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.
- 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)
