Arkihuolesi kaikki heitä?

The melody of the well-known Christmas song Joululaulu op. 20b n:o 5 “Arkihuolesi kaikki heitä” (1916) by Leevi Madetoja has rarely been questioned, even though there are two later autographic variants, one from Suvivesper (1924) and the other from the composer’s own arrangement of the song for mixed choir (1944). The editor of Leevi Madetoja’s Solo Songs and Duets (Fennica Gehrman, 2013), Kimmo Tammivaara, made the controversial decision to alter the melody in bar 14 of Joululaulu to make it correspond with the later versions. Which one of the variants is “right”? Is it even possible to find a definite answer to this question? From the music philological point of view the answer is clear. Looking at the later variants, there is no reason to doubt the original melody. The question of why Madetoja’s arrangement for mixed choir differs from the original is more complex, and the answer might lie in the composer’s alcoholism and life circumstances in the 1940s. The question of the composer’s ability to work during his final years raises philosophical and ethical issues, with necessary implications for the new critical editions of his works. The composer’s “final intentions” may not necessarily have been his best intentions.