Fader Berg i hornet stöter
"Fader Berg i hornet stöter" | |
---|---|
Art song | |
English | Father Berg blows his horn |
Written | March–May 1770 |
Text | poem by Carl Michael Bellman |
Language | Swedish |
Melody | An unidentified minuet |
Dedication | The sisters, and Ulla Winblad |
Published | 1790 in Fredman's Epistles |
Scoring | voice, cittern, and horn |
Fader Berg i hornet stöter (Father Berg blows his horn) is Epistle No. 3 in the Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman's 1790 song collection, Fredman's Epistles. The epistle is subtitled "Till en och var av systrarna, men enkannerligen till Ulla Winblad" (To each and every one of the sisters, most especially to Ulla Winblad). One of his best-known works,[1] it is both about and mimics the rhythm of playing the horn, while Fredman enjoys the sight of Ulla Winblad dancing in a ruffled dress.
Background
Epistle
Music and verse form
The song has four stanzas, each of 11 lines, with a corno (
The source of the melody is an unknown minuet; Epistle 4's melody can be seen from an early manuscript to be from the same source.[12] Bellman.net states that a possible source melody is a minuet in a contemporary Danish musicians' book, but if so, Bellman's melody is so different that he is at least in part its composer.[13]
Lyrics
The epistle is one of the first that Bellman wrote, between March and May 1770;[14] it introduces Ulla Winblad to the world.[15] The lyrics portray and mimic the rhythm of playing the horn, while Fredman enjoys the sight of Ulla dancing in her ruffled dress. Bellman's biographer, Paul Britten Austin, writes that it perfectly captures the sound of a horn with its minuet melody, whereas No. 2's melody "is exactly a fiddler's". He remarks how different the two are "in style, tempo, rhythm, even instrumental tone-colour".[16]
Carl Michael Bellman, 1770 | Paul Britten Austin, 1977[17] |
---|---|
Corno. - - - Valdthorn bör man ha på Baler, |
Corno. - - - Horns we need for these occasions, |
Reception and legacy
Carina Burman writes in her biography of Bellman that the epistle illustrates the gently voyeuristic perspective with detailed observation of "white legs" and details of the nymphs' attire that Bellman delights in; the arch-nymph Ulla Winblad is introduced in this Epistle, which is dedicated to her.[18]
Edvard Matz, author of a book about Bellman's women, calls the song "familiar to everyone", writing that it contains the well-known exclamations "Hurra! si Ulla dansar" ("Hooray! See Ulla's dancing") and "Ulla Winblad kära Syster, Du är eldig, qvick och yster, Hvar dag så står du brud." (Ulla Winblad dear sister, You are fiery, quick and frisky, Each day you stand as bride.")[1]
The Epistle has been recorded by Fred Åkerström on his 1969 album Fred sjunger Bellman, where it was the first track.[19][20]
Notes
References
- ^ a b Matz 2015, p. 40.
- ^ Bellman 1790.
- ^ Bellman Society. Archived from the originalon 10 August 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
- ^ "Bellman in Mariefred". The Royal Palaces [of Sweden]. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
- ISBN 978-0131369207.
- ^ Britten Austin 1967, pp. 60–61.
- ^ Britten Austin 1967, p. 39.
- ^ Britten Austin 1967, pp. 81–83, 108.
- ^ Britten Austin 1967, pp. 71–72 "In a tissue of dramatic antitheses—furious realism and graceful elegance, details of low-life and mythological embellishments, emotional immediacy and ironic detachment, humour and melancholy—the poet presents what might be called a fragmentary chronicle of the seedy fringe of Stockholm life in the 'sixties.".
- ^ Britten Austin 1967, p. 63.
- ^ Hassler & Dahl 1989, pp. 25–27.
- ^ Massengale 1979, p. 152.
- ^ "Fredmans Epistel N:o 3: Kommentar tab". Bellman.net. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
- ^ "N:o 3 (Kommentar tab)". Bellman.net. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
- ^ Matz 2015, Ulla Winblad.
- ^ Britten Austin 1967, pp. 63–68.
- ^ Britten Austin 1977, p. 15.
- ^ Burman 2019, pp. 65, 170.
- ^ Hassler & Dahl 1989, pp. 281–283.
- ^ Åkerström, Fred (1969). Fred sjunger Bellman. Metronome.
Sources
- Bellman, Carl Michael (1790). Fredmans epistlar. Stockholm: By Royal Privilege.
- ISBN 978-3-932759-00-0.
- OCLC 186784336.
- ISBN 978-9100141790.
- Hassler, Göran; ISBN 91-7448-742-6. (contains the most popular Epistles and Songs, in Swedish, with sheet music)
- ISBN 91-7736-059-1. (with facsimiles of sheet music from first editions in 1790, 1791)
- ISBN 91-554-0849-4.
- Matz, Edvard (2015). Carl Michael Bellman Nymfer och friska kalas [Carl Michael Bellman: Nymphs and Lively Parties] (in Swedish). Historiska Media. OCLC 941607965.
External links
- Text of Epistle 3 on Bellman.net