Maamme

Maamme (Finnish) or Vårt land (Swedish), meaning Our land, is the title of Finland's de facto national anthem.

Related Topics:
Finnish - Swedish - Finland - National anthem

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The music was composed by the German Fredrik Pacius, with (Swedish) words by the Finland-Swede Johan Ludvig Runeberg, and was performed for the first time on 13 May 1848. The original poem, written in 1846 but not printed until 1848, had 11 stanzas and formed the prologue to the great verse cycle The Tales of Ensign Stål ("Fänrik Ståhls Sägner"), a masterpiece of Romantic nationalism.

Related Topics:
German - Fredrik Pacius - Swedish - Finland-Swede - Johan Ludvig Runeberg - 13 May - 1848 - 1846 - Stanza - The Tales of Ensign Stål - Romantic nationalism

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The Tales of Ensign Stål were much appreciated throughout all of Scandinavia. Up until the time of Finland's independence in 1917–18, when the song began to be recognized as specifically applying to Finland, Pacius's tune and Runeberg's text were often also sung in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Note that in the original Swedish text there is no reference to Finland, only to a country in the north, but the Finnish text explicitly refers to Finland. The poem's theme is, furthermore, remarkably similar to that of the national anthems of Sweden (Du gamla, Du fria) and Norway (Ja, vi elsker dette landet).

Related Topics:
Scandinavia - 1917 - 18 - Denmark - Norway - Sweden - Du gamla, Du fria - Ja, vi elsker dette landet

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Some Finns would now like the Finnish national anthem to be changed to Finlandia by Jean Sibelius (also a Finland-Swede): partly because the original Vårt land was written in Swedish, not Finnish; partly because Pacius's tune is also used for the national anthem of Estonia with a similarly themed text, Mu isamaa, My Fatherland (1869); and partly because Pacius was German. It is also said that he composed the tune in a mere fifteen minutes, with no idea that it would become so important to the people of Finland that they would eventually make it their national anthem. Jean Sibelius is Finland's national composer. Finlandia, however, was written as a purely instrumental piece and is difficult to sing (neverthless it briefly became the national anthem of Biafra). Some people would say that the national anthem of Finland is unlikely to change because of conservative traditions.

Related Topics:
Finlandia - Jean Sibelius - Finland-Swede - Estonia - Mu isamaa - 1869 - Biafra

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Here are the lyrics of the first verse in Finnish, in Swedish (as originally written), and in an English-language version:

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