''Sveriges Medeltida Ballader'' (''SMB'') is a scholarly edition which compiles, in principle, all of the known Swedish
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
(traditional)
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
s in existence, including those from Swedish-speaking parts of Finland.
The collection was published between 1983 and 2001 by the
Svenskt visarkiv, and edited by , and Sven-Bertil Jansson.
The ballads are cross referenced to the corresponding TSB number (''
The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad
''The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad: A Descriptive Catalogue'' (TSB) is the designation for a cataloguing system for Scandinavian ballads.
It is also the title of the underlying reference book: ''The Types of the Scandinavian Medieva ...
'').
Not only that, the ''SMB'' numbers were assigned in the order of ascending TSB type numbers, i.e., SMB 1 was assigned to TSB A 4, ending with SMB 260 assigned to F 75, at the point in time when 260 ballad types were recognized in the collection.
But 263 types were given in the final count when the 5th volume was published 2001. (See §
Contents of the published volumes).
For each ballad type in the collection, all variants in full text have been printed, up to a maximum of 25 variants, arranged chronologically (This means that for about 80% of the types, all known variants are exhaustively printed, while for the 20% remaining, only a listing of the variants are given beyond the 25 variants limit).
Another feature of ''SMB'' is that the accompanying melodies have been comprehensively printed alongside the text,
unlike ballad collections in some of the other languages.
In 2005, a ballad collection was discovered in the library of Växjö that contained ballad types not enumerated in the ''SMB''.
A full list of the Swedish ballad types is given in the .
Contents of the published volumes
*Band 1 (1983): Naturmytisk visa (SMB 1-36)
*Band 2 (1986): Legendvisa (SMB 37-54); Historisk visa (SMB 55-65)
*Band 3 (1990): Riddarvisa I (SMB 66-130)
*Band 4:1 (1996): Riddarvisa II (SMB 131-169)
*Band 4:2 (1997): Riddarvisa III (SMB 170-196)
*Band 5:1 (2001) Kämpavisa (SMB 197-219); Skämtvisa I (SMB 220-233)
*Band 5:2 (2001) Skämtvisa II (SMB 234-263)
See also
* GA =
Geijer and
Afzelius, ''Svenska folk-visor från forntiden'' (1814–1816) – pioneering Swedish ballad collection.
* SF =, (1834) – another early Swedish compilation.
* GAB = and , ''Svenska folkvisor'' (1880) – revision of Geijer and Afzelius.
*
List of folk song collections
This is a list of folk song collections including pioneer and notable work in collecting folk songs.
Many such collections were made in the 19th century. The earlier ones are often considered to be parts of the National Romanticist interests in ...
*
Danmarks gamle folkeviser
''Danmarks gamle Folkeviser'' is a collection of (in principle) all known texts and recordings of the old Danish popular ballads. It drew both on early modern manuscripts, such as Karen Brahes Folio, and much more recent folk-song collecting acti ...
– Danish folk ballad compilation
*
Francis J. Child's ''
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads
The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as ...
'' – Compilation of traditional ballads in English.
Footnotes
Explanatory notes
Citations
References
*
* (Review)
*
* (Review)
External links
Searchable indexat Svenskt visarkiv {{in lang, sv
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
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