Tú alfagra land mítt

Template:Short description Template:Infobox anthem "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" ("Thou fairest land of mine"), officially "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" ("My fairest land"), is the national anthem of the Faroe Islands. It was written in 1906 by headteacher Símun av Skarði, and the melody was composed in 1907 by violinist Petur Alberg.

History

Composition

The song was written in a work dated 1 February 1906 by Símun av Skarði, the headmaster of a high school in Føgrulið, southwest of Klaksvík. It was written during a time of strong division in the Faroe Islands between conservatives who wanted to preserve Danish rule and autonomists who wanted more self-government, of which Símun was the latter.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Violinist Petur Alberg wrote the first notes of the music of the anthem on 4 September 1907, after the melody came to him that evening. He later sang the melody down the phone in the Løgting to Símun av Skarði, who liked it. Petur then sent it to a music teacher he knew in Akureyri, Iceland, and to asked him to harmonise it for a male quartet. In October 1907, the male quartet arrangement arrived, and singers began to practice it for a Boxing Day concert in Sloan's Hall in Tórshavn. Petur, not daring to reveal the song's author, told the singers the song was Icelandic, by a certain Jón Sveinsson. However, the singers liked the song. The song was performed at the concert on 26 December 1907, which was the first time any song by Petur had been performed publicly and the first time "Tú alfagra land mítt" was performed publicly.<ref name=":1" />

Distribution

On 8 January 1908, "Tú alfagra land mítt" was published in the Faroese newspaper Tingakrossur.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> It was then published in the Lesibók, a literary history in chronological order, in 1911. It was later published in many editions of the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Faroese People's Songbook), generally in the number one position, from 1913 through 1959.<ref name=":1" />

In 1925, a Nynorsk translation of the song by Rolf Hjort Schøgen was published in the Tingakrossur.<ref name=":1" /> In 1928, a Danish translation by university student Tormod Jørgensen was published in Højskolebladet No. 7928.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> An Icelandic translation by Jochum M. Eggertsson appeared in the magazine Dvöl in 1935. The same year, a German translation by Ernst Krenn was published in the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("Faroese Instalment"), a Faroese booklet at the Nordic Society in Vienna, Austria. In 1943, an English translation by Padre G. C. C. Knowleson was featured in the notes of the magazine The Pioneer by some British soldiers in the Faroe Islands during World War II.<ref name=":1" />

As the national anthem

"Tú alfagra land mítt" won out in a rivalry with "Eg oyggjar veit" ("I know some islands"), from 1877, on which song should become the national anthem of the Faroe Islands. "Tú alfagra land mítt" has been sung at all festivals in the Faroe Islands, and it has been in the psalm book of the Faroese Church since 1990. The national radio station Útvarp Føroya, established in 1957, played it every night before ending its broadcast for the evening.<ref name=":1" />

Lyrics

Second page of the original manuscript

Faroese original<ref name="fo">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	IPA transcriptionTemplate:Efn	Literal English translation
lang}}</poem>	main}}</poem>	<poem>I You fairest land of mine, my dearest own! in winter so edge-white, in summer with calm, you take me to you so tight in your embrace. You islands so valuable, God bless the name that men gave to you when they saw you. Yes, God bless the Faroes, my land! II The red that you shine in summer on hillside, the tempest that destroys many lives wintertime, and the darkness that hides from me the brightest goal, and the light that plays me victory in the soul: all strings that sound, that dare and hope that I defend the Faroes, my land! III I bow therefore down in prayer to you, God: The holy peace, that I fall to fate! Let my soul be washed itself in your glory! So may it be dared – well cleansed by God – to bear the flag that distinguishes the work that preserves the Faroes, my land!</poem>

Metered Danish translation (by Tormod Jørgensen, 1928)<ref name=":0" />

Metered English translation<ref name="fo"/>

lang}}</poem>

<poem>I My land, oh most beauteous, possession most dear, Thou drawest me to thee, embracing me near; becalmed in the summer, in winter snow covered, magnificent islands, by God named beloved. The name which men gave thee when they thee discovered, Oh, God bless thee, Faroes my land. II Bright gleam, which in summer makes hill-tops so fair; rough gale, which in winter drives men to despair; oh life taking storm, oh conquest of soul, all making sweet music uniting the whole. Each hoping and trusting, inspiring us all, To guard thee, O Faroes my land. III And therefore, I kneel down, to Thee God, in prayer, may peaceful my lot be, and do thou me spare, my soul cleansed; in glory; I ask Thee to bless, when I raise my banner and venture the stress. The sign of my task, be it lifted on high, To guard thee, O Faroes my land.</poem>

Literature

• W.B. Lockwood: An Introduction to Modern Faroese, Tórshavn 1977 [1]

External links

• Faroese national anthem (with lyrics)
• Faroese national anthem (instrumental only)