Eduard Tubin (1905-1982) Folía theme quoted in The Parson of Reigi (1970-1971)
Fragment of the opera The Parson of Reigi by the Estonian National Opera „Estonia, conductor Paul Mägi
Released 1992 by Ondine compact disc ODE 783
More about the oeuvre of Eduard Tubin at
Ttanslation of the text: La Folia by Eino Tubin
text:
Wait, I'll fetch my instrument!
I'll sing the newest song from Stockholm
fetches his zither from the next room and sings
Kõik kreatuur, väike ja suur, (All creatures, great and small),
teab ju mis on armutortuur. (they know the torture of love).
Tilluke jumal, Amor Amour (Amor Amour, the tiny god,)
neitsite juurdegi poeb ja kui uur
(creeps to the maidens),
tiksuma põu neil lööb, olgu kui suur valve neil ümber ja lukkus puur!
(even if guarded and caged, and makes their hearts tick!)
Armu eest pääsmist leida ei või!
(From love there's no escape!)
Meestele, naistele piina ta tõi.
(Pain he brings to men and women).
Taavet, kes küll Koljatit lõi,
(David slew Goliath)
armu käes sulas ise kui või!
(but melted like butter in the arms of love)
Arm väe tal sõi, arm jõu tal jõi!
(Love sapped his might, sapped his strength,)
Tallegi arm nii kaotuse tõi! (brought his defeat!)
Source the slipcase of Ondine compact disc ODE 783
Thanks to Sonja Lehtonen-Ayikar for her time, expertise and patience in translating and synchronising the text with the music.
Sonja Lehtonen-Ayikar who studied this opera by Eduard Tubin for her Master thesis (2012) added to the information by Kerri Kotta about the Folia theme and Tubin in an e-mail July 28, 2014:
The plot of the opera, based on a short story by the Finnish-born author Aino Kallas (1878-1956), is basically a triangle drama between the three main characters, parson Paavali Lempelius, his wife Catharina Vycken, and his employee, deacon Jonas Kempe, who performs the La Folía song while seeking contact with Catharina. The original version of the opera, including the La Folía fragment, is in Estonian; however, the libretto has also been translated to and performed in Swedish. The song sung to the La Folía tune can be found in Estonian and English in the slipcase of the recording of the opera (Ondine ODE-783-2D, pages 28-29) and, with the kind permission of Gehrmans Musikförlag, also in the appendix of my Master's thesis (written in Finnish; see the 'liite2.pdf' link at the bottom of the page, Kempe's second repartee on page 220, from 'Kõik kreatuur, väike ja suur' / 'All creatures, great and small..' onwards).
The letter from Eduard Tubin to Arne Mikk on 19th of January 1970, suggests that the composer intended to utilize a poem found in the above-mentioned Aino Kallas' short story for the corresponding performance in the opera, namely, the song sung to the La Folía tune. The poem quoted in the story was actually originally by the Swedish poet Lars Wivallius (1605-1669), even though Tubin was under the impression that it was by the more famous Bellman. The text of the song found in the original Estonian-language version of the opera corresponds quite well to two verses of the Wivallius' poem in the original short story text (the contents are practically identical); therefore, it would seem likely that the text of the La Folía fragment in the opera is a free translation of the Wivallius poem from Swedish to Estonian. It is uncertain whether or not the poet Wivallius had originally meant the poem to be sung to the La Folia tune; the short story by Aino Kallas also does not mention anything about the tune the poem was sung to. Therefore, as Mr. Kerri Kotta and Mr. Eino Tubin have noted, it is possible that using the La Folía tune was the composer Eduard Tubin’s own idea.
The Swedish poet Carl Michael Bellman (1740-1795) also has used the La Folia tune to one of his songs (“Välment sorgesyn”, no. 5b from “Songs of Fredman”); the lyrics, however, are completely different from the song included in The Parson of Reigi.
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Hiiumaa from Õngu to Heltermaa
Hiiumaa is the second largest island in Estonia. Here we are driving the northern road from Õngu to Heltermaa via Kärdla and also passing Villamaa, Luidja, Paope, Jõeranna, Kõrgesaare, Pihla, Rootsi, Reigi, Kidaste, Risti, Paluküla, Palade, Partsi, Reikama, Tempa, Pühalepa and Suuremõisa.
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