Ladies Professional Golf Association

Current season or competition: 2012 LPGA Tour
180px Logo introduced in October 2007 [1][2]
Sport	Golf
Founded	1950
Commissioner	Michael Whan
Inaugural season	1950
Country(ies)	United States, with events in Asia, Australia, and Europe
Most titles	Kathy Whitworth (88)
TV partner(s)	Golf Channel
Founder	13 original LPGA players
Official website	LPGA.com

The LPGA, in full the Ladies Professional Golf Association, is an American organization for female professional golfers. The organization is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly golf tournaments for elite female golfers from around the world from February to December each year.

Organization and history[link]

Other "LPGA"s exist in other countries, each with a geographical designation in its name, but the U.S. organization is the first, largest, and best known. The LPGA is also an organization for female club and teaching professionals. This is different from the PGA Tour, which runs the main professional tours in the U.S. and, since 1968, has been independent of the club and teaching professionals' organization, the PGA of America.

The LPGA was founded in 1950 by a group of 13 golfers: Alice Bauer, Patty Berg, Bettye Danoff, Helen Dettweiler, Marlene Bauer Hagge, Helen Hicks, Opal Hill, Betty Jameson, Sally Sessions, Marilynn Smith, Shirley Spork, Louise Suggs, and Babe Zaharias. In its 63rd season in 2012, it is the oldest continuing women's professional sports organization in the United States.^[3][4]

The LPGA also administers an annual qualifying school similar to that conducted by the PGA Tour. Depending on a golfer's finish in the final qualifying tournament, she may receive full or partial playing privileges on the LPGA Tour. In addition to the main LPGA Tour, the LPGA also owns and operates the Symetra Tour, formerly the Futures Tour, the official developmental tour of the LPGA. Top finishers at the end of each season on that tour receive playing privileges on the main LPGA Tour for the following year.

In 2001, Jane Blalock's JBC Marketing established the Women's Senior Golf Tour, now called The Legends Tour, for women professionals aged 45 and older. This is affiliated with the LPGA, but is not owned by the LPGA.

Michael Whan became the eighth commissioner of the LPGA in October 2009, succeeding the ousted Carolyn Bivens.^[5][6] Whan is a former marketing executive in the sporting goods industry.^[7]

Prize money and tournaments[link]

In 2010, total official prize money on the LPGA Tour was $41.4 million, a decrease of over $6 million from 2009. In 2010 there were 24 official tournaments, down from 28 in 2009 and 34 in 2008. Despite the loss in total tournaments, the number of tournaments hosted outside of the United States in 2010 stayed the same, as all four lost tournaments had been hosted in the United States.

International presence[link]

In its first four decades, the LPGA Tour was dominated by American players. Sandra Post of Canada became the first player living outside the United States to gain an LPGA tour card in 1968. The non-U.S. contingent is now very large. The last time an American player topped the money list was in 1993, the last time an American led the tour in tournaments won was in 1996, and from 2000 through 2009, non-Americans won 31 of 40 major championships.

Particularly, one of the notable trends seen in the early 21st century in the LPGA is the rise and dominance of Korean golfers.^[8] Se Ri Pak's early success in the LPGA sparked the boom in Korean women golfers on the LPGA Tour.^[9] In 2009, there were 122 non-Americans from 27 countries on the tour, including 47 from South Korea, 14 from Sweden, 10 from Australia, eight from the United Kingdom (four from England, three from Scotland and one from Wales), seven from Canada, five from Taiwan, and four from Japan.^[10] Of the 33 events in 2006, a total of 11were won by Koreans and only seven were won by Americans. (See 2006 LPGA Tour for more details on the 2006 season.) In 2007, Americans saw a relative resurgence, winning 12 events. For the first time since 2000, two Americans won majors (See 2007 LPGA Tour for more details on the 2007 season.) In 2008, Americans grew in dominance, winning 9 of 34 events, tied with Koreans, but no majors, one of which was won by a Mexican player, one by Taiwanese, and the other two by teenage Korean players (See 2008 LPGA Tour for more details on the 2008 season.) In 2009, Americans won 5 of 28 official events, including one major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship while Koreans won 11 events (See 2009 LPGA Tour for more details on the 2009 season.)

LPGA Tour tournaments[link]

Kristy McPherson during her practice round before the 2009 LPGA Championship
at Bulle Rock Golf Course in Maryland.

Most of the LPGA Tour's events are held in the United States. In 2010, two tournaments were played in Mexico and one each in Singapore, Canada, France, England, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, and Japan. Unofficial events were also held in Brazil and Jamaica. In 2011, the unofficial Jamaica event was dropped and a tournament in Mexico was canceled months in advance over security concerns. The Women's British Open rotated from England to Scotland and all other countries retained their tournaments. In addition, events were added in China and Taiwan, while the biennial USA–Europe team competition, the Solheim Cup was played in Ireland. (The new event in China was postponed and ultimately canceled.)

Four of the tournaments held outside North America are co-sanctioned with other professional tours. The Ladies European Tour co-sanctions the Evian Masters in France and the Women's British Open, held the following week. The other two co-sanctioned events—the LPGA Hana Bank Championship (LPGA of Korea Tour) and Mizuno Classic (LPGA of Japan Tour)—are held during the tour's autumn swing to Asia.

The LPGA's annual major championships are:

• Kraft Nabisco Championship
• Wegmans LPGA Championship
• U.S. Women's Open
• Ricoh Women's British Open (held in cooperation with Ladies European Tour)

LPGA Playoffs[link]

Since 2006, the LPGA has played a season-ending championship tournament. Through the 2008 season, it was known as the LPGA Playoffs at The ADT; in 2009 and 2010, it was known as the LPGA Tour Championship; and in 2011, the event became the CME Group Titleholders, held in November.

From 2006 through 2008 the LPGA schedule was divided into two halves, with 15 players from each half qualifying for the Championship based on their performance. Two wild-card selections were also included for a final field of 21 players. The winner of the LPGA Tour Championship, which features three days of "playoffs" plus the final championship round, earns $1 million.

In 2009, the Tour Championship field was increased to 120 players, with entry open to all Tour members in the top 120 on the money list as of three weeks prior to the start of the tournament. The total purse was $1.5 million with $225,000 going to the winner.

The CME Group Titleholders, which resurrects the name of a former LPGA major championship (the Titleholders Championship), was first played in 2011. Its field is made up of three qualifiers from each official tour event during the season, specifically the top three finishers not previously qualified.

2012 LPGA Tour[link]

The number in parentheses indicates the number of career wins in official money individual events on the LPGA Tour, including that event.

Dates	Tournament	Location	Winner
Feb 9-12	ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open	Australia	Jessica Korda (1)
Feb 16-19	Honda LPGA Thailand	Thailand	Yani Tseng (13)
Feb 23-26	HSBC Women's Champions	Singapore	Angela Stanford (5)
Mar 15-18	RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup	Arizona	Yani Tseng (14)
Mar 22-25	Kia Classic	California	Yani Tseng (15)
Mar 29 – Apr 1	Kraft Nabisco Championship	California	Sun-Young Yoo (2)
Apr 18-21	LPGA Lotte Championship	Hawaii	Ai Miyazato (8)
Apr 26-29	Mobile Bay LPGA Classic	Alabama	Stacy Lewis (2)
May 5-6	HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup1	Brazil	Pornanong Phatlum (n/a)
May 17-20	Sybase Match Play Championship	New Jersey	Azahara Muñoz (1)
Jun 1-3	ShopRite LPGA Classic	New Jersey
Jun 7-10	Wegmans LPGA Championship	New York
Jun 21-24	Manulife Financial LPGA Classic	Ontario
Jun 29 - Jul 1	Walmart NW Arkansas Championship	Arkansas
Jul 5-8	U.S. Women's Open	Wisconsin
Jul 26-29	Evian Masters	France
Aug 9-12	Jamie Farr Toledo Classic	Ohio
Aug 17-19	Safeway Classic	Oregon
Aug 23-26	CN Canadian Women's Open	British Columbia
Sep 6-9	Kingsmill Championship	Virginia
Sep 13-16	Ricoh Women's British Open	England
Sep 20-23	Navistar LPGA Classic	Alabama
Oct 11-14	Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia	Malaysia
Oct 19-21	LPGA Hana Bank Championship	South Korea
Oct 25-28	Sunrise LPGA Taiwan Championship	Taiwan
Nov 2-4	Mizuno Classic	Japan
Nov 8-11	Lorena Ochoa Invitational	Mexico
Nov 13	Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge1	Nevada
Nov 15-18	CME Group Titleholders	Florida

Tournaments in bold are majors.
¹ Unofficial events

2012 money leaders[link]

Top ten official money leaders
Through the completion of the Sybase Match Play Championship on May 20, 2012

Rank	Change	Player	Country	Events	Prize money($)
1		Yani Tseng	Taiwan	8	976,876
2	8	Azahara Muñoz	Spain	9	652,835
3	1	Ai Miyazato	Japan	7	633,648
4	1	Sun-Young Yoo	South Korea	9	572,492
5	1	Stacy Lewis	United States	9	474,246
6		Na Yeon Choi	South Korea	8	342,879
7	1	So Yeon Ryu	South Korea	8	341,837
8	3	Jiyai Shin	South Korea	8	334,453
9	2	Angela Stanford	United States	9	329,869
10	1	Shanshan Feng	China	6	283,795

Change = change from previous ranking.
Source and complete list: LPGA official website.

Historical tour schedules and results[link]

• Official tournaments are tournaments in which earnings and scores are credited to the players' official LPGA record.

Hall of Fame[link]

The LPGA established the Hall of Fame of Women's Golf in 1951, with four charter members: Patty Berg, Betty Jameson, Louise Suggs, and Babe Zaharias. After being inactive for several years, the Hall of Fame moved in 1967 to its first physical premises, in Augusta, Georgia, and was renamed the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame. In 1998 it merged into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

LPGA Tour awards[link]

The LPGA Tour presents several annual awards. Three are awarded in competitive contests, based on scoring over the course of the year.

• The Rolex Player of the Year is awarded based on a formula in which points are awarded for top-10 finishes and are doubled at the LPGA's four major championships and at the season-ending Tour Championship. The points system is: 30 points for first; 12 points for second; nine points for third; seven points for fourth; six points for fifth; five points for sixth; four points for seventh; three points for eighth; two points for ninth and one point for 10th.
• The Vare Trophy, named for Glenna Collett-Vare, is given to the player with the lowest scoring average for the season.
• The Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award is awarded to the first-year player on the LPGA Tour who scores the highest in a points competition in which points are awarded based on a player's finish in a event. The points system is: 150 points for first; 80 points for second; 75 points for third; 70 points for fourth; and 65 points for fifth. After fifth place, points are awarded in decrements of three, beginning at sixth place with 62 points. Points are doubled in the major events and at the season-ending Tour Championship. Rookies who make the cut in an event and finish below 41st each receive five points. The award is named after Louise Suggs, one of the founders of the LPGA.

Year	Player of the Year	Vare Trophy	Rookie of the Year
2011	Yani Tseng	Yani Tseng	Hee Kyung Seo
2010	Yani Tseng	Na Yeon Choi	Azahara Muñoz
2009	Lorena Ochoa	Lorena Ochoa	Jiyai Shin
2008	Lorena Ochoa	Lorena Ochoa	Yani Tseng
2007	Lorena Ochoa	Lorena Ochoa	Angela Park
2006	Lorena Ochoa	Lorena Ochoa	Seon Hwa Lee
2005	Annika Sörenstam	Annika Sörenstam	Paula Creamer
2004	Annika Sörenstam	Grace Park	Shi Hyun Ahn
2003	Annika Sörenstam	Se Ri Pak	Lorena Ochoa
2002	Annika Sörenstam	Annika Sörenstam	Beth Bauer
2001	Annika Sörenstam	Annika Sörenstam	Hee-Won Han
2000	Karrie Webb	Karrie Webb	Dorothy Delasin
1999	Karrie Webb	Karrie Webb	Mi Hyun Kim
1998	Annika Sörenstam	Annika Sörenstam	Se Ri Pak
1997	Annika Sörenstam	Karrie Webb	Lisa Hackney
1996	Laura Davies	Annika Sörenstam	Karrie Webb
1995	Annika Sörenstam	Annika Sörenstam	Pat Hurst
1994	Beth Daniel	Beth Daniel	Annika Sörenstam
1993	Betsy King	Betsy King	Suzanne Strudwick
1992	Dottie Mochrie	Dottie Mochrie	Helen Alfredsson
1991	Pat Bradley	Pat Bradley	Brandie Burton
1990	Beth Daniel	Beth Daniel	Hiromi Kobayashi
1989	Betsy King	Beth Daniel	Pamela Wright
1988	Nancy Lopez	Colleen Walker	Liselotte Neumann
1987	Ayako Okamoto	Betsy King	Tammie Green
1986	Pat Bradley	Pat Bradley	Jody Rosenthal
1985	Nancy Lopez	Nancy Lopez	Penny Hammel
1984	Betsy King	Patty Sheehan	Juli Inkster
1983	Patty Sheehan	JoAnne Carner	Stephanie Farwig
1982	JoAnne Carner	JoAnne Carner	Patti Rizzo
1981	JoAnne Carner	JoAnne Carner	Patty Sheehan
1980	Beth Daniel	Amy Alcott	Myra Blackwelder
1979	Nancy Lopez	Nancy Lopez	Beth Daniel
1978	Nancy Lopez	Nancy Lopez	Nancy Lopez
1977	Judy Rankin	Judy Rankin	Debbie Massey
1976	Judy Rankin	Judy Rankin	Bonnie Lauer
1975	Sandra Palmer	JoAnne Carner	Amy Alcott
1974	JoAnne Carner	JoAnne Carner	Jan Stephenson
1973	Kathy Whitworth	Judy Rankin	Laura Baugh
1972	Kathy Whitworth	Kathy Whitworth	Jocelyne Bourassa
1971	Kathy Whitworth	Kathy Whitworth	Sally Little
1970	Sandra Haynie	Kathy Whitworth	JoAnne Carner
1969	Kathy Whitworth	Kathy Whitworth	Jane Blalock
1968	Kathy Whitworth	Carol Mann	Sandra Post
1967	Kathy Whitworth	Kathy Whitworth	Sharron Moran
1966	Kathy Whitworth	Kathy Whitworth	Jan Ferraris
1965	–	Kathy Whitworth	Margie Masters
1964	–	Mickey Wright	Susie Maxwell
1963	–	Mickey Wright	Clifford Ann Creed
1962	–	Mickey Wright	Mary Mills
1961	–	Mickey Wright	–
1960	–	Mickey Wright	–
1959	–	Betsy Rawls	–
1958	–	Beverly Hanson	–
1957	–	Louise Suggs	–
1956	–	Patty Berg	–
1955	–	Patty Berg	–
1954	–	Babe Zaharias	–
1953	–	Patty Berg	–

Leading money winners by year[link]

Year	Player	Country	Earnings ($)	Most wins
2011	Yani Tseng	Taiwan	2,921,713	7 – Yani Tseng
2010	Na Yeon Choi	South Korea	1,871,166	5 – Ai Miyazato
2009	Jiyai Shin	South Korea	1,807,334	3 – Jiyai Shin, Lorena Ochoa
2008	Lorena Ochoa	Mexico	2,754,660	7 – Lorena Ochoa
2007	Lorena Ochoa	Mexico	4,364,994	8 – Lorena Ochoa
2006	Lorena Ochoa	Mexico	2,592,872	6 – Lorena Ochoa
2005	Annika Sörenstam	Sweden	2,588,240	10 – Annika Sörenstam
2004	Annika Sörenstam	Sweden	2,544,707	8 – Annika Sörenstam
2003	Annika Sörenstam	Sweden	2,029,506	6 – Annika Sörenstam
2002	Annika Sörenstam	Sweden	2,863,904	11 – Annika Sörenstam
2001	Annika Sörenstam	Sweden	2,105,868	8 – Annika Sörenstam
2000	Karrie Webb	Australia	1,876,853	7 – Karrie Webb
1999	Karrie Webb	Australia	1,591,959	6 – Karrie Webb
1998	Annika Sörenstam	Sweden	1,092,748	4 – Annika Sörenstam, Se Ri Pak
1997	Annika Sörenstam	Sweden	1,236,789	6 – Annika Sörenstam
1996	Karrie Webb	Australia	1,002,000	4 – Laura Davies, Dottie Pepper, Karrie Webb
1995	Annika Sörenstam	Sweden	666,533	3 – Annika Sörenstam
1994	Laura Davies	England	687,201	4 – Beth Daniel
1993	Betsy King	United States	595,992	3 – Brandie Burton
1992	Dottie Mochrie	United States	693,335	4 – Dottie Mochrie
1991	Pat Bradley	United States	763,118	4 – Pat Bradley, Meg Mallon
1990	Beth Daniel	United States	863,578	7 – Beth Daniel
1989	Betsy King	United States	654,132	6 – Betsy King
1988	Sherri Turner	United States	350,851	3 – 5 players (see 1)
1987	Ayako Okamoto	Japan	466,034	5 – Jane Geddes
1986	Pat Bradley	United States	492,021	5 – Pat Bradley
1985	Nancy Lopez	United States	416,472	5 – Nancy Lopez
1984	Betsy King	United States	266,771	4 – Patty Sheehan, Amy Alcott
1983	JoAnne Carner	United States	291,404	4 – Pat Bradley, Patty Sheehan
1982	JoAnne Carner	United States	310,400	5 – JoAnne Carner, Beth Daniel
1981	Beth Daniel	United States	206,998	5 – Donna Caponi
1980	Beth Daniel	United States	231,000	5 – Donna Caponi, JoAnne Carner
1979	Nancy Lopez	United States	197,489	8 – Nancy Lopez
1978	Nancy Lopez	United States	189,814	9 – Nancy Lopez
1977	Judy Rankin	United States	122,890	5 – Judy Rankin, Debbie Austin
1976	Judy Rankin	United States	150,734	6 – Judy Rankin
1975	Sandra Palmer	United States	76,374	4 – Carol Mann, Sandra Haynie
1974	JoAnne Carner	United States	87,094	6 – JoAnne Carner, Sandra Haynie
1973	Kathy Whitworth	United States	82,864	7 – Kathy Whitworth
1972	Kathy Whitworth	United States	65,063	5 – Kathy Whitworth, Jane Blalock
1971	Kathy Whitworth	United States	41,181	5 – Kathy Whitworth
1970	Kathy Whitworth	United States	30,235	4 – Shirley Englehorn
1969	Carol Mann	United States	49,152	8 – Carol Mann
1968	Kathy Whitworth	United States	48,379	10 – Carol Mann, Kathy Whitworth
1967	Kathy Whitworth	United States	32,937	8 – Kathy Whitworth
1966	Kathy Whitworth	United States	33,517	9 – Kathy Whitworth
1965	Kathy Whitworth	United States	28,658	8 – Kathy Whitworth
1964	Mickey Wright	United States	29,800	11 – Mickey Wright
1963	Mickey Wright	United States	31,269	13 – Mickey Wright
1962	Mickey Wright	United States	21,641	10 – Mickey Wright
1961	Mickey Wright	United States	22,236	10 – Mickey Wright
1960	Louise Suggs	United States	16,892	6 – Mickey Wright
1959	Betsy Rawls	United States	26,774	10 – Betsy Rawls
1958	Beverly Hanson	United States	12,639	5 – Mickey Wright
1957	Patty Berg	United States	16,272	5 – Betsy Rawls, Patty Berg
1956	Marlene Hagge	United States	20,235	8 – Marlene Hagge
1955	Patty Berg	United States	16,492	6 – Patty Berg
1954	Patty Berg	United States	16,011	5 – Louise Suggs, Babe Zaharias
1953	Louise Suggs	United States	19,816	8 – Louise Suggs
1952	Betsy Rawls	United States	14,505	6 – Betsy Rawls, Louise Suggs
1951	Babe Zaharias	United States	15,087	7 – Babe Zaharias
1950	Babe Zaharias	United States	14,800	6 – Babe Zaharias

1 The five players with who won three titles in 1988 were Juli Inkster, Rosie Jones, Betsy King, Nancy Lopez, and Ayako Okamoto.

Leading career money winners[link]

The table below shows the top 20 career money leaders on the LPGA Tour at the end of the 2011 season. There is a more complete list, updated weekly during the Tour season, on the LPGA's official site.

Position	Player	Country	Earned	Earnings ($)
1	Annika Sörenstam	Sweden	1993–2008	22,573,192
2	Karrie Webb	Australia	1995–2011	16,517,245
3	Lorena Ochoa	Mexico	2003–2010	14,863,331
4	Cristie Kerr	United States	1997–2011	13,531,143
5	Juli Inkster	United States	1983–2011	13,394,110
6	Se Ri Pak	South Korea	1997–2011	11,385,189
7	Meg Mallon	United States	1987–2009	9,044,059
8	Beth Daniel	United States	1979–2010	8,786,563
9	Paula Creamer	United States	2005–2011	8,778,805
10	Laura Davies	England	1986–2011	8,734,041
11	Mi Hyun Kim	South Korea	1999–2011	8,620,511
12	Rosie Jones	United States	1982–2006	8,355,068
13	Suzann Pettersen	Norway	2000–2011	8,185,481
14	Betsy King	United States	1977–2005	7,637,622
15	Yani Tseng	Taiwan	2009–2011	7,541,083
16	Catriona Matthew	Scotland	1995–2011	6,932,284
17	Pat Hurst	United States	1991–2011	6,886,292
18	Lorie Kane	Canada	1996–2011	6,835,539
19	Dottie Pepper	United States	1988–2004	6,827,284
20	Hee-Won Han	South Korea	2001–2011	6,590,006

Total prize money awarded in past years[link]

See also[link]

• Golfers with most LPGA Tour wins
• Golfers with most LPGA major championship wins
• Women's World Golf Rankings
• Professional golf tours
• Professional Golfers Association

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (March 2012)

Lydia Koidula

Lydia Emilie Florentine Jannsen, (24 December [O.S. 12 December] 1843 – 11 August [O.S. 30 July] 1886), known after her pen name Lydia Koidula was an Estonian poet. Her sobriquet means ‘Lydia of the Dawn’ in Estonian. It was given her by the writer Carl Robert Jakobson. She is also frequently referred to as Koidulaulik – ‘Singer of the Dawn‘.

Writing in Estonia, like elsewhere in Europe, was not considered a suitable career for a respectable young lady in the mid-nineteenth-century. Koidula’s poetry and her newspaper work for her populist father, Johann Voldemar Jannsen (1819–1890) remained anonymous. In spite of this, she was a major literary figure, the founder of Estonian theatre, and closely allied to Carl Robert Jakobson (1841-1882), the influential radical and Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (1803-1882), writer of the Estonian national epic, Kalevipoeg (The Son of Kalev).

Biography[link]

Lydia Jannsen was born in in Vändra, Pärnu County, Governorate of Livonia (now in central Estonia). The family moved to the nearby county town of Pärnu in 1850 where, in 1857, her father started the first local Estonian language newspaper and where Lydia attended the German grammar school. The Jannsens moved to the university town of Tartu, the most progressive town in Estonia, in 1864. Nationalism, including publication in indigenous languages, was a very touchy subject in the Russian Empire but the rule of Czar Alexander II (1855-1881) was relatively liberal and Jannsen managed to persuade the imperial censorship to allow him to publish the first national Estonian language newspaper in 1864. Both the Pärnu local and the national newspaper were called Postimees (The Courier). Lydia wrote for her father on both papers besides publishing her own work. In 1873 she married Eduard Michelson, a Latvian army physician, and moved to Kronstadt, the headquarters of the Russian navy near St. Petersburg. In 1876-78 the Michelsons visited Breslau, Strasbourg and Vienna. Koidula lived in Kronstadt for 13 years but despite spending her summers in Estonia, she never stopped feeling inconsolably homesick. Lydia Koidula was the mother of three children. She died on August 11, 1886 after a long and painful illness. Her last poem was Enne surma- Eestimaale! (Before Death, To Estonia!).

Works[link]

Lydia Koidula. Same image is used on an Estonian banknote

Koidula’s most important work, Emajõe Ööbik, (The Nightingale of the Emajõgi [the Mother River]), was published in 1867. Three years earlier, in 1864, Adam Peterson, a farmer, and Johan Köler, a fashionable Estonian Saint Petersburg portraitist, had petitioned the czar for better treatment from the German landlords who ruled Estonia, equality and for the language of education to be Estonian. Immediately afterwards they were taken to the police where they were interrogated about a petition that ‘included false information and was directed against the regime’. Adam Peterson was sentenced to imprisonment for a year. Two years later, in 1866, the censorship reforms of 1855 that had given Koidula’s father a window to start Postimees were reversed. Pre-publication censorship was re-imposed and literary freedom was curtailed. This was the political and literary climate when Koidula started to publish. Nevertheless, it was also the time of the National Awakening when the Estonian people, freed from serfdom in 1816, were beginning to feel a sense of pride in nationhood and to aspire to self-determination. Koidula was the most articulate voice of these aspirations.

German influence in Koidula’s work was unavoidable. The Baltic Germans had retained hegemony in the region since the 13th century, throughout German, Polish, Swedish and Russian rule and thus German was the language of tuition and of the intelligentsia in 19th century Estonia. Like her father (and all other Estonian writers at the time) Koidula translated much sentimental German prose, poetry and drama and there is a particular influence of the Biedermeier movement. Biedermeier, a style which dominated ‘bourgeois’ art in continental Europe from 1815 to 1848, developed in the wake of the suppression of revolutionary ideas following the defeat of Napoleon. It was plain, unpretentious and characterised by pastoral romanticism; its themes were the home, the family, religion and scenes of rural life. The themes of Koidula’s early Vainulilled (Meadow Flowers; 1866) were certainly proto-Biedermeier, but her delicate, melodic treatment of them was in no way rustic or unsophisticated, as demonstrated in the unrestrained patriotic outpourings of Emajõe Ööbik. Koidula reacted to the historical subjugation of the Estonian people as to a personal affront; she spoke of slavery and the yoke of subordination as if from personal experience. By the time of the National Awakening in the 1860s, Estonia had been ruled by oppressive foreign powers - Danish, German, Swedish, Polish and Russian - for over 600 years. In this context, she was conscious of her own role in the destiny of the nation. She once wrote to a Finnish correspondent: "It is a sin, a great sin, to be little in great times when a person can actually make history".

The Estonian literary tradition started by Kreutzwald continued with Koidula but whereas The Bard of Viru tried to imitate the regivärss folk traditions of ancient Estonian, Koidula wrote (mostly) in modern, Western European end-rhyming metres that had, by the mid 19th century, become the dominant form . This made Koidula’s poetry much more accessible to the popular reader. But the major importance of Koidula lays not so much in her preferred form of verse but in her potent use of the Estonian language. Estonian was, still, in the 1860’s, in a German dominated Baltic province of Imperial Russia, the language of the oppressed indigenous peasantry. It was still the subject of orthographical bickering, still used in the main for predominantly patronising educationalist or religious texts, practical advice to farmers or cheap and cheerful popular story telling. Koidula successfully used the vernacular language to express emotions that ranged from an affectionate poem about the family cat, in Meie kass (Our Cat) and delicate love poetry, Head ööd (Good Night) to a powerful cri de coeur and rallying call to an oppressed nation, Mu isamaa nad olid matnud (My Country, they have buried you). With Lydia Koidula, the colonial view that the Estonian language was an underdeveloped instrument for communication was, for the first time, demonstrably contradicted.

Drama[link]

Memorial stone for Lydia Koidula at her birthplace near Vändra

Koidula is also considered the "founder of Estonian theatre" through her drama activities at the Vanemuine Society (Estonian: Vanemuise Selts), a society started by the Jannsens in Tartu in 1865 to promote Estonian culture. Lydia was the first to write original plays in Estonian and to address the practicalities of stage direction and production. Despite some Estonian interludes at the German theatre in Tallinn, in the early 19th century, there had been no appreciation of theatre as a medium and few writers considered drama of any consequence, though Kreutzwald had translated two verse tragedies. In the late 1860s, both Estonians and Finns started to develop performances in their native tongues and Koidula, following suit, wrote and directed the comedy, Saaremaa Onupoeg (The Cousin from Saaremaa) in 1870 for the Vanemuine Society. It was based on Theodor Körner’s (1791-1813) farce Der Vetter aus Bremen, (The Cousin from Bremen) adapted to an Estonian situation. The characterisation was rudimentary and the plot was simple but it was popular and Koidula went on to write and direct Maret ja Miina, (aka Kosjakased; The Betrothal Birches, 1870) and her own creation, the first ever completely Estonian play, Säärane mulk (What a Bumpkin!). Koidula’s attitude to the theatre was influenced by the philosopher, dramatist, and critic Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), the author of Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts (The Education of the Human Race; 1780). Her plays were didactic and a vehicle for popular education. Koidula’s theatrical resources were few and raw – untrained, amateur actors and women played by men - but the qualities that impressed her contemporaries were a gallery of believable characters and cognizance of contemporary situations.

At the first Estonian Song Festival, in 1869, an important rallying event of the Estonian clans, two poems were set to music with lyrics by Lydia Koidula: Sind Surmani (Till Death) and Mu isamaa on minu arm (My Country is My Love), which became the unofficial anthem during the Soviet occupation when her father's Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm (My Country is My Pride and Joy), the anthem of the Estonian Republic between 1921 and 1940, was forbidden. Koidula’s song always finished every festival, with or without permission. The tradition persists to this day.

Memorial Museum of Lydia Koidula[link]

A branch of the Pärnu Museum, the museum gives an overview of the life and work of poet Lydia Koidula and her father Johann Voldemar Jannsen (author of the lyrics of Estonian anthem), important figures in Estonian national awakening period in the 19th century.

The Koidula museum is located in the Pärnu Ülejõe schoolhouse. The building was constructed in 1850 and has a unique interior. It was the home of Johann Voldemar Jannsen and the editorial office of the Perno Postimees newspaper until 1863, now it is under protection as a historical monument. Jannsen’s elder daughter, poet Lydia Koidula grew up in the house. It is the main task of the museum to keep alive the memory of Koidula and Jannsen and to introduce their life and work in the context of the period of national awakening in Estonia through the permanent exposition. There is a Monument of Lydia Koidula in the citycenter of Pärnu next to the historical building of Victoria Hotel on the corner of Kuninga and Lõuna street. The monument dates to 1929 and was the last work by famous Estonian sculptor Amandus Adamson.

Bibliography[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Lydia Koidula

Estonian Wikisource has original text related to this article: Lydia Koidula

• Loone Ots. The History of Estonian Literature. University of Tartu.
• Lydia Koidula. Sirje Olesk & Peep Pillak (2000).
• Estonian Literature. Endel Nirk (1987).
• Estonia and the Estonians by Toivo U.Raun (2001).