Millise lauliku lapsepõli? Laulu „Kui ma olin väiksekene” allikatest ja autoritest
Authors: Särg Taive 
Published: December 2024

The childhood of which songster? On the origins and authors of a beloved song

Keywords: folklore, ethnomusicology, choral music, runosong, orality and literacy

One of the most iconic and seminal musical works of Estonian culture, the song Lauliku lapsepõli (“Childhood of the Songster”), often referred to by its opening words, “Kui ma olin väiksekene” (“When I Was Little”), was composed on the basis of Estonian folk songs in collaboration between Aino Tamm (1864–1945), one of the first professionally trained Estonian singers, and Miina Härma (1864–1941), the first Estonian female composer. The song has been performed in various formats – including choir, solo, and social singing – published in numerous songbooks, and even reintroduced into oral tradition.

Drawing on the collections of the Estonian Folklore Archives, earlier publications, and prior research, this article identifies the origins of the folk song lyrics and melodies used in Härma and Tamm’s composition more precisely than previous studies, revealing a blend of folk melodies – specifically, shepherds’ calling tunes – from Tarvastu parish and the lyrics of a folk song from Põlva parish. The choir and solo arrangements (the latter with piano accompaniment) reflect the influence of European modern art music. The study also considers the broader role of imitation and recreation in the intersection of Estonian oral and written traditions within the song’s development.

The lyrics and structure of Tamm and Härma’s Lauliku lapsepõli are based on Ado Grenzstein’s song cycle of the same name, written in the traditional regilaul (runosong) style. Grenzstein’s work was first published in his Kooli laulmise raamat (“School Singing Book”, 1878) and subsequently included in several songbooks and reprints.

Grenzstein’s version featured a melody adapted from a traditional regilaul tune from Tõstamaa parish and four original melodies in regilaul style, paired with translated and adapted regilaul lyrics. The same text can be found in the Võro language in the first volume of Vana kannel (“Old Harp” or “Old Psaltery”), a collection of songs from Põlva parish, published and edited by Jakob Hurt. In this publication, the lyrics are a part of a longer regilaul titled Mille mull palʹlʹo sõnno suuh? (“Why Do I Have So Many Words in My Mouth?”), compiled by Hurt from two different manuscripts (1854–1875).

For Lauliku lapsepõli, Tamm and Härma composed a melody based on shepherds’ calling tunes (karjasehelletused) featuring the refrain “alle-a, alle-la”, which Tamm remembered from her childhood in Tarvastu. Härma arranged these melodies into a solo song with piano accompaniment, likely in 1891, which was first performed in 1892 and published in 1923. She later created a multi-voice choir arrangement, printed in 1895 and first performed in 1896. The melody with the original lyrics and refrain was published in 1934, though the original manuscript has not been found. Two overlapping transcriptions of the melody (without the lyrics) and the lyrics (with Grenzstein’s melody) of Lauliku lapsepõli are preserved in a manuscript of folk melodies by Miina Härma in the Estonian Folklore Archives. This manuscript was compiled in 1895–1896 when Härma was collecting folk melodies for the Finnish Literature Society. However, the arrangement of Lauliku lapsepõli predates Härma’s folk melody manuscript, suggesting that the song was composed before the fieldwork, based on personal communication with Tamm.

A textual and melodic analysis demonstrates how, within the sphere of written culture, Lauliku lapsepõli has undergone gradual transformations comparable to those usually seen in oral tradition. The article argues that imitation, recreation, and reimagining were common creative practices during the formative period of Estonian written culture, suggesting that the human urge for recreation is perhaps universal, transcending cultural systems.