Giv mig ej glans, ej guld, ej prakt

Julvisa, also known after the opening lines Giv mig ej glans, ej guld, ej prakt, is a Christmas song written by Zacharias Topelius in 1887. It was originally published in Publicistklubben's magazine and appears in the fourth volume of Zacharias Topelius' . It was set to music by 30 year old Jean Sibelius in 1895 (opus 1, number 4).^[1]

In Finnish, the song opening lines are "En etsi valtaa, loistoa" and the song was originally published in Finnish in 1909, probably with lyrics by , and was adopted in the 1986 Finnish hymnal, with lyrics by in 1984. However, the older Finnish language-version had already become popular, and is commonly sung.

The song is one of the most popular Christmas songs in Finland.^[2]

Swedish Wikisource has original text related to this article: Giv mig ej glans, ej guld, ej prakt

Publication[]

• Julvisa in Topelius, Zacharias (1889). Sånger. 3, Ljung (in Swedish). Bonnier. p. 232.
• Julvisa in Topelius, Zacharias (1905). Samlade skrifter. D. 4, Sånger, fjärde bandet:1879-1897 (in Swedish). p. 99.
• as number 510 in the 1923 edition of the 1886 Finnish hymnal version under the lines ”Julpsalmer”.
• 1943 as number 28 under the lines ”Jul”.
• as number 591 under the lines ”Högtider - Jul”.
• as number 32 under the lines ”Jul”.
• 1986 års psalmbok i Sverige as number 645, as a bilingual song in two versions under the lines "From Finland".
• Virsikirja 1986 as number 31 in the section ”Joulu” (Christmas).
• 1987 as number 491 under the lines ”Jul”.
• as number 722 under the lines ”Kyrkoårets högtider, Jul”.
• Several non-religious songbooks

References[]