| Armas Otto Aapo Väisänen | |
|---|---|
Armas Otto Väisänen in 1913 |
|
| Born | April 9, 1890 Savonranta |
| Died | July 18, 1969 (aged 79) |
| Nationality | Finnish |
| Other names | A.O. Väisänen |
| Occupation | scholar |
| Known for | folk music |
Armas Otto Aapo Väisänen (9 April 1890 Savonranta – 18 July 1969 Helsinki) [1] was an eminent Finnish scholar of folk music, an ethnographer and ethno-musicologist [2] In the early twentieth century he documented by recording and photographing traditional Finnish and other Finno-Ugric peoples music and musicians.[3] With a scholarship from the Finno-Ugrian Society Vaisanen traveled to Russia in 1914 to collect Finno Ugrian folk melodies.[4] He made field trips to Mordavia, Ingria, Veps, Russian Karelia.[1] His activities also marked the a new stage in the history of collecting Setu folk songs in Southern Estonia.[5] After the first trip in 1912 he made 6 fieldtrips to Estonia between 1912–1923.[1]
Armas Otto Väisänen's dissertation was presented in 1939 on ob-ugrian folk music in German: Untersuchungen über die Ob-ugrischen Melodien: eine vergleichende Studien nebst methodischer Einleitung.[1]
Between 1926–1957 Väisänen hold the position of the head of the folk music department at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, Finland.[1] He was the professor of musicology at University of Helsinki from 1956–1959.