In preparing for my Luonnotar concert, I have come across a bit of a puzzle.

There are two passages in the text that are surrounded by quotation marks, indicating that someone in the story is speaking as opposed to being the voice of the narrator.

The first section is obviously Luonnotar herself, as she calls out "Voi poloinen päiviäni!", crying out in despair at her solitude and pleaing to Ukko to deliver her from her suffering.

But the second section has me puzzled. Just before the "quotes", the duck is described as arriving on the scene and flying about. Then, within the quotes, we have the text "Teenkö tuulehen tupani" (etc.), which describes the bird's plight about not knowing where to build its nest. The music here has the opening string figurations but in the piece's secondary key of B-flat minor, with strong pizzicato sycopations underneath provided by the contrabasses. It is immediately followed by the brassy climax.

My question: is this second quote block the voice of the duck or is it Luonnotar's voice again, lamenting at the bird's predicament?

I will try to answer this based on my knowledge of Finnish. Of course, if there are any mistakes on my part, I'm sure one of our resident native speakers can take over.

"Teenko tuulehen tupani?" (Sorry for the lack of umlauts...I'm typing on my laptop and it's hard for me o make the umlauts on this keyboard.)

I would suggest that this is the duck talking. If he is flying around looking for a place to make his nest, he is obviously having a hard time because he asks "Shall I make my dwelling in the wind?" In other words, since he can't find a solid place to settle down, he is saying, with some amount of cynicism, that he might have to settle for creating his home in the wind/air.

Please let me know if I'm wrong, my Finnish friends!

My translation of the Kalevala (by Keith Bosley) indicates the same thing, translating the full quote as:

Shall I build my cabin on the wind
my dwelling place on the billows?
The wind will fell the cabin
the billow will bear off my dwelling.

I had checked this before I asked, but I thought maybe someone may have had (or may still have) another interpretation. The reason I ponder this is the musical context against which these lines are set. Underneath the text is the quietly agitated murmur of the string figurations that are used to describe Luonnotar herself at the beginning of the piece. That's why I thought it may be Luonnotar lamenting for the bird's sake.

Two more questions:

1. Any thoughts on the 3 "Ei" calls that precede this verse? They are not wrapped in quotation marks... who is calling?

2. Is it Luonnotar's shoulder or knee that the bird rests on? In the Kalevala, both are suggested. This kind of substitution or replacement of one term by another, sometimes contrasting or even contradictory, is found throughout the Kalevala. When one becomes used to this story-telling technique, it creates an aura of ancient times, stressing the point that someone today is telling us a story of long ago, so that the details have become blurry through the ages. That said, is there a definitive concensus on this? Shoulder or knee?

Kurki and Tapkaara are right, "duck" speaks. In Kalevala the bird is

"sotka". In Enlish "common goldeneye".

Duck is different, I think (Donald D. comes to mind).

1. don`t know. have to get the score.

2.Knee.

In Kalevala everything is said twice in different words, as I think, Kurki also means.


"Shall I build my cabin on the wind
my dwelling place on the billows?
The wind will fell the cabin
the billow will bear off my dwelling."


So, Luonnotar raised her knee from the sea, then scapula, or scapular or shoulder blade (lapaluu). Shoulder ( olkapää) is not mentioned.

"...
nosti polvea merestä, lapaluuta lainehesta"

Then the bird lands on the knee:

"Lentelevi, liitelevi, päähän polven laskeuvi."

So, ornithology and anatomy are also needed here!

Tupa is a good word. It is a general word for dwelling if I'm not misteken, but maybe an old word for cabin? Can tupa also mean tent, or teepee? I seemto recall that from somewhere.

In modern Finnish, "cabin" is mökki, as in "summer cottage": kesämökki.

In the Sami language, a word for "dwelling" is kota, which is similar to the modern Finnish koti which means "home."

Eläköön suomen kieli!!!

Thanks for all of this, fellows, it is most helpful.

When I study texts in a language I do not know, I always long for literal translations of each word, regardless of the non-sense that comes out. The poetic/contextual translations may be nice to read, but do not give one the proper picture of what is being sung at each moment.

Yes, tupa is a good word - but I think not quite as Ur-Finnish as it looks (Ger: Stube [room] - as so often in Finnish the first s of the consonant group is lost!)

Tupa can`t mean a tent. Tupa needs walls, I think.

Once I was in Tallin, Estonia with orchestra. Estonian and Finnish are relatives. When we got hotelrooms, it was cool because I got a special TUBA ROOM, as it was written in the hotel card. But then I learned that tuba in Estonian and tupa in Finnish are pronounced in the same way...

A tuba room? How appropriate!

Thanks for the info on tupa. Like I said, I seems to recall someone telling me it could be a tent, but I suppose t's not the case.

Kurki, your question#1: "Ei" (means "no") is a narrator`s speech.

The text is freely adapted from Kalevala. Sometimes even a form of a single word is chanced. I don´t have a printed Kalevala, I`m reading it in net, but from E bars 6-8 " kaikki ilman rannat" is not in this place in K.

And for you Kurki, as a bird, it must be interesting, that S adds a word "sorsa" [duck, drake, wild duck] in bar 6 after J.

I am temporarily locking this thread in anticipation of a great post... stay tuned.
____________________

... re-opened.

Upon browsing through our forum, Ms. Jenni Lättilä... (click

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... was so incredibly kind enough to provide the literal translation that I was so deeply longing for. Obviously when read in English, it is not poetically "beautiful", but to truly grasp the correlation between the text and the music, it is the only translation that could possibly bear any significance.

My deepest thanks to Ms. Lättilä for this service. I would kindly ask anyone who uses this translation anywhere to give Ms. Lättilä the full credit that her degree in linguistics from the University of Helsinki deserves.

And now the text:

Olipa impi, ilman tyttö, ________ There was a maiden (virgin), air’s daughter,
kave Luonnotar korea. ________ narrow* Nature spirit beautiful (adorned).
Ouostui elämätään, ________ found odd her life
aina yksin ollessansa ________ always alone being
avaroilla autioilla. ________ on the wide voids.

Laskeusi lainehille, ________ [She] descended on the waves,
aalto impeä ajeli ________ the wave drove (carried) the maiden,
vuotta seitsemänsataa ________ years seven hundred*
vieri impi veen emona, ________ rolled (was in motion) the maiden as water’s mother,
uipi luotehet, etelät, ________ swam the northwest(s), the south(s),
uipi kaikki ilman rannat. ________ swam all the air’s shores.

Tuli suuri tuulenpuuska, _________ Came a great blast of wind,
meren kuohuille kohotti. ________ [that] the sea into foams lifted.

”Voi poloinen päiviäni, ________ “Oh, wretched me, my days,
parempi olisi ollut ________ better would it have been
ilman impenä elää. ________ as air’s maiden to live.
Oi, Ukko Ylijumala, ________ Oh, Ukko Supreme God,
käy tänne kutsuttaissa.” ________ come here when called.”

Tuli sotka, suora lintu, ________ Came a pochard (goldeneye), straight bird,*
lenti kaikki ilman rannat, ________ flew all the air’s shores
lenti luotehet, etelät, ________ flew the northwest(s), the south(s),
ei löyä pesän sijoa. ________ does not find a nest’s place.

Ei, ei! ________ No, no!*

”Teenkö tuulehen tupani, ________ “Shall I make in the wind my home (cottage)
aalloillen asuinsijani? ________ on the waves my dwelling(place)?
Tuuli kaatavi, tuuli kaatavi, ________ The wind will turn over, the wind will turn over,
aalto viepi asuinsijani.” ________ the wave (billow) will take my dwelling (place).”

Niin silloin veen emonen ________ So then the water’s mother
nosti polvea lainehesta, ________ lifted the knee from the wave,
siihen sorsa laativi pesänsä, ________ there the duck* makes (builds) her nest,
alkoi hautoa. _____________ starts to brood.
Impi tuntevi tulistuvaksi, ________ The maiden feels [the knee] to flare up,
järkytti jäsenehensä, ________ shook (convulsed) her limb,
pesä vierähti vetehen, ________ the nest rolled into the water,
katkieli kappaleiksi. ________ broke into pieces.

Muuttuivat munat kaunoisiksi, ________ Turned the eggs beautiful,
munasen yläinen puoli ________ the egg’s upper side
yläiseksi taivahaksi, ________ into the upper sky,
yläpuoli valkeaista ________ the upper side of the white
kuuksi kumottamahan, ________ into a moon to shine,
mi kirjavasta, tähiksi taivaalle, ______ what [was] multi-coloured, into stars on the sky,
ne tähiksi taivaalle. ________ those into stars on the sky.

_______________________________
Ms. Lättilä's notes:

* She had narrow hips, which explains the difficulties in the delivery of Väinämöinen the bard later in the poem.

* 700 years refers to the duration of her pregnancy; this is a parthenogenesis story where the air maiden is made pregnant by the wind and the waves.

* “Sotka” in this poem means a ”telkkä” (Bucephala clangula, common goldeneye). They are two different species of ducks (Anatidae), but people used to call them both “sotka”. The goldeneye is usually one of the first migratory birds to come to the North in the spring, and its eggs were very important food after the winter, when nothing else edible could be found in the nature. The goldeneye (“straight bird” in the poem) has a very straight way of flying.

* This cry ”Ei, ei!” (”No, no!”) is added by Sibelius, probably in order to emphasize the previous sentence.

* The original text says ”sotka” (goldeneye), not ”sorsa” (duck), the change was made by Sibelius.

Kurki, that`s great! Congratulations!

Best regards to Ms. Lättilä.

Luonnotar has been in my mind in last days and today I brought Kalevala home from library. I have just red the beginning and preface by Elias Lönnrot, dated April 17th, 1849. This is the 2nd version of Kalevala, 1st was from 1835.

The lanquage of preface is sometimes difficult, but brings Lönnrot close and familiar. What a vast amount of effort has it has been to collect and edit all this material.

{*The original text doesn`t say "sotka" or "sorsa" at all in this place.

It wouldn`t even be possible. In every verse of Kalevala are eight syllables.

"Sii-hen laa-ti-vi pe-sän-sä."

like

"Va-ka van-ha Väi-nä-möi-nen"

or

"Mie-le-ni mi-nun te-ke-vi"}


I hope all the best for your Luonnotar!

Tomi Mäkelä writes about same things in his book " Sibelius, me ja muut", but strange, he thinks that " sorsa" would come from "sotka, sorea lintu"( sotka the beautiful bird) earlier in the Kalevala.