Kōrli Stalte ( lv, Kārlis Stalte, born 9 August 1870,

Mazirbe Mazirbe ( liv, Irē or '', german: Klein-Irben'') is a village place in Kolka Parish, Talsi Municipality, Latvia 18 km southwest of Kolka. It is one of twelve Livonian villages on ' - the Livonian Coast. Mazirbe is the cultural capital ...

– died 12 January 1947 in

Fehrbellin Fehrbellin is a municipality in Germany, located 60 km NW of Berlin. It had 9,310 inhabitants as of 2005, but has since declined to 8,606 inhabitants in 2012. History In 1675, the Battle of Fehrbellin was fought there, in which the troops of ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

) was a prolific Livonian cultural activist. Stalte worked as a teacher in Dundaga and Mazirbe, and as a

Livonian language The Livonian language ( liv, līvõ kēļ, link=no or ; et, liivi keel, link=yes) is a Finnic language whose native land is the Livonian Coast of the Gulf of Livonia, located in the north of the Kurzeme peninsula in Latvia. Although its last ...

teacher in Lielirbe; and as a

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. In formal Jewish worship, a cantor is a person who sings solo verses or passages to which the choir or congregation responds. In Judaism, a cantor sings and lead ...

and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational h ...

in Mazirbe. His wife was

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

and he moved to Germany with her when Hitler ordered the resettlement of all Baltic Germans in 1939. Kōrli Stalte died in 1947, in

, Germany. He wrote many poems in the Livonian language (''Livõd Lolõd'' for example) and wrote the lyrics of the Livonian national anthem,

Min izāmō "Min izāmō" ("My Fatherland"; lv, Mana tēvzeme) is the ethnic anthem of the Livonians. The song was written by Kōrli Stalte (1870–1947), a poet and spiritual leader of Livonians, to a melody composed by Fredrik Pacius (the same melody used ...

. His works also include a translation of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

(''Ūž testament'') and participating in the creation of the biggest Livonian language dictionary yet, ''Livisches Worterbuch mit Grammatischer Einleitung''. Kōrli Stalte's daughter Margareta Stalte composed several songs using Kōrli's poems as lyrics.

References

*Marjo Mela and Lembit Vaba, Latvian historiaa ja kulttuuria, Rozentāls-seura 2005, ''(Finnish)''
Livones.lv: Kārlis Stalte
''(Latvian)''
Livones.lv: the biggest Liv language dictionary
1870 births 1947 deaths People from Talsi Municipality People from Courland Governorate Livonian people {{Latvia-bio-stub