Fredman's Song 21 Så lunka vi så småningom

''Fredmans sånger'' (in English, ''Fredman's Songs'' or ''Songs of Fredman'') is a collection of 65 poems and songs published in 1791 by the Swedish poet

Carl Michael Bellman Carl Michael Bellman (; 4 February 1740 – 11 February 1795) was a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, poet and entertainer. He is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a powerful influence in Swedish music, as well ...

. As a follow-up to ''

Fredmans epistlar ''Fredmans epistlar'' (English: ''Fredman's Epistles'') is a collection of 82 poems set to music by Carl Michael Bellman, a major figure in Swedish 18th century song. Though first published in 1790, it was created over a period of twenty years ...

'' from the previous year, the book contains songs from a longer period. There are bible travesties (" Gubben Noak", "Gubben Loth och hans gamla Fru", "Joachim uti Babylon"),

drinking song A drinking song is a song sung while drinking alcohol. Most drinking songs are folk songs or commercium songs, and may be varied from person to person and region to region, in both the lyrics and in the music. In Germany, drinking songs are ...

s ("Bacchi Proclama", "Til buteljen"),

rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

pastorale Pastorale refers to something of a pastoral nature in music, whether in form or in mood. In Baroque music, a pastorale is a movement of a melody in thirds over a drone bass, recalling the Christmas music of ''pifferari'', players of the traditio ...

s ('' Opp Amaryllis!''), and lyrical passages ("

Fjäriln vingad syns på Haga Fjäril'n vingad syns på Haga (The butterfly wingèd's seen in Haga) is one of Carl Michael Bellman's collection of songs called ''Fredmans sånger'', published in 1791, where it is No. 64. The song describes Haga Park, the attractive natural s ...

"). Several of these songs including ''Gubben Noak'' and ''Fjäriln vingad'' are known by heart by many Swedes.

Grouping of the songs

Bellman had public performances known as the '' Bacchi orden'' ("Order of Bacchus"). These consisted largely of travesties of the

chivalric Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is an informal and varying code of conduct developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It was associated with the medieval Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours were governed ...

and society orders of the time, some of which Bellman himself was a member. These orders held strict ceremonials, and members were often expected to live a decent and "christian life". To be knighted in the ''Order of Bacchus'', the candidate had to have been observed publicly lying in a stupor in the gutter, at least twice. Several of the songs from these performances are collected in ''Songs of Fredman'' (songs 1–6). Songs 18–21 are about

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

. Bellman wrote drinking songs and bible travesties, and also mixed the two genres. The holy men from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

were portrayed as drunks. The travesties became popular all over the country, being spread (anonymously) by broadsheets and transcripts. Some of Bellman's bible travesties offended the church authorities. As shown in a 1768 letter from the

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish province of Scania, across the Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipality, Scania County. The Öre ...

chapter, the church attempted to collect all prints and transcripts in circulation of the most popular song, " Gubben Noak", as well as other songs. It and eight other biblical travesties are songs 35–43. Songs 47–54 are part of a song play about "Bacchus's bankruptcy" (''Bacchi konkurs''). The other songs in the book are not naturally grouped by theme.

Songs

Brandy-Distiller Lundholm by Elis Chiewitz

Persons

The songs portray a series of persons, mostly people lapsed into heavy drinking. Named persons are Kolmodin (treasurer), Holmström, Nystedt (pub owner), Meissner (brewer), Steindecker (royal kettledrummer), Lundholm (brewer and distiller), Appelstubbe (customs officer), Österman (workshop owner), Halling (baker), Agrell (customs officer), Kämpendal, Nybom, Planberg, Joseph Israelson (student and poet) and Knapen (musician). In addition to these are the biblical figures such as Adam and Susanna; and the characters from

classical mythology Classical mythology, Greco-Roman mythology, or Greek and Roman mythology is both the body of and the study of myths from the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans as they are used or transformed by cultural reception. Along with philosophy and poli ...

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...

and

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

, plus a few more.

References

External links

Facsimile of 1791 book
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fredmans sanger Swedish poetry 1791 books Song books Works by Carl Michael Bellman