Metsakukkia Waltz: A Song History

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Metsäkukkia is a Finnish waltz whose title Dana Gruber's dulcimer book renders as "Forest Flower."[1] Finnish library catalogues credit the melody to a composer named J. Brinetti, but they note that this attribution comes from outside the publications themselves, which usually mark the tune as traditional or point to Russia as its home.[2] One undated single-sheet edition in the Sonabile series, for instance, presents it simply as a folk melody.[3] Toivo Kärki is credited in these records as an arranger of the waltz, not as its composer.[2]

Soft-toned color woodcut of a slender figure among stylized trees and flowers in a garden.

Ellen Thesleff, In a Garden, color woodcut, 1925. A garden scene by a Finnish artist, shown for the waltz's flowers; it has no connection to the tune.

The singer A. Aimo recorded it in Helsinki in 1944 with Viljo Vesterinen's soloist orchestra, on the Sointu label.[4] Vesterinen returned to it in 1950 in an accordion duet with Lasse Pihlajamaa,[5] and his arrangement was published in Stockholm, dated to about 1950 by the catalogue, under the Swedish title Skogsblommor.[6] On 6 October 1952 Olavi Virta recorded a vocal version in Helsinki, arranged by Kärki and sung to Finnish words by Aune Haarla.[2] Fazer published that arrangement as sheet music the same year and kept reprinting it until at least 1966.[7] Later recordings include versions by Georg Ots, made in 1958, and by Erkki Junkkarinen in 1970.[8][9]

Dana Gruber includes it, marked as a traditional Finnish waltz, in Waltzes, a collection of waltzes from around the world arranged for mountain dulcimer in standard notation and tablature, published by Fingers Of Steel.[1]

Our books that contain the song "Metsakukkia Waltz"

Sources

  1. Fingers Of Steel: "Dana Gruber, Waltzes".
  2. Finna (Finnish national library catalogue): "Metsäkukkia" (Olavi Virta, 1952).
  3. National Library of Finland (Finna): "Metsäkukkia" (Sonabile-sarja 18, sheet music).
  4. National Library of Finland (Finna): "Metsäkukkia ; Heilini nimen minä kirjoitin" (A. Aimo, Sointu 615, 1944).
  5. National Library of Finland (Finna): "Valssi menneiltä ajoilta ; Metsäkukkia" (Viljo Vesterinen and Lasse Pihlajamaa, 1950).
  6. National Library of Finland (Finna): "Metsäkukkia = Skogsblommor" (accordion arrangement, Stockholm).
  7. National Library of Finland (Finna): "Metsäkukkia" (Fazer sheet music, 1952).
  8. National Library of Finland (Finna): "Hopeahapset ; Metsäkukkia" (Georg Ots).
  9. Finna (Finnish national library catalogue): "Metsäkukkia" (Erkki Junkkarinen, 1970).
  10. Image: Ellen Thesleff, In a Garden, color woodcut, 1925. The Cleveland Museum of Art.

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