Charles Collins: Tuuti Tuuti Tummaistani SA

Tuuti, Tuuti Tummaistani sets part of a Finnish folk poem collected from rural Eastern Finland in the 19th century by Elias Lonnrot (1802-1884). It is found in a collection of poems called Kanteletar, the title of which refers to a young woman who sings and accompanies herself on the kantele, a Finnish folk instrument similar to a dulcimer.

This Finnish poem makes it clear that this lullaby is being sung by a peasant mother to her dead child, wishing it safe passage to the afterlife.

For treble voices in two parts (SA).