Arkihuolesi kaikki heitä?

Vielä kerran kysymyksestä cis vai a Leevi Madetojan Joululaulussa, op. 20b n:o 5

Abstract

The melody of the well-known Christmas song Joululaulu op. 20b n:o 5 “Arkihuolesi kaikki heitä” (1916) by Leevi Madetoja has rarely been questioned, even though it exists in two later autographic variants, one from Suvivesper (1924) and the other from composer’s own arrangement of the song for mixed choir (1944). The editor of Leevi Madetoja’s Solo Songs and Duets (Fennica Gehrman, 2013), Kimmo Tammivaara, made a controversial decision to alter the melody in the bar 14 of Joululaulu to make it correspond with the later versions. Which one of the variants is “right” and is it even possible to find a definite answer to this question? From the music philological point of view the answer is clear. Looking at the autographs there is no reason to doubt the original melody. The question why Madetoja’s arrangement for mixed choir differs from the original is more complex and the answer might lie in composer’s alcoholism and life circumstances in the 1940s. The question of the composer’s ability to work during his final years brings forth philosophical and ethical viewpoints with necessary implications on the new critical editions of his works. The composer’s “final intentions” are not necessarily his best intentions.