Johann Voldemar Jannsen

Johann Voldemar Jannsen (1819-1890) was an Estonian journalist who helped drive the national awakening of Estonia while the country was part of the Russian Empire. Working in Estonian at a time when the language had little printed presence, he became one of the earliest and most influential figures of that movement. He is today remembered chiefly as the author of the song that later became Estonia's national anthem.

Born in Vändra to a family of peasants, he trained at a parish school and worked as a teacher in Vändra, Pärnu and finally Tartu. From 1845 he translated hymns and psalms from German, later gathered into the songbook Eesti Laulik. Getting permission to publish an Estonian newspaper proved difficult, and he eventually launched the Perno Postimees in Pärnu in 1857, generally regarded as the first Estonian-language paper to appear regularly. He wrote in everyday language so that ordinary readers could follow him, though his publisher kept him to news and religious subjects.

When he moved to Tartu in 1863 the paper became the Eesti Postimees, and his home and office turned into meeting places for nationalist activists. In 1865 he founded the Vanemuine theatre company, devoted to plays in Estonian, and in 1869 he organised the first Estonian Song Festival. His outlook was rooted in the Enlightenment, favouring education and cultural progress and criticising feudal arrangements. He kept cordial relations with the Baltic German elite, which drew criticism from more radical nationalists.

Among the songs performed at the festivals was Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm, a translation of a poem by the Finland-Swedish poet J. L. Runeberg. Fifty years later it became Estonia's national anthem. After a stroke in 1880 left him disabled, he stepped down as editor of the paper. He died in Tartu in 1890. His legacy lives on in Estonian journalism, theatre and above all in the anthem, and his daughter, the poet Lydia Koidula, became a well-known figure in her own right.