Karl Collan

Karl Collan, around 1864

Karl Collan (born January 3, 1828 in Idensalmi , then Grand Duchy of Finland ; † September 12, 1871 in Helsinki , Grand Duchy of Finland) was a Finnish composer , writer and librarian who belonged to the Swedish- speaking part of the population.

Life

Collan's parents were church gentleman Peter Johan Collan and Elisabet Kristina Crohns. He attended the Swedish-language high school in Helsingfors , Helsinki.

Collan's first sheet music came out in 1847. In the following years he wrote songs with piano accompaniment by the Finnish poets Johan Ludvig Runeberg and Zacharias Topelius such as Sylvias Christmas carol (Sylvias julvisa / Sylvian joululaulu). His romantic style songs have long been very popular. These included the Wasa March and the folk music Savolaisen laulu . His choral music and military music were also popular. For the Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura) he published folk songs from 1854 and set folk poetry from the area of Savo and Karelia to music . His dissertation from 1860 dealt with Serbian folk songs.

From 1859 Collan worked as a lecturer for German at the University of Helsinki and from 1866 as a librarian at the University Library of Helsinki , which he promoted and reformed. He founded the Litterär tidsskrift , which was published in Swedish between 1863 and 1865 . Collan also edited some translations of Heinrich Heine's works and published the Swedish translation of the Finnish national epic Kalevala between 1864 and 1868 .

Collan had been married to the singer Maria Margareta Pacius (1845-1919), the daughter of the German composer Fredrik Pacius , since 1866 . He was the brother of Fabian Collan .

Fonts

• 1854–1856: Valituita suomalaisia ​​kansanlauluja
• 1860: Öfversigt af Serviens historiska folksånger
• 1864–1868: Translation into Swedish of the Finnish national epic Kalevala
• 1869: Det sjungande Finland