On December 10th Foreign Minister Urmas Paet presented the “Ernesaks piano” from the Estonian Embassy in Moscow to the Estonian Theatre and Music Museum. “Gustav Ernesaks has symbolic importance in Estonia’s musical history, and now his piano has found a distinguished place among the displays of the Theatre and Music Museum,” said the foreign minister.
Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said that the Schröder upright piano being presented today has been in the Estonian Embassy in Moscow since 1930. “In 1944 the famous Estonian composer and choir director Gustav Ernesaks composed many of his works on this piano, most likely including the song ‘Mu isamaa on minu arm’,” said Paet. The foreign minister added that the piece that Ernesaks wrote at the Estonian Embassy’s piano after Estonia had already lost its independence became a symbol of the national movement during the Soviet occupation. “Even today the melody that Gustav Ernesaks wrote for Lydia Koidula’s words is one of the most beloved Estonian choir songs, which the joined choir performs at the end of every Song Festival,” he stated.
SPOKESPERSON’S OFFICE