Was it Sibelius that added voice to the 'choral' version of Finlandia or a third party?

Actually, here is the story. After the Third Party celebrating the success of this work, the musicians were so drunk that they couldn't play it again the next day. Hence the birth of the choral version.

Honestly, I don't know. If anyone out there knows the answer to this riddle, they will get a little prize.

Sibelius was reluctant to have Finlandia performed with voices. He told Yrjö Sjöblom ‘it is not intended for singing, but rather composed for orchestra. But if the world wants to sing, one cannot do anything about it’. But was persuaded to make an a cappella arrangement combining the hymn section with words by Wäinö Sola in 1938. The (similarly a cappella) arrangement of the hymn with Koskenniemi text was made in 1939 for the Laulu-Miehet choir. To the best of my knowledge Sibelius never sanctioned a perfomanceof the choral hymn together with the orchestral work.

Thank you Andrew B for this very detailed account.

Most church hymn books also contain some version of the hymn, I once conducted a church choir singing the words "This is my home, o God of all the nations"... I overheard a few of the choir members commenting "What a pretty tune... do you know where it's from?"

"Be Still my Soul" is another church hymn version of the Finlandia Hymn.

Sibbe's a cappella version of the hymn is beautiful, goosebump causing music. I love it.

Here another interesting tidbit...

I am a ham/shortwave radio enthusiast. Over 10 years ago or so, there used to be a program called "American Dissident Voices" broadcast on a shortwave station called WRNO out of New Orleans. This show was, basically, a white supremicist program and I'd listen just for the sake of curiosity. Would you believe that the theme music when the show opened was the Finlandia Hymn!?

Remember teh Republic of Biafra that seperated from NIgeria in 1967? They adopted the Finlandia hymn as their national anthem.

This tune gets around!