Kōrli Stalte (, born 9 August 1870,

Mazirbe Mazirbe ( or '', '') 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 of the Livonians. The flag ...

– 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 troop ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

) was a prolific Livonian cultural activist. Stalte worked as a teacher in

Dundaga Dundaga () is a village in Talsi Municipality in the Courland region of Latvia. From 2009 until 2021, the village served as the administrative centre of the former Dundaga Municipality. Dundaga is known for its castle, constructed by the Archb ...

and Mazirbe, and as a

Livonian language Livonian ( or ) is a Finnic language whose native land is the Livonian Coast of the Gulf of Riga, located in the north of the Kurzeme peninsula in Latvia but also used to be spoken in the Salaca River valley. Although its last known native ...

teacher in Lielirbe; and as a

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

in Mazirbe. His wife was

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

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"; ) 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 for the anthems ...

. His works also include a translation of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

(''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

Bibliography

*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 Ethnic Livonians Cultural activists {{Latvia-bio-stub