Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna
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Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna is a legendary saga from Iceland which in its present form is from ca 1300. It is a continuation from Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar, and it takes place in the 8th century.
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[edit] Frithiof's saga
It was translated into Swedish in 1737 and became the basis for Esaias Tegnér's poem Frithiofs saga (1825) and even before it was completed it was famous throughout Europe; the aged Johann Wolfgang von Goethe took up his pen to commend to his countrymen this "alte, kraftige, gigantischbarbarische Dichtart," ("old, mighty, gigantic-barbaric style of verse") and desired Amalie von Imhoff to translate it into German. This romantic paraphrase of an ancient saga was composed in twenty-four cantos, all differing in verse form, modelled somewhat. Frithjof's saga is the best known of all Swedish productions; it is said to have been translated twenty-two times into English, twenty times into German, and once at least into every European language, including modern Icelandic in 1866.
[edit] Synopsis
King Beli of Sogn had two sons, Helgi and Halfdan, and a daughter named Ingeborg. On the other side of the fjord, lived the king's friend Þorsteinn Víkingsson whose son Frithjof (Friðþjófr) was called "the bold" (inn frœkni) and he was the bravest among men. Frithjof had been raised together with Ingeborg (Ingibjörg) by their foster-father Hilding (Hildingr).
Both Beli and Þorsteinn died in war whereupon Helgi and Halfdan took over the kingdom. The two kings were jealous with Frithjof's excellent qualities and so they denied him Ingeborg's hand. They took her to Baldrshagi (Baldr's sacred enclosure) where no one dared hurt another and where no woman and man had intercourse. Still, Frithjof visited Ingeborg and they continued to love each other.
This caused Helgi and Halfdan to send Frithjof away to Orkney to take tribute and while he was away they burnt down his homestead and married Ingeborg to the aged king Ring of Ringerike.
When Frithjof returned with the tribute, he burnt down Baldr's temple in Baldrshagi and went away to live as a viking. After three years, he came to king Ring and spent the winter with him. Just before the old king died, Frithjof's identity was apparent to everybody and so the dying king appointed Frithjof earl and made him the care-taker of Ring's and Ingeborg's child. When Ring had died, Frithjof and Ingeborg married and he became the king of Ringerike. Then he declared war on Ingeborg's brothers, killed one of them and made the second one his vassal.
[edit] References to Frithjof in music
Frithjof's Saga was used as an inspiration by at least three composers. The most famous example is the 'Frithjof' Symphony in F major, Op. 22, by the German composer Heinrich Hofmann (not to be confused with the identically-named and contemporaneous German painter). This piece was one of the most-played pieces in European concert halls at the end of the 19th Century. Another example is a work by the Dutch composer Johan Wagenaar, the concert piece for orchestra Fritjof's Meeresfahrt, opus 5. The Dutch composer Cornelis Dopper, finally, wrote an opera called Frithjof in 1895, but it was never performed.
[edit] External links
- Original version:
- Tegnér's version:
- Fridthjof's Saga, available at Project Gutenberg. (English translation by Thomas & Martha Holcomb)
- Fritiofs Saga, available at Project Gutenberg. (Swedish with English introduction & notes by Andrew A. Stomberg)
