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Krišjānis Barons (October 31, 1835 – March 8, 1923) was a Latvian writer who is known as the "father of the dainas" (), largely thanks to his systematization of the Latvian
folk songs Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has be ...
, and his labour in preparing their texts for publication in '' Latvju dainas''. His portrait appeared on the 100- lat banknote prior to the Lat being replaced by the Euro in 2014, his being the only human face of an actual person on modern Latvian currency. Barons was very prominent among the
Young Latvians New Latvians () is the term most often applied to the intellectuals of the First Latvian National Awakening (), active from the 1850s to the 1880s. The movement was modeled on the Young Germany () movement led by Heinrich Heine. Originally a d ...
, and was also an important writer and editor.


Latvju dainas


Background and importance

Barons is well known as the creator of ''Latvju dainas'', published between 1894 and 1915 in six volumes, and includes 217,996 folk songs. Barons though, was not the author of the original idea, neither did he collect the texts, nor rewrite all the received texts on the tiny paper slips of the famous Cabinet of Folksongs (''Dainu skapis''), though there is a significant number of the slips displaying Barons' own handwriting, as some may believe. Still, his contributions are of no less importance. He elaborated the classification system of ''Latvju dainas'', arranging the texts and introducing the notion of song types or bushes (choosing a text as the main one among a number of similar ones, and grouping the surrounding rest – this allows for easier perception of variation, and saves space in the published edition, as the only differences are indicated in print). Barons had also edited some texts in order to restore their possible older and better form. In recognition of Barons' labors and the historical value of the Cabinet of Folksongs, the work was inscribed on
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's
Memory of the World Register UNESCO's Memory of the World (MoW) Programme is an international initiative to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity against collective amnesia, neglect, decay over time and climatic conditions, as well as deliberate destruction. It ca ...
in 2001. At the time when Barons was working on the edition, the traditional singing had been lost to a great extent; Barons in his introduction to ''Latvju dainas'' mentions that "the sources of nation's memory, as it seemed, filled up and having run dry long ago, started to flow amazingly." He also warns that "the old ladies, our purest source of folk songs, become rarer and rarer with each day". Barons also points at the
Latvians Latvians () are a Baltic ethnic group and nation native to Latvia and the immediate geographical region, the Baltics. They are occasionally also referred to as Letts, especially in older bibliography. Latvians share a common Latvian language ...
themselves turning away from the singing of traditional songs when accepting Christianity, for example.


Publication

On the title page of ''Latvju dainas'', Krišjānis Barons is not the only publisher that was indicated. Besides his name, Henrijs Visendorfs' name was also mentioned (1861–1916). Barons, in the same introduction to ''Latvju dainas'', wrote: "Then in the month of January 1892 I was surprised by a kind letter from
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...
, from Mr. Wissendorff, in which he offered his support for the publication of the edition. We soon achieved our agreement on this." Visendorfs was a well-to-do Latvian
merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...
, with his own office at the famous St. Petersburg Gostinnij Dvor. He had gotten interested in
Latvian culture The culture of Latvia combines traditional Latvian and Livonians, Livonian heritage with influences of the History of Latvia, country's varied historical heritage. Latvia is divided into several cultural and historical regions: Vidzeme, Latg ...
before, supporting researchers and editions, and writing about Latvian mythology himself (although these writings were not met with enthusiasm by the academic scholars). Visendorfs later provided Barons with copies of collections from the
Jelgava Jelgava () is a state city in central Latvia. It is located about southwest of Riga. It is the largest town in the Semigallia region of Latvia. Jelgava was the capital of the united Duchy of Courland and Semigallia (1578–1795) and was the ad ...
Latvian Society Department of Literature. By the time of the publication of Volume 1 of ''Latvju dainas'', he had submitted to Barons 12,800 song texts, acquired "with the help of local collectors"; altogether, his collection contains 28,406 texts. It is highly likely that based on the popular idea of the time, that of the Latvian-Lithuanian great nation, he suggested to Barons the word "''daina''", which is actually
Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Lithuania, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe ** Lithuanian language ** Lithuanians, a Baltic ethnic group, native to Lithuania and the immediate geographical region ** L ...
, and which became the title of the edition. The first volume was published in Jelgava, funded by Visendorfs himself. But it turned out to be rather costly, and Visendorfs, using his connections, organised the publication of the other volumes with the help of the
Imperial Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...
. In 1900, it was officially settled, and from 1903 until 1915, the other volumes were published. These volumes, in addition to the previous two title pages in different languages (Latvian and French), received one more in Russian translation. Although Visendorfs took no part in editing and arranging the texts, his contribution performing organisational tasks, reading the preprints of the volumes published in St. Petersburg, and providing his advice was significant enough to earn a place for his name on the title page, although Prof.
Pēteris Šmits Pēteris is a Latvian language masculine given name. It is a cognate of the name Peter and may refer to: *Pēteris Dzelzītis (1921–1948), Latvian soldier and partisan *Pēteris Juraševskis (1872–1945), Latvian politician and former Prime Mi ...
objected to it. In 1893, Krisjanis Barons returned to Latvia with his ''Cabinet of Folksongs'', at that time containing around 150,000 texts. The index to ''Latvju dainas'' shows more than 900 contributors; among them 237 male informants and 137 female informants, while of collectors only 54 are laies, and at least 150 were school teachers, 50 were men of letters, and 20 were priests. Barons, without exact account, indicates the total number of texts used to be 217 996; this number is usually quoted as that of the songs published. Still, as ''Latvju dainas'' was created based on collection by local people, it does not comprehensively cover the whole territory of Latvia. 218 Latvian civil
parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...
were not represented, not even with a single text. To collect from the mute parishes, 30 years after the publication of ''Latvju dainas'' was started, ''Latviesu folkloras krātuve'' began its activities. Whatever the other editions there are and will be in the future, ''Latvju dainas'' has become the most quoted and referred to, as testified by two repeated editions – in 1922–1923 and 1989–1994.


Legacy

Barons efforts to collect folklore and dainas were vital for the emergence of
Dievturība Dievturība is a contemporary continuation of the ethnic religion of the Latvians from what it was before Christianization in the 13th century. Adherents call themselves Dievturi (singular: Dievturis), literally " Dievs' keepers", "people who l ...
, a Baltic neopagan movement established by
Ernests Brastiņš Ernests Brastiņš (19 March 1892 – 28 January 1942) was a Latvian artist, amateur historian, folklorist and archaeologist. He is known as the founder and driving force behind the neopagan religion Dievturība, which he started in the 1920s ...
and Kārlis Marovskis-Bregžis in the 1920s. A
minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
, 3233 Krišbarons, discovered by Soviet astronomer
Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh ( rus, Никола́й Степа́нович Черны́х, , nʲɪkɐˈlaj sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ tɕɪrˈnɨx, links=yes; 6 October 1931 – 25 May 2004Казакова, Р.К. Памяти Николая Сте ...
in 1977, is named after him. One of the main streets in Riga, Krišjāna Barona iela, is named after him. His descendants are currently residing in the United States, primarily located in a small town in western Pennsylvania called Grove City.


References


Sources


Latvju Dainas


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barons, Krisjanis 1835 births 1923 deaths People from Tukums Municipality People from Tukums county Latvian male writers 19th-century writers from the Russian Empire 19th-century Latvian historians Historians from the Russian Empire Latvian folk music Latvian folklorists Folklorists from the Russian Empire Linguists from Latvia 19th-century linguists 19th-century male writers 20th-century Latvian historians 20th-century linguists 20th-century Latvian male writers Latvian antiquarians University of Tartu alumni