| Type: | Cantata |
| Väinämöinen's Song | |
| Native Name: | Finnish: Väinön virsi |
| Image Upright: | .9 |
| Border: | Yes |
| Text: | Kalevala (Runo XLIII) |
| Language: | Finnish |
| Opus: | 110 |
| Duration: | 11 mins. |
| Premiere Location: | Sortavala, Finland |
| Premiere Conductor: | Robert Kajanus |
Väinämöinen's Song (in Finnish: Finnish: Väinön virsi; sometimes translated to English simply as Väinö's Song), Op. 110, is a single-movement, patriotic cantata for mixed choir and orchestra written in 1926 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The piece, which is a setting of Runo XLIII (lines 385–434) of the Kalevala, Finland's national epic, is chronologically the final of Sibelius's nine orchestral cantatas; in particular, it belongs to the series of four "little known, but beautiful" cantatas from the composer's mature period that also includes My Own Land (Op. 92, 1918), Song of the Earth (Op. 93, 1919), and Hymn of the Earth (Op. 95, 1920). Väinämöinen's Song premiered on 28 June 1926 in Sortavala, Finland.
Väinämöinen's Song is scored for the following instruments and voices, organized by family (vocalists, woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):
The cantata premiered on 26 June 1926 at a singing festival in Sortavala (then still part of Finland), with the Finnish conductor Robert Kajanus conducting.
The Estonian conductor Eri Klas and the Finnish National Opera Orchestra and Chorus made the world premiere studio recording of the Väinämöinen's Song in 1990 for Ondine. The table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:
| Conductor | Orchestra | Chorus | Time | Venue | Label | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finnish National Opera Orchestra | Finnish National Opera Chorus | 1990 | 9:40 | Ondine | ||||
| 2 | Estonian National Symphony Orchestra | Estonian National Male Choir Ellerhein Girls' Choir | 2002 | 8:42 | Estonia Concert Hall | Virgin Classics | |||
| 3 | Lahti Symphony Orchestra | 2004 | 8:53 | Sibelius Hall | BIS |
sv:Fabian Dahlström
. Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke. Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works. 2003. Breitkopf & Härtel. Wiesbaden. de. 3-7651-0333-0.