''Fader Berg i hornet stöter'' (Father Berg blows his horn) is Epistle No. 3 in the Swedish poet and performer

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 wel ...

'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 Ulla Winblad is a semi-fictional character in many of Carl Michael Bellman's musical works. She is at once an idealised rococo goddess and a tavern prostitute, and a key figure in Bellman's songs of '' Fredman's Epistles''. The juxtaposition of e ...

). One of his best-known works, it is both about and mimics the rhythm of playing the

horn Horn may refer to: Common uses * Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide ** Horn antenna ** Horn loudspeaker ** Vehicle horn ** Train horn *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals * Horn (instrument), a family ...

, 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 (

) interlude before the first and fourth lines. It is in time, marked ''

Menuetto A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually written in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''. The term also describes the musical form that ...

''. The

rhyming pattern A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB rh ...

is AABCCB-DDDEE. 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. 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.

Lyrics

The epistle is one of the first that Bellman wrote, between March and May 1770; it introduces Ulla Winblad to the world. 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 Paul Britten Austin (5 April 1922 – 25 July 2005) was an English author, translator, broadcaster, administrator, and scholar of Swedish literature. He is known in particular for his translations of and books on the Swedish musician, s ...

, 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".

Reception and legacy

Carina Burman writes in her biography of Bellman that the epistle illustrates the gently

voyeuristic Voyeurism is the Sexual attraction, sexual interest in or Human sexual activity, practice of watching other people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, Human sexual activity, sexual activity, or other actions of a private nature. ...

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. 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.") The Epistle has been recorded by

Fred Åkerström Fred Bo Gunnar Åkerström (27 January 1937 – 9 August 1985) was a Swedish folk guitarist and singer particularly noted for his interpretations of Carl Michael Bellman's music, and his own work of the typically Swedish song segment named ''vi ...

on his 1969 album '' Fred sjunger Bellman'', where it was the first track.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * (contains the most popular Epistles and Songs, in Swedish, with sheet music) * (with facsimiles of sheet music from first editions in 1790, 1791) * *

External links

Text of Epistle 3
on Bellman.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Fader Berg i hornet stöter Fredmans epistlar 18th-century songs