Profile of Sakari Topelius on Famous Like Me

Zacharias (Sakari) Topelius (January 14, 1818 – March 12, 1898) was a Finland-Swedish journalist, historian and author who wrote Finnish historical novels in Swedish.

He was the son of a doctor of the same name, who was distinguished as the earliest collector of Finnish folk-songs. Topelius became a student at Hel-singfors in 1833, was made professor in 1863 and received in succession all the academic distinctions open to him. Quite early in his career he began to distinguish himself as a lyric poet, with the three successive volumes of his Heather Blossoms (1845-1854). The earliest of his historical romances was The Duchess of Finland, published in 1850. He was also editor-in-chief of the Helsingfors Gazette from 1841 to 1860. In 1878, Topelius was allowed to withdraw from his professional duties, but this did not sever his connection with the university; it gave him, however, more leisure for his abundant and various literary enterprises. Of all the multifarious writings of Topelius, in prose and verse, that which has enjoyed the greatest popularity is his Tales of a Barber-Surgeon, episodes of historical fiction from the days of Gustavus II. Adolphus to those of Gustavus III., treated in the manner of Sir Walter Scott; the five volumes of this work appeared at intervals between 1853 and 1867. Topelius attempted the drama also, with most success in his tragedy of Regina van Emmeritz (1854). Topelius aimed, with eminent but perhaps pathetic success, at the cultivation of a strong passion of patriotism in Finland.

Together with the composer Friedrich Pacius he wrote the libretto (in the style of Romantic nationalism) to the first Finnish opera: Kung Karls jakt. Topelius initially thought of writing a trivial entertainment, but having heard extracts from the opera project at a concert in 1851, he realized that Pacius was writing a grand opera on the theme of salvation, following the early Romantic style of Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz (1821) and Oberon (1826). Topelius wrote the libretto in Swedish, but its subject is emphatically Finnish. The libretto was translated to Finnish, and is mostly performed as Kaarle-kuninkaan metsästys, however neither the libretto nor the music manages to cover the weakness of the other.

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.

Books

• Boken om vÃ¥rt land, 1875 (Maamme-kirja, Book of Our Land)
• Talvi-iltain tarinoita
• Välskärin kertomukset
• Lukemisia lapsille

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