ESTONIAN SONG CELEBRATION MOVEMENT AND ITS LEADERS: THE STORY OF TUUDUR VETTIK

Abstract

1. Introduction The fact that the Song Celebrations form an important part of the Estonian culture, and constitute a pillar of our national identity is obvious to everyone in Estonia. Sadly, this is where it ends. We have become used to viewing our Song Celebrations as single cultural events, while their broader context as the Song Celebration Movement is often neglected. My article focuses on the Estonian Song Celebration Movement, as well as on the activities of Tuudur Vettik, who played an important role in shaping it. Did Vettik indeed become the leader of the Song Celebration Movement, and what contributed to this? Tuudur Vettik is by no means unknown in historical research; however, he has been pushed to the sidelines. Information about his life and creative work reached research papers in 1988, at the dawn of the Singing Revolution. The role of Vettik in Estonian music life has been researched by Helju Tauk (Tauk 1988:89), and Urve Lippus (Lippus 2002:7-78). Lippus highlights the strong ties between Vettik and the Estonian national culture, music, and patriotic ideas. In her book, Urve Lippus points out the need to broaden the source basis of research, among other things, and puts emphasis on memoirs as valuable sources besides the archival and press materials (Lippus 2011:9-10). Maris Mannik-Kirme has done a remarkable job in returning Tuudur Vettik to the Estonian culture. She has studied the activities of Tuudur Vettik and Mart Saar in enriching Estonian choir music (Mannik-Kirme 1982:219-234), and has published a factological review of Tuudur Vettik's biography, as well as a list of his works (Mannik 1990). Unfortunately, these analyses reproduce some incorrect facts from earlier studies concerning to Vettik's birthplace and birthdates, which are very important biographical data (Randjarv 2012:26). Generalisations have also slipped in. In my research of Tuudur Vettik, I have scrutinised the relevant literature, news publications, and archival materials (the results of which, however, only serve as the background for this article). I have also set great store by the memoirs of Vettik's contemporaries, and people connected to the Song Celebration Movement, as well as the handwritten notes and journals in private archives. The latter sources throw a light on the developments and intrigues not discussed elsewhere, as well as on what went on during the organisation of Song Celebrations. Well-known choir conductors and teachers have been interviewed by the author (Randjarv 2012:157-226). The incentive for writing this article came from a recent article by Hain Rebas, which once again pointed out the erroneous interpretations, gaps, and insufficiently researched questions surrounding the Song Celebration Movement (Rebas 2016/1:129-150). 2. Song Celebration Movement 2.1. General facts The historical and cultural studies describe the regular Song Celebrations as extremely important and ceremonious cultural events; yet the relevant repertoire policy, criteria for selecting the Head Conductors, activities of the choirs during the intervals of the Song Celebrations, events for different types of choirs, repertoire training for conductors, but also interpersonal conflicts, intrigues and cooperation, dependency on the national budgetary policy, and ideological trends have not been analysed as organic components of the phenomenon, but rather as a purely illustrative and emotional background. The Song Celebration Movement has several particular features that allow it to mould, and be moulded by social developments. The most important among these is the development of a social network. Although the Song Celebrations as events have been the most visible and important feature of our choir history, their role cannot be viewed apart from their foundations--the history of the Estonian choir culture, and our societies movement. I use the term Song Celebration Movement to signify a higher integrated system where the content and the format of the work, including the repertoire policy, clearly follow the seasonal cycle of the work plans of the national as well as county level song festivals, and those for specific choir types, the preliminary singing competitions (for categorisation), and eventually also the working plans of the choirs. …