Adopted 1920 | ||
 | ||
Lyrics Johann Voldemar Jannsen, 1869 Music Fredrik (Friedrich) Pacius, 1848 | ||
Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm ("My Fatherland, My Happiness and Joy"; [mu ˈisɑmɑː mu ˈɤnʲ jɑ ˈrɤːm]) was officially adopted as the national anthem (Estonian: (riigi)hümn) of the Republic of Estonia in 1920, and again in 1991.
The lyrics were written by Johann Voldemar Jannsen and are set to a melody composed in 1848 by Fredrik (Friedrich) Pacius which is also that of the national anthem of Finland: Maamme ("Vårt Land" in Swedish). It is also considered to be national anthem for Livonian people with text Min izāmō, min sindimō, My Fatherland, my native land.
History
The song was first presented to the public as a choral work in the Grand Song Festival of Estonia in 1869 and quickly became a symbol of the Estonian National Awakening.
Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm was officially adopted as the national anthem of Estonia in 1920, after the Estonian War of Independence. In contrast, Finland never passed a similar legislation about Maamme, although it is considered a de facto Finnish anthem.
During the Soviet occupation since 1944, Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm was banned. Between 1945 and 1990 the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic had a different anthem. Yet, the people of Estonia could often hear the melody, as Finland's state broadcaster Yleisradio, whose radio and television broadcasts were received in Northern Estonia, played an instrumental version of the Finnish national anthem, identical to this song (except for an additional repetition of the last verse in the Finnish version), at closedown every night.