ABSTRACT
Larin Paraske was born and raised as the daughter of a serf on the Russian side of the border. She was orphaned at a young age and, at the age of twenty, married forty-year-old Kaurila Teppananpoika from the Finnish side of the border. As his wife, she became known as Larin Paraske, named after his poverty-stricken farm. Nine children were born to them, and of these only three grew to maturity. Because her husband was sickly and the need was great, Paraske sought additional income in many ways: she pulled barges on the river, begged, and raised children from orphanages in St. Petersburg. Widowed in 1888, Paraske came upon a new source of income: the clergyman, Adolf Neovius, who was collecting folklore, noticed Paraske's talent and, paying her small sums, he began to write down the songs she had in her memory
This was the beginning of a collaboration which lasted for many years. When he moved from Karelia to the environs of Helsinki, Neovius invited Paraske to come along as well. There he introduced the singer to numerous prominent artists of the time and continued recording her runes. It was during this time that Albert Edelfelt and Aksel Jarnefelt painted their renowned portraits of Larin Paraske, and it was she who gave Jean Sibelius his most significant contact with folksong. The collection completed by Neovius contains one of the most extensive repertoires of folksongs collected from a northern European woman.
