Maiden of the North is an opera by Oskar Merikanto

Oskar Merikanto

Oskar Merikanto was a Finnish musician and composer.He was born to Swedish-speaking parents in Helsinki. His father, originally Frank Mattsson, changed the family name to sound more Finnish....

. Composed in 1898, it was the first opera composed in the Finnish language

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

; while other Finnish operas had been written previously, they had been composed in the Swedish language

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

 instead of the native Finnish. Maiden was written to a libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Antti Rytkönen. The opera was not premiered until 1908; at the first performances, in Wiborg

Wiborg

Wiborg may refer to:*Anders Nilsen Wiborg , the fourth commander of the Christiansfjell Fortress.*Erlend Wiborg , Norwegian politician for the Progress Party...

, the title role was taken by Mally Burjam-Bergaas, while that of Väinämöinen was sung by Abraham Ojanperä.