Song "Pūt, vējiņi" for Mixed Choir as Arranged by Jurjānu Andrejs (1856–1922)

Among the creative achievements of this outstanding Latvian musician was the arrangement of the Daugava boatmen’s song “Pūt, vējiņi“. The arrangement was made for a four-voice a capella mixed choir in B flat major, in seemingly simple diatonic harmonization spanning eight bars.

Among the 94 folksongs arranged and published by Jurjāns (24 for solo voice with piano accompaniment, 47 for mixed choir, and 23 for men’s choir, as well as about 25 of almost exactly the same melodies arranged for a children’s choir), “Pūt, vējiņi” was the very first melody arranged by the composer published in the first volume of the collection “Latvian Folksongs for a Mixed Choir with Piano Accompaniment” in 1884 in Rīga. The a capella version became popular only at the V Latvian Song Celebration on 20 June 1910, when the combined mixed choir, conducted by the author, performed the premiere of this lyrically romantic folksong.

That was the beginning of “Pūt, vējiņi” immortality in practically all subsequent Latvian Song Celebrations and hundreds of Song Days, both in Latvia and, after the Second World War, in concerts performed by American, Australian and European choirs. Just as in occupied Latvia but also abroad, this canonical song was a symbolic substitute for the Latvian National Anthem. As such, it played an important role in the Reawakening and Singing Revolution; it tends to be spontaneously sung at the end of countless patriotic events.

Owing to the international success of the pre-war Teodors Reiters Choir and Ādolfs Ābele’s “Dziesmuvara“, as well as many post-war choirs, “Pūt, vējiņi” is recognized (and sometimes sung in Latvian) by foreign choirs, even if they are unaware of the role Jurjānu Andrejs played in arranging this Latvian folklore masterpiece for choir.

Marc Gaber