB, München
  • Otto Andersson, Johan Josef Pippingsköld och Musiklivet i Abo 1808-1827, Helsingfors, 1921 (available at the Internet Archive
  • Anneli Asplund, The Oldest Finnish Broadside Ballads and Their Influence on Oral Tradition, in: Pentti Leino (ed.), Finnish Folkloristics II, Helsinki, 1975 (= Studia Fennica 18), pp. 116-138 
  • H. Benrath (ed.), Carl Schwencke, Erinnerungen, Hamburg, 1901 (available at the Internet Archive
  • Michael Branch, Finnish Oral Poetry, Kalevala, and Kanteletar, in: George C. Schoolfield (ed.), A History of Finlands Literature, Lincoln, 1998, pp. 4-33 
  • Hans-Hermann Bartens, Der Joik und die Musik der Lappen im Urteil älterer Quellen, vornehmlich Reiseberichten, in: Evgenji A. Chelimskij, Wŭśa wŭśa - sei gegrüßt! Beiträge zur Finnougristik zu Ehren von Gert Sauer dargebracht zu seinem siebzigsten Geburtstag, Wiebaden, 2002, pp. 1-64 
  • Edward Daniel Clarke, Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa, Part the Third, T. Cadell & W. Davies, London, 1819 (available at Doria.fi & the Internet Archive
  • William Crotch, Specimens of Various Styles of Music referred to in A Course of Lectures, read at Oxford & London and Adapted to keyed Instruments, Vol. 1, London, n. d. [1808] (available at the Internet Archive
  • Denkmäler Deutscher Tonkunst. Zweite Folge. Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Bayern 16. Mannheimer Kammermusik des 18. Jahrhunderts, 2. Teil, eingel. und hg. v. Hugo Riemann, Leipzig 1915 (at BSB
  • Carl Engel, An Introduction to the Study of National Music Combining Researches into Popular Songs, Traditions, and Customs, London, 1866 (available at the Internet Archive
  • T. I. Haapalainen, Die Choralhandschrift von Kangasala aus dem Jahre 1624. Die Melodien und ihre Herkunft, Åbo, 1976 (Acta Academia Aboensis. Ser. A: Humaniora 53) 
  • Toivo Happanen, Die musikwissenschaftliche Forschung in Finnland, in: Archiv für Musikforschung 4, 1939, pp. 230-243 (available at the Internet Archive
  • Jouko Hautala, Finnish Folklore Research 1828-1918, Helsinki, 1968 (The History of Learning and Science in Finland 1828-1918) 
  • John Hennig, Goethes Schwedenlektüre, in: ibid., Goethes Europakunde. Goethes Kenntnisse des nichtdeutschsprachigen Europas. Ausgewählte Aufsätze, Amsterdam, 1987, pp. 275-291 (first publ. in Zeitschrift für Religions-und Geistesgeschichte 28, 1976, pp. 324-340) 
  • Ruth-Esther Hillila & Barbara Blanchard Hong, Historical Dictionary of the Music and Musicians of Finland, Westport & London, 1997 
  • Kai Laitinen, Literature of Finland. An Outline, Helsinki, 1985 
  • Kai Laitinen & George C. Schoolfield, New Beginnings, Latin and Finnish, in: George C. Schoolfield (ed.), A History of Finlands Literature, Lincoln, 1998, pp. 34-62 
  • Heikki Laitinen, Matkoja musiikiin 1800-luvun Suomessa, Hum. Diss., Tampereen Yliopisto, Tampere, 2003 (Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 943) (at Tampereen Yliopisto, Julkaisoarkisto
  • Ernest J. Moyne, Raising The Wind. The Legend of Lapland and Finland Wizards in Literature, Edited by Wayne T. Kime, Newark, 1981 
  • Pirjo-Liisa Niinimäki, Saa Veisata Omalla Pulskalla Nuottillansa. Riimillisen laulun varhaisvauhet suomalaisissa arkkiveusuissa 1643-1809, Hum. Diss., Tampereen Yliopisto, 2007 (Suomen Etnomusikologisen Seuran Julkaisuja 14) (available at Tampereen Yliopisto, Julkaisuarkisto
  • Friedrich Rühs, Finnland und seine Bewohner, Göschen, Leipzig, 1809 (available at the Internet Archive)
  • Annamari Sarajas, Suomen Kansanrunouden Tuntemus 1500 - 1700-lukujen kirjallisuudessa, Helsinki, 1956
  • Henrik Schück (ed.), Excellensen Grefve A. F. Skjöldebrands Memoarer. Andra Delen, Stockholm, 1903 (available at the Internet Archive
  • Karl Emil von Schafhäutl, Abt Georg Joseph Vogler. Sein Leben, Charakter und musikalisches System. Seine Werke, seine Schule, Bildnisse &c., Augsburg, 1888 (also as a reprint: Hildesheim & New York, 1979) 
  • Stephan Michael Schröder, 1809 aus deutscher Perspektive: Rühs' Finnland und seine Bewohner, in: Jan Hecker-Stampehl et al. (eds.), 1809 und die Folgen. Finnland zwischen Schweden, Russland und Deutschland, Berlin, 2001, pp. 229-248 
  • Hans Rudolf von Schröter, Finnische Runen. Finnisch und Deutsch. Mit einer Musikbeilage, Palmblad, Uppsala, 1819 (available at Google Books [musical supplement not scanned correctly] & HU, Berlin; a new edition was published by Cotta in Germany 1834, available at Google Books
  • A. F. Skjöldebrand, Voyage Pittoresque au Cap Nord, Cahier 1-4, Charles Deleen & J. G. Forsgren, Stockholm, 1801 & 1802 (available at Doria.fi & the Internet Archive)
  • A. F. Skjöldebrand's Beschreibung der Wasserfälle und des Kanals von Trollhätta in Schweden und Reise nach dem Nordkap im Jahre 1799. Aus dem Französischen. Herausgegeben von T. F. Ehrmann, Weimar, 1805 (available at the Internet Archive
  • A. F. Skjöldebrand, Picturesque Journey to the North Cape. Translated from the French, London, 1813 (available at the Internet Archive
  • Seppo Saari, Sleep On, Sweet Bird: Strange Travels of an Ancient Finnish Folk Tune, in: College Music Symposium 49, 2009  
  • Suomen Kansan eSävelmät - Digital Archive of Finnish Folk Tunes (University of Jyväskäla & SKS) 
  • Twå Berättelser om Lapparnes Omwändelse Ifrån Deras fordna Widskeppelser, och Afguderi, Stockholm, 1773 (available at the Internet Archive
  • Joachim Veit, Der junge Carl Maria von Weber. Untersuchungen zum Einfluß Franz Danzis und Abbé Georg Joseph Voglers, Mainz 1990 (online at Universität Paderborn, Digitale Sammlungen, urn:nbn:de:hbz:466:2-6908
  • Patrick Vretblad, Abbé Vogler som Programmusiker, in: Svensk Tidskrift for Musikforskning 9, 1927, pp. 79-98 
  • O. L. B. Wolff, Braga. Sammlung Österreichischer, Schweizerischer, Französischer, Englischer, Spanischer, Portugiesischer, Brasilianischer, Italienischer, Holländischer, Schwedischer, Dänischer, Russischer, Polnischer, Litthauischer, Finnischer, u. s. w. Volkslieder mit ihren ursprünglichen Melodien mit Klavierbegleitung u. unterlegter deutscher Uebersetzung, 14 Hefte, N. Simrock, Berlin/Bonn, n. d. [1835] (available at the Internet Archive & Google Books)


Sunday, October 11, 2015

"Orra Moor" - A Song from Lapland in England and Germany


I. 
 
I must admit that until recently I was not familiar with the strange story of the joik from Lapland, published in Latin in 1673, that ended up as an interpolated song in a revival of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice 70 years later. Besides that it also caught the interest of notable scholars and poets both in Germany and England and not at least was set to new music more than half a dozen times. 

1673 was the year Johannes Scheffer (1621-1679), professor in Uppsala and one of the most respected scholars of his time, published his Lapponia, the most comprehensive and informative treatise so far about Lapland, written on behalf of the Swedish chancellor who wanted to know a little bit more about this rather unknown part of his King's empire (see Die Nordlichtroute, UB Trömso, 1999): 
  • Joannis Schefferi Argentoratensis Lapponia Id est, Regionis Lapponum Et Gentis Novaet Verissima Descriptio. In qua multa De origine, superstitione, sacris magicis, victu, cultu, negotiis Lapponum, item Animaliuum, metallorumque indole quae in terris eorum proveniunt, hactenus incognita Poroduntur, & eiconibus adjectis cum cura illustrantur, Francifurti, Ex Officina Christiani Wolffi, 1673 (at the Internet Archive [= BSB]; at the Internet Archive [= BHL] ) 
Of course this was written in Latin but his work very quickly found a wider readership. Reports and ethnographies about exotic places, not only those on the other side of the world but also the European periphery, were very popular. This book, about the mysterious land in the North, according to Shakespeare - in The Comedy of Errors 4.3 - and Milton - in Paradise Lost, Book 2 - inhabited by sorcerers and witches - in fact the Lapland witches were at that time a well known literary motif (see Page, 1962-63; Moyne 1981, pp. 13-69, Wretö, p. 23) - was immediately translated into English and German: 
  • The History of Lapland Wherein Are shewed the Original, Manners, Habits, Marriages, Conjurations, &c. of that people. Written by John Scheffer, Professor of Law and Rhetoric at Upsal in Sweden, At the Theater in Oxford, George West & Amos Curtein, 1674 (ESTC R8773; at the Internet Archive [= NB, Oslo], at the Internet Archive [= GRI], at doria.fi
  • Johannes Schefferi von Straßburg, Lappland, Das ist: Neue und wahrhaftige Beschreibung von Lappland und dessen Einwohners worin viel bißhero unbekandte Sachen von der Lappen Ankunft, Aberglauben, Zauberkünsten, Nahrung, Kleidern, Geschäfften wie auch von den Thieren und Metallen so es in ihrem Lande giebet erzählet und unterschiedlichen Figuren fürgestellet werden, Franckfurt am Mayn und Leipzig, 1675 (available at the Internet Archive [= JCBL]) 
French and Dutch translations followed soon (1678, 1682) and an extended English edition appeared in 1704 (ESTC T146952; at the Internet Archive [= JCBL], at doria.fi).

Most interesting for the readers at that time was surely the chapter about magical practices and ceremonies, "De sacris magicis & magia Lapponum" (pp. 119-139, Engl. ed. pp. 45-60). But more important in a wider perspective was chapter 25, "De Sponsaliis & Nuptiis Lapponum", because it included two "cantiones nuptiales" in Saami language and Latin translation (pp. 282-5).

According to Scheffer these were songs a groom sings when he "makes a visit to his Mistress, to whom while he is travelling he solaces himself with a Love Song, and diverts the wearisomness of his journey". The first one was to "incourage their Raindeers to travel nimbly along" on the way to their bride and the other one "they use too at other times to entertain themselves with such Sonnets, when at some distance from their Mistresses, and therein to make mention of them, and extoll their beauty" (quoted from the Engl. ed., pp. 111-5). 

Prof. Scheffer was of course never in Lapland and he didn't know the language. His informant was one Olaus Sirma, a young man from Lapland who studied theology in Uppsala (see Kelletat, pp. 141-4 ; Wretö, pp. 24-6, Winkler, pp. 131-2). Sirma supplied him with the original text - which he then reprinted, but with many errors - and a Swedish translation which was the basis for the Latin text. The original manuscripts have been discovered in 1888 (see Setälä 1889, pp. 108-18; reproduced in Kelletat 1982, pp. 108-10 & p. 126; see the detailed discussion in Kelletat 1984, pp. 141-53). Sirma also gave some explanations about the performance context and the music of these songs, but Scheffer only included parts of it (see Winkler, p. 146): 
"And 'tis their common custom to use such kind of songs, not with any set tune, but such as every one thinks best himself, not in the same manner, but sometimes one way, sometimes another, as goes best to every man, when he is in the mode of singing" (Engl. ed., pp. 113-4).
"These Sonnets the Laplanders call Moursefaurog, i. e. Marriage Songs, which [...] was not sung to any certain Tune, but at their own Pleasure. The Songs, says the Beforementioned Olaus, they sing sometimes entire, sometimes piece meal, or with some variations; if they fancy they can mend it, sometimes they repeat one Song over and over. Neither keep they to any certain Tune, but every one sings the Moursefaurog, or Marriage Song according to his own way and good liking" (not in the 1st Engl. ed., here from the 2nd, 1704, p. 288; see also German ed., pp. 321-2).
These explanations have led most scholars to assume that these were joiks, a genre completely foreign to Western literary tradition and very difficult to translate, no stable songs with stable tunes in our sense but spontaneously improvised "role poems" (see Kelletat 1984, pp. 149-52, quote p. 151; for more about this genre see also Fhlaithbheartaig 2015, at Academia.edu; the first collection: Launis 1908, at the Internet Archive; but see also Bartens 1994, pp. 56-62; Winkler 1996, pp. 133-5, who see these pieces not as joiks but as relics of an archaic Northern Eurasian song tradition).

But as far as I can see it is not clear if Sirma's Saami texts really represent "authentic" performances and how much they deviate from what was common. Nor do we know if he had created these pieces himself - he surely was familiar with the genre rules - or if he had simply tried to recreate what he once had heard at home (see Wretö, pp. 34-5; also Winkler, p. 133). At least his own Swedish translations already show in parts an adjustment to European literary conventions or to what young Olaus Sirma - a "man between two cultures" (Kelletat 1984, p. 143, see also Bartens 1994, p. 61) - maybe thought the Swedish professor wanted to hear (see f. ex. Kelletat 1984, pp. 144-8).

Scheffer's Latin texts - the starting-point for all later translations and adaptations - were then of course at least two or three steps away from original Saami song tradition and the German (pp. 319-21) and English (pp. 112-5) editions of the Lapponia added one more layer with their respective translations. The English translator even tried his hand at versified versions: 
Kulnasatz my Rain-deer
We have a long journey to go,
The Moor's are vast,
And we must hast,
Our strength I fear
Will fail if we are slow,
And so
Our Songs will do.
[...]

With brightest beams let the Sun shine
On Orra Moor,
Could I be sure,
That from the top o'th lofty Pine,
I Orra Moor might see,
I to his highest bow would climb,
And with industrious labor try,
Thence to descry
My Mistress, of that there she be.
[...] 
Here these "songs" were already completely adapted to European literary conventions and taste. They had become typical love poems that were in content, style and form far away from what may have been their original shape. Only the "Rain-deer" respectively "Orra Moor" - the lake - remained to signify the exotic background. 

This idealized image of Lapp poetry of course led to some disappointments among later travelers. When Giusseppe Acerbi from Italy and the Swedish Colonel Skjöldebrand - who both surely were familiar with Scheffer's Lapponia - went to Lapland in 1799 they looked out for these kind of songs, but - naturally - couldn't find any: 
"Some very pleasing love songs have been attributed to the Laplanders, and I will not dispute the fact; but I can assert that all those we asked for such knew of none" (Skjöldebrand 1813, p. 170; see first Swedish ed., in French, Stockholm 1801, p. 40, at the Internet Archive). 
What they heard didn't impress them, like the "barbarous air" that could only be noted with "much trouble [...] the Laplanders of these countries have no other" (dto.; see also Acerbi 1802, pp. 66-7).


II. 

It was the song referring to "Orra moor" that became very popular in Germany and England during the 18th century. Poets created new adaptations (see the overviews by Farley 1908, at the Internet Archive & Wright 1918, at the Internet Archive, Kelletat 1984, p. 180) and composers wrote new musical settings. Scholars of "national songs" and "Volkslieder" used it as an example of poetry and song by an exotic people. Scheffer's Lapponia became an important reference point and source for Herder and his colleagues like other classics of this genre: the two Brazilian songs in Montaigne's essay No. 30, De Cannibales (1590, here pp. 323-5), Carcilasso De la Vega's Comentarios Reales with the famous Peruvian text (1609, p. 53), the songs of Canadian natives in Sagard's Le Grand Voyage Du Pays Des Hurons (1632, here in Histoire du Canada, 1636, pp. 310ff) and - to take one European example - the Estonian song in Kelch's Liefländischer Historia (1695, pp. 14-5). 

The first new German translation as well as a poetological analysis appeared in 1682 in Daniel Georg Morhof's Unterricht von der Teutschen Sprache und Poesie (here new edition, 1700, pp. 378-9; see Kelletat 1984, pp. 153-6, Wretö, pp. 38-9). Morhof's book was an early and very influential attempt at a history of German and European literature. We find his discussion of this song in the chapter about Nordic literature, besides am equally exotic Finnish song. In this context he also presented the above-mentioned Peruvian song. He can be seen as an early progenitor of later scholars of "popular poetry". Herder knew his work very well.
 
In England it lasted a little bit longer and only in 1712 a new adaptation was published in Joseph Addison's Spectator, a short-lived, but very influential periodical (No. 366, April 30, here in a later edition, Dublin 1739, pp. 183-5). Addison himself had already written groundbreaking articles about old English ballads (1711, Nos. 70 & 74, here in a later ed., pp. 283-289, pp. 301-307). Therefore it is no wonder that foreign and exotic "popular poetry" also found a place in his paper. This adaptation was most likely created by Sir Richards Steele (1672-1729), co-editor of the Spectator. He introduced one significant variation: "Orra Moor", the name of the lake, mutated into a girl's name: 
I. Thou rising Sun, whose gladsome Ray
Invites my Fair to Rural Play,
Dispel the Mist, and clear the Skies,
And bring my Orra to my Eyes.

II. Oh! were I sure my Dear to view,
I'd climb that Pine-Trees topmost Bough,
Aloft in Air that quivering plays,
And round and round for ever gaze.

III. My Orra Moor, where art thou laid?
What Wood conceals my sleeping Maid?
Fast by the Roots enrag'd I'll tear
The Trees that hide my promised Fair.

IV. Oh! I cou'd ride the Clouds and Skies,
Or on the Raven's Pinions rise:
Ye Storks, ye Swans, a moment stay,
And waft a Lover on his Way.

V. My Bliss too long my Bride denies,
Apace the wasting Summer flies:
Nor yet the wintry Blasts I fear,
Not Storms or Night shall keep me here.

VI. What may for Strength with Steel compare?
Oh! Love has Fetters stronger far:
By Bolts of Steel are Limbs confin'd,
But cruel Love enchains the Mind.

VII. No longer then perplex thy Breast,
When Thoughts torment, the first are best;
'Tis mad to go, 'tis Death to stay,
Away to Orra, haste away. 
The introductory remarks sound very strange. Apparently he didn't expect the people in the cold North to produce this kind of love-song: 
"I was agreeable surpriz'd to find a Spirit of Tenderness and poetry in a Region which I never suspected of such Delicacy [...] But a Lapland Lyric breathing Sentiments of Love and Poetry, not unworthy old Greece and Rome; a regular Ode from a Climate pinched with Frost, and cursed with Darkness so great a part of the year [...] thus, I confess, seemed a greater Miracle to me than the famous Stories of their Drums, their Winds, and Inchantments [...]" 
On June 16 the Spectator also published a translation of the "Reindeer-song" (No. 406, here in a later ed., pp. 45-6). But it seems that not every reader was happy with these pieces. Some weeks later a correspondent reported that "some men, otherwise of sense" thought him "mad in affirming, that fine odes have been written in Lapland" (No. 432, July 16, in a later ed., p. 144). 

There was one more translation, this time by Elizabeth Rowe (1674-1736), a popular poet and writer. Her attempt was published only posthumously in 1739 as "A Laplander's Song to his Mistress" in her Miscellaneous Works in Prose and Verse (Vol. 1, pp. 92-3). 
 
But it was the Spectator's version that remained available for the rest of the century. Not only was Addison's paper regularly reprinted and published again but the song also appeared in a great number of other publications (see also Farley, pp. 11-17). We find it for example in songsters, popular and cheap collections of song texts like The Merry Companion (1742, pp. 133-4), The Aviary: Or, Magazine of British Melody (c. 1745, p. 511), The Charmer. A Choice Collection of Songs, Scots and English (3rd ed., 1765, pp. 11-2) or The Blackbird (1783, pp. 97-8), in collections of poetry like James Thomson's Poetical Anthology (1783, No. XXVIII, pp. 194-5), the Extracts, Elegant, Instructive, and Entertainong for young readers (1791, Book 5, § 26, p. 356) and the Beauties of British Poetry (1801, pp. 275-6) and also in scholarly works: Hugh Blair cited the original Latin text from Scheffer's Lapponia and referred to the Spectator in his Critical Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian (1763, pp. 13-4); Joseph Ritson included Steele's text in his Select Collection of English Songs (Vol. 1, 1783, No. XLII, pp. 216-7).

Way into the 19th century the song was reprinted again and again, even in collections like Kinnersly's The Matrimonial Miscellany and Mirror of Human Nature (Vol. 1, 1816, pp. 523-4) and in The Bridal Bouquet, Culled in the Garden of Literature by Henry Southgate (pp. 188-9). These are only scattered examples and I could easily list more. There is a good reason to assume that this piece was amongst the most popular poems of this time. 

At the same time it also became popular in Germany. The intellectuals there were very interested in what their British colleagues were doing. Therefore the German tradition was partly dependent on what had been published in England. Addison's Spectator was translated into German by writer and scholar Luise Gottsched (1713-1762). She must have been familiar with the original text in Scheffer's Lapponia and didn't hesitate to correct Steele's above-mentioned error: in her German adaptation "Orra" became again the name of a lake (Der Zuschauer, Vol. 5, 1741, here new ed., 1751, p. 240). 

Poet Ewald Christian Kleist (1715-1759) also tried his hand at a German version. His "Lied eines Lappländers" appeared in 1758 in Neue Gedichte (No. 2, p. 16-18). It seems that he never saw the original text but instead created a very free adaptation based on Elizabeth Rowe's English poem (see Kelletat 1984, pp. 161-2). Michael Denis, the first to translate MacPherson's Ossian into German, also included Blair's Dissertation in the third volume of his Die Gedichte Ossians, Eines alten Celtischen Dichters (1769). Here he attempted a German translation of the Latin version quoted by Blair (pp. XVIII-XIX). His text was then used by Johann Gottfried Herder in the important and influential essay Auszug aus einem Briefwechsel über Ossian und die Lieder alter Völker (1773, pp. 23-4). A revised version later found a place in Herder's Volkslieder (Vol. 2, 1779, pp. 106-7).
 
In fact the famous "Die Fahrt zur Geliebten" was not completely Herder's own work but to some extent still indebted to Denis' translation that he used without any acknowledgment. I really wonder why this wasn't noticed by most scholars (also not by Kelletat 1984 & Wretö 1984; but see Gaskill 2003, p. 100). Herder's adaptation was later of course regularly reprinted in German publications and - strangely - he also brought the song back to Scandinavia. Runeberg (in: Helsingfors Morningblad, 29.6.1832, No.48, p. 2; see also Samlade Skrifter 5, 1864, pp. 321-2) and Lönnrot (in Kanteletar 1, 1840, p. LXVII) translated his text into Swedish respectively Finnish.
 
This quick overview may suffice. What we can see here is that this "Lapp" song - in all its different translations and adaptations - had become part of the common European literary tradition and also came to represent Lapp culture, no matter how we judge its "authenticity". But authenticity in an ethnological sense was not what was asked for! An ever so slight connection to the country of origin had to be enough and otherwise a text like this was more or less completely adapted to European literary taste. In practice it did not represent Lapp song tradition but what the cultivated reader expected as such. 


III. 

Scheffer's "cantiones nuptiales" were songs, in their original context they were sung. But what he had received from Sirma and what he only could publish were texts. Therefore it was no wonder that that there were also attempts to set this poem to music, but for some reason not in Germany but only in England. Already the translation in the first English edition of the Lapponia ("With brightest beams") caught the interest of at least one composer. Benjamin Rogers (1614-1698) tried his hand at a new tune. His setting can be found in one of the song collections published by the Playfords: 
  • "Orra Moor, a Lapland Song", in: Choice Ayres and Songs to Sing to the Theorbo-Lute, or Bass-Viol: Being Most of the Newest Ayres and Songs sung at Court, And at the Publick Theatres. Composed by several Gentlemen of His Majesty's Music, and Others, Vol. 4, Printed by A. Godbid and J. Playford Junior, London, 1683 [ESTC R228801], pp. 30-1 (available at the Internet Archive & Nanki Music Library)
I am not sure if this was supposed to sound exotic, at least for me it doesn't. But the title must have looked appealing and interesting. As far as I know this was the only version with this text. Later the adaptation from the Spectator became much more popular among composers. For some reason this started not immediately after the original publication of that version in 1712 but only during the 1730s. Perhaps there was at that time some kind of fad for Lapland. For example on April 25, 1732 the audience at Drury Lane could witness a very weird "Lapland Entertainment" (see London Stage 3.1, p. 209; Memoirs of the Society of Grub Street, Vol. 2, London, 1737, pp. 283-4):


In the following year the Gentlemen's Magazine published a poem with the title "A Gentleman in Lapland to his Mistress in England" (No. XXVIII, April 1733, p. 206). Only since 1735 composers then began to pick up that 20 years old piece by Sir Richard Steele that was of course easily available in reprints of the Spectator. The first two new settings appeared in a very interesting and comprehensive collection of popular songs by publisher John Walsh: 
  • The British Musical Miscellany; or the Delightful Grove: Being a Collection of Celebrated English and Scotch Songs. By the best Masters. Set for the Violin, German Flute, the Common Flute, and Harpsichord, 6 Vols., London, 1733-1737 (date from Smith & Humphries 1968, pp. 59-61; available at the Internet Archive
The one in Vol. 3 (1735, p. 108) is simply titled "A Song by W. Richardson". In the last volume (1737, p. 28) we can find another version by an anonymous author: "A Lapland Song. Taken out of the Spectator". A decade later one more composer tried his hand at a new setting: 
  • C. Smith, Jnr., Thou rising Sun whose gladsome Ray. An Ode from ye Spectator. Set for ye German-Flute, Kitchin, London, n. d. [see Rism, S 3642 [1742]; Harding Mus. E 117 (6) at the Bodleian, [1750]) 
I haven't seen the sheet music but thankfully the song was reprinted in Aitken's Life of Richard Steele (Vol. 2, 1889, No. 8, pp. 385-6). A "Laplander Song" with "the words from the Spectator" can also be found in:
  • Joseph William Holder, A Favourite Collection of Songs. Adapted for the Voice, Piano-forte, Harp, Violin, and German Flute, Opera 4, Printed for the Author, London, n. d., 1778 [date from Farley, p. 17; see catalog Bodleian, Mus. Voc. I, 28 (50), here 1789] 
Around the turn of the century popular composer James Hook (1746-1827) wrote one more new tune. It was published as "Orra Moor. A Favourite Canzonet" in: 
  • A New Year's Gift, for the First Year in the Nineteenth Century, being a Collection of Canzonets for one, two, three voices, Longman, Clementi, & Co., London, [1801] (see the review in Monthly Magazine 11, 1801, p. 56
In 1802 this version was reprinted in the USA, in Benjamin Carr's Musical Journal (Vol. 3, p. 8, at Hathi Trust). Interestingly Hook only used two verses: he started with what was originally the third ("My Orra Moor, where art thou laid?") and followed it with the Steele's first ("Thou Rising Sun"). That way of course not much is left of the song's original content. This was not the last setting of this text, another one appeared in a songbook that came out 15 years later: 
  • "The Laplander's Song", in: English Minstrel. A Selection of Favourite Songs, with Music Adapted to the Voice, Violin, Or German Flute, Edinburgh, n. d. [1815?], pp. 197-8 
All in all at least six versions were published in Britain between the 1730s and 1815. Besides these there may have also been one additional American edition: 
  • Orra moor. Composed & arranged for the Piano Forte by a Gentleman of Philadelphia. Philadelphia. Published & sold by G. Willig 171 Chestnut St. , n. d. [1807]
In the catalog of the library of the University of Michigan (Wolfe 4171) this one is also attributed to Hook. I haven't seen it yet and therefore can't say if the "Gentleman of Philadelphia" has simply borrowed Hook's tune or if it was a new one [22.12.17: Wolfe 4171 has been digitized in the meantime - now at HathiTrust -  and I can see that this was in fact a different tune].

 Possibly there was still one more setting. In a hymn-book published c. 1821 in Baltimore - The Seraph. A New Selection of Psalm Tunes, Hymns, and Anthems (p. 84) - I found a tune with the title "Orra Moor" that doesn't look like any of those I know of. We can see that there was no shortage of attempts to supply Steele's text with a new tune. But in fact none of them sound particularly exotic. Only the name of "Orra moor" and the reference to Lapland - which was not always included - hinted at the song's unusual origin. But there happened to be one more setting where even this very loose connection was dissolved and nothing remained to point to the original context.

IV. 

Here we have to go back to 1741. That year saw a very successful revival of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice (see Cholij 1995, pp. 40-1). The debut was on February 14 at Drury Lane (see London Stage 3.2., p. 889). Charles Macklin in his role of Shylock left a lasting impression. The following season young actor and singer Thomas Lowe (1719-1783; see DNB 34, 1893, at wikisource) took over the role of Lorenzo. Composer Thomas A. Arne had written two songs for him to sing on stage. At that time what the audiences saw at the theatres was a kind of multimedia spectacle with music and dance. It was not uncommon to add new songs to the show and many actors - like Lowe - were also popular singers. His debut as Lorenzo was on November 2, 1741 (London Stage 3.2, p. 939). The new songs were published shortly later in a songbook: 
  • The Songs and Duetto, in the Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green; As perform'd by Mr. Lowe, and Mrs. Clive, at the Theatre-Royal, in Drury Lane. With the Favourite Songs, Sung by Mr. Lowe, in The Merchant of Venice, At the said Theatre. To which will be added, A Collection of New Songs and Ballads, The Words carefully selected from the Best Poets. Composed by Thomas Augustine Arne, William Smith, London, n. d. [1741] (available at the Internet Archive
One of them was called "The Serenade" (p. 12) and here we find the last three verses of Steeles "Thou Rising Sun" from the Spectator. Arne had set them to a simple and appealing tune. Lorenzo sang this song to Jessica, Shylock's daughter (in Act 2, Scene 5) and therefore "Orra" needed to be changed to "Jesse": 
My Bliss too long my Bride denies,
Apace the wasting Summer flies:
Nor yet the wintry Blasts I fear,
Not Storms, or Night shall keep me here.

What may for Strength with Steel compare?
Oh Love has Fetters stronger far:
By Bolts of Steel are Limbs confin'd,
But cruel Love enchains the Mind.

No longer then perplex thy Breast,
When Thoughts torment, the first are best;
'Tis mad to go, 'tis Death to stay,
Away my Jesse, haste away. 
Here we can see how easy it was to transplant a song from one exotic scenery to another, from Lapland to Italy. I only wonder if the audience was aware of the its origin. The version from the Spectator was well-known and one may assume that at least some may have known where these verses were from. Nonetheless: the song took on a life of its own and remained part of the Merchant of Venice for a considerable time. Mr. Lowe still played the role and sang Arne's song for the next two decades. He was listed as "Lorenzo (with the songs in character)" for example for performances in 1756 and 1757 (see London Stage 4.2., p. 561 & p. 616). At that time this piece appeared again with a reference to him in a songbook. The title here is a strange mixture of the two variants and the publisher also felt it necessary to reprint the complete text of "Thou Rising Sun": 
  • Jessy Moore. Sung by Mr. Lowe, in: Apollo's Cabinet: Or The Muses Delight. An Accurate Collection of English and Italian Songs, Cantatas and Duets, Liverpool, Vol. 1, n. d. [c. 1757], pp. 164-5 (ESTC N5297, available at ECCO) 

The song remained easily available. The tune appeared in The Delightful Pocket Companion for the German Flute (c. 1763, Book 4, p. 16), the text was reprinted in songsters like The Chearful Companion (1768, p. 125) and also in Bell's Edition of Shakespeare (Vol. 2, 1774, pp. 183-4). Of course words and melody could be found in songbooks like Vocal Music, or the Songsters Companion (c. 1775, p. 144) and there was at least one - undated - sheet music edition: The Serenade. Sung by Mr. Mattocks in the Merchant of Venice (at Levy Sheet Music). Most likely it is from the 1770s (see the catalog of the Bodleian, Harding Mus. G 13 (9)). 

George Mattocks (1735-1804) was another actor and singer who performed the song during his long career. He sang it first already on May 4, 1750, when he was only 15 years old, for one Mr. Cross, apparently an actor who couldn't sing (see London Stage 4.1, p. 197). He also played "Lorenzo (with songs)" for example in 1761, 1776 and 1783 (see London Stage 4.2., p. 837; 5.1, p. 30; 5.2, p. 663) and many times in between. These are only some examples. Other actors of course also performed the song but I can't list them all here. 

At that time the text was still reprinted regularly in songsters, for example in The Humming Bird. A Collection of the most celebrated English and Scots Songs (1785, No. 354, p. 211) and The Busy Bee, Or, Vocal Repository (c. 1790, p. 233). Even after the turn of the century Arne's song was still in use on stage. I found an American edition of The Merchant of Venice - "As played in Philadelphia" - that was published in 1826. There these verses were reprinted once again (pp. 31-2). This was 85 years after its first performance. In fact numerous theatergoers must have heard this relic of a Lapp song that was at that point at least half a dozen steps away from its original shape and had lost every connection to that little piece first printed in 1673 in Professor Scheffer's Lapponia


V. 

One single text served here as a starting-point for many lines of tradition that then existed side by side. First there were all the translations and adaptations in Germany and England, then all the musical settings, of which - as shown above - one variant ended up in a Shakespeare play and another one in a hymn-book. But at that point these pieces were far away from the original context. I only wonder why it was exactly this song that became so popular. Why not the other song from the Lapponia, the one about the reindeer? Of course there were also translations of that one. I have already mentioned the one in the Spectator. Herder included his own adaptation in the Volkslieder (I, 1778, pp. 264-5) and others tried their hand at this piece, too. But in Germany and England it was never as well-known and popular as "Orra Moor". Perhaps the reindeer was a little too exotic. 

Its great time only came later, but in Scandinavia, where reindeers were more common than in England or Germany. In 1810 Frans Michael Franzén (1772-1847), poet and bishop from Finland, published his Swedish translation: "Spring, min snälla ren" (in: Skaldestycken 1, 1810 , pp. 118-20, at Doria.fi; see Bergström 1885, pp. 12-3). This text was set to music a couple of times. One version was for example published in Germany as sheet music in 1848 as "Lappländisches Rennthierlied" [sic!], as part of a series with the title National-Lieder aller Völker (available at Google Books & the Internet Archive, date from Hofmeister). Later Franzén's text was also translated into Finnish by Olli Vuorinen ("Juokse porosein") and it became - with another tune - a very popular children song that is sung until today (see Kelletat 1984, p. 182, p. 251, n. 121; Nordiske Sange, 1991, p. 53). 

I also don't want to forget to mention that there was another "Lapp" song that for some time happened to be quite popular in England: 
The snows are dissolving on Torno's rude side,
And the ice of Lulhea flows down the dark side;
Thy stream, O Lulhea, flows swiftly away,
And the snow-drop unfolds her pale beauties to-day.
[...] 
The words were written by one George Pickering. But this was a hoax or a parody. Mr. Pickering wrote it after he had heard two Lapp women singing in a Newcastle pub. They had been invited and brought to England by a recent expedition to Lapland. The whole story is documented in: 
  • Poetry, Fugitive and Original by the late Thomas Bedingfeld and Mr. George Pickering. With Notes and Some Additional Pieces, By a Friend, Newcastle, 1815, pp. 125-46 (see also Farley, pp. 17-32, Moyne, p. 92) 
Nonetheless his parody was often taken seriously and this text was also set to music at least three times: by John Relfe (1787, Rism R 1113, Copac), Thomas Ebdon (see RISM 806907169) and William Horsley (1813, see review in Monthly Magazine 36, 1813-14, p. 540, Copac). Mr. Pickering also happened to be the writer of "Donocht Head", a popular Scottish song we can find for example in the Scots Musical Museum (Vol. 4, 1792, No. 375, p. 388). Therefore William Stenhouse included the "Lapp" song as "another specimen of Mr. Pickering's poetical talents" in his notes that were published with the reprint of the Museum in 1839 (Vol. 4, pp. 348-9).


Literature
  • Joseph [i. e. Giuseppe] Acerbi, Travels Through Sweden, Finland, Lapland, to the North Cape, in The Years 1798 and 1799, Vol. II, London, 1802 (available at the Internet Archive
  • T. Bartens & H.-H. Bartens, Lappische Anthologien - Lappisches in Anthologien, in: János Gulya & Norbert Lossau (ed.), Anthologie und Interkulturelle Rezeption, Frankfurt/M. etc, 1994 (= Opuscula Fenno-Ugrica Gottingensia 6), pp. 41-65 
  • Hans-Hermann Bartens, Der Joik und die Musik der Lappen im Urteil älterer Quellen, vornehmlich Reiseberichten, in: Evgenji A. Chelimskij, Wŭśa wŭśa - sei gegrüßt! Beiträge zur Finnougristik zu Ehren von Gert Sauer dargebracht zu seinem siebzigsten Geburtstag, Wiebaden, 2002, pp. 1-64 
  • Richard Bergström, Spring, min snälla ren, Stockholm, 1885 (= Nyare Bidrag Till Kännedom om De Svenska Landsmålen och Svenskt Folkliv 5.4) (available at the Internet Archive
  • Irena Botena Cholij, Music in Eigtheenth-Century London Shakespeare Productions, Phil. Diss., King's College, London, 1995 (pdf available at https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/2935574/397084.pdf 
  • Otto Donner, Lieder der Lappen, Helsingfors, 1876 (available at the Internet Archive
  • Frank Edgar Farley, Three "Lapland Songs", in: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 21, 1906, pp. 1-39 (available at the Internet Archive
  • Sionann in Ui Fhlaithbheartaig, Saami Joik. Culture, Context & Performance, 2015, at Academia.edu 
  • Howard Gaskill, Ossian, Herder, and the Idea of Folk Song, in: David Hill (ed.), Literature of the Sturm und Drang, Rochester, 2003 (= Camden House History of German Literature 6), pp. 95-116 
  • Andreas F. Kelletat (ed.), Brautlied, Kulnasadz, mein Ren, in: Trajekt. Beiträge zur finnischen, lappischen und estnischen Literatur 2, 1982, pp. 107-147 
  • Andreas F. Kelletat, Herder und die Weltliteratur. Zur Geschichte des Übersetzens um 18. Jahrhundert, Frankfurt/M. [etc], 1984 (= Europäische Hochschulschriften, Reihe I - Deutsche Sprache und Literatur, Bd. 760) 
  • Armas Launis, Lappische Juoigos-Melodien, Helsingfors, 1908 (= Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia XXVI) (available at the Internet Archive
  • The London Stage 1660-1800. A Calendar Of Plays, Entertainments & Afterpieces Together With Casts, Box-Receipts And Contemporary Comment compiled from Playbills, Newspapers and Theatrical Diaries of the Period, 5 Parts in 11 Vols., Carbondale 1960-1968 (available at Hathi Trust
  • Ernest J. Moyne, Raising The Wind. The Legend of Lapland and Finland Wizards in Literature, Edited by Wayne T. Kime, Newark, 1981
  • Nordiske Sange - en nordisk folkhøjskolesangbog. Udgivet as Nordisk Råd og Nordisk Ministerråd i samarbejde med Nordisk Folkehøjskoleråd. Damlade og redigeret af Birthe Dam Christensen, Nord, 1991:20 (available at Google Books
  • R. I. Page, "Lapland Sorcerers", Saga-Book of the Viking Society, XVI, parts 2-3, 1963-4, pp. 215-232 (available at VSNR Web Publications) 
  • E. N. Setälä, Lappische Lieder aus dem XVII:ten Jahrhundert. Nach den Originalhandschriften hrsg. von E. N. S., in: Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Aikakauskirja 7, 1889, pp. 105-123 (available at the Internet Archive
  • A. F. Skjöldebrand, Voyage Pittoresque au Cap Nord, Cahier 1-4, Charles Deleen & J. G. Forsgren, Stockholm, 1801 & 1802, at Doria.fi & the Internet Archive
  • A. F. Skjöldebrand, Picturesque Journey to the North Cape. Translated from the French, Richardson, London, 1813 (available at the Internet Archive
  • William C. Smith & Charles Humphries, Bibliography Of The Musical Works Published By The Firm Of John Walsh during the years 1721 - 1766, London, 1968 
  • Eberhard Winkler, Zu Olaus Sirma's lappischen Lieder (1672), in: Ural-Altaische Jahrbücher N.F. 14, 1996, pp. 129-150 
  • Tore Wretö, Folkvisans Upptäckare.Receptionsstudier fran Montaigne och Schefferus till Herder, Stockholm, 1984 (Historia Litterarum 14. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis) 
  • Herbert Wright, Lapp Songs in English Literature, in: The Modern Language Review 13, 1918, pp. 412-419 (available at the Internet Archive)
[15.12.2018: some Links added]