Johann Voldemar Jannsen

Johann Voldemar Jannsen

Johann Voldemar Jannsen (born May 16, 1819 in Vana-Vändra (German: Alt-Fennern), Pärnumaa district ; † July 13, 1890 in Tartu ) was one of the most important Estonian publicists of the 19th century and editor of folk song collections. He helped shape the era of national awakening in Estonia . Jannsen wrote the text for the later Estonian national anthem .

life and work

Jannsen initially worked as a cantor and later as a sexton . From 1844 he was a teacher at the sexton and parish school of Vändra . In 1850 Jannsen moved to Pärnu , where he worked as a teacher until 1863. His writing began with the translation of sacred songs. His three main works with 1003 songs still form an essential part of the religious literature of Estonia today. In 1860 Jannsen published a volume with secular songs for choirs under the title Eesti Laulik (Estonian Songbook) .

From 1857 to 1863 Jannsen worked for the newspaper Pärnu Postimees ( Perno Postimees ehk Näddalileht ) as an editor and publicist. She strongly supported the awakening of an Estonian national consciousness. At the same time it offered interesting facts from all over the world for the predominantly rural readership and thus contributed to popular education. In the first edition of Pärnu Postimees, Jannsen published a poem that for the first time no longer referred to the Estonians as Maarahvas (rural people) , but as Eesti rahvas (Estonians) . In this way, he gave the people their name and an identity in recollection of old sources.

In 1863 Jannsen moved to Tartu and published the newspaper Eesti Postimees there . It became an important bearer of Estonian national consciousness, but its tendency was also positive towards German-Baltic culture.

In 1865 Jannsen founded the Vanemuine association in Tartu , which put on the first Estonian-language theater plays. In 1869 the first general Estonian song festival was organized in Tartu , based on the model of the German song competition . The general song festival, which has been organized regularly since then, has remained the focal point of Estonian national consciousness to this day, especially during the period of separation from the Soviet Union .

The house of the Jannsen family in Tartu became a center of the country's intellectuals. Jannsen wrote texts for nationally tuned songs, a. a. also the text Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm (My fatherland, my happiness and my joy ), which became the national anthem after Estonia's independence in 1918.

Jannsen's daughter Lydia Koidula became one of Estonia's most famous poets.

Web links

Commons : Johann Voldemar Jannsen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Johann Voldemar Jannsen in the catalog of the German National Library