The original melody of Björneborgarnas marsch is most likely French in origin, and was composed by an unknown composer in the 18th century, although the modern brass band arrangement is by the Finnish German composer Konrad Greve.[2][3][4][5]
The march remained popular throughout the 19th century in both Sweden and Finland. The original text was published in Swedish in 1860 by the Finnish national poetJohan Ludvig Runeberg in his epic poem The Tales of Ensign Stål, although Zachris Topelius had also given it his own words in 1858.[2][3] The most commonly used Finnish translation was written by Paavo Cajander in 1889, along with Cajander's translation of The Tales of Ensign Stål.[3] The name of the march refers to the Björneborg regiment (Pori in Finnish) of the Swedish army. It contains an iambic meter.
Use
Björneborgarnas marsch today serves as the honorary march of the Finnish Defence Forces and is played (only rarely sung) for the Commander-in-Chief, i.e. the President of Finland.[3] The President has, however, the right to delegate this position to another Finnish citizen; the only time this has occurred was during the World War II, when Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim acted as Commander-in-Chief instead of then-President Risto Ryti. Thus, Ryti is the only President of Finland not to have been Commander-in-Chief at any point of his two terms (1940–1944).
As Finland and Estonia share similarities in their languages, culture and also through their respective military traditions, it is also the Estonian Defence Forces' official honorary march, played for the Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces, its Commander-in-Chief appointed, under constitutional provisions, to the office by the Ministry of Defence and the Cabinet on the proposal of the President of the Republic of Estonia. The tune was first publicly played in Estonia at the 7th Estonian Song Festival in 1910.[7] It was also the march of the State Elder (later as presidential march) in Estonia till 27 January 1923 when the then-Minister of WarJaan Soots replaced it with the Pidulik marss which had won the contest for Estonian-composed state honorary march in 1922.[8][9][10]
Non-political
Since 1948, the Finnish national broadcast company Yleisradio has played Björneborgarnas marsch played on radio or television every time a Finnish athlete wins a gold medal in the Olympic games – the traditional phrase to initiate this was "Pasila, Porilaisten Marssi" (radio) and "Helsinki, Porilaisten Marssi" (television). An exception to this was made in 1998 when MTV3 similarly asked the song to be played after Mika Häkkinen won the 1998 Formula One World Championship.[11]
Björneborgarnas marsch is also played on Christmas Eve during the Declaration of Christmas Peace ceremony, which has caused minor controversy due to the violent lyrics of the march, even though the lyrics are not sung on the occasion.
In the video game My Summer Car, the march is played on the intro, where the protagonist is born in the back seat of their parents' (and later, said protagonist's) car, as they rush to a hospital. A remixed version can be heard in the credits scene.
Lyrics
Original Swedish lyrics
Johan Ludvig Runeberg, 1860
Söner av ett folk, som blött
På Narvas hed, på Polens sand, på Leipzigs slätter, Lützens kullar,
Än har Finlands kraft ej dött,
Än kan med oväns blod ett fält här färgas rött!
Bort, bort, vila, rast och fred!
En storm är lös, det ljungar eld och fältkanonens åska rullar;
