Fredmans sånger

Start of Fredman's Song No: 21, 'Så lunka vi så småningom' (So we eventually amble). Marche, 2/4 time, 1791. The song mentions Bacchus, death, and "the fairest nymph".

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.[1]

As a follow-up of Fredmans epistlar 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 songs ("Bacchi Proclama", "Til buteljen") and lyrical passages ("Haga (Fjäriln vingad)").

Grouping of the songs

Bellman had public performances known as the Bacchus Orden ("Order of Bacchus"). These consisted largely of travesties of the chivalric and society orders of the time, some of which Bellman himself was a member.[2] 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).[2]

Songs 18–21 are about death.

Bellman wrote drinking songs and bible travesties, and also mixed the two genres. The holy men from the Old Testament 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 chapter, the church attempted to collect all prints and transcripts in circulation of the most popular song, "Gubben Noach", as well as other songs.[2][3] "Gubben Noak" and eight other biblical travesties are included in Fredmans Sånger as songs number 35–43.[2]

Songs 47–54 are part of a song play about "Bacchus's bankruptcy" (Bacchi konkurs).[2] The other songs in the book are not naturally grouped by theme.[2]

Songs

"Fjäriln vingad syns på Haga", "The wingèd butterfly is seen in Haga", song no. 64
Ink and watercolor drawing by Elis Chiewitz of Brandy-Distiller Lundholm, described by Carl Michael Bellman in Fredman's Songs, No. 6, with the words "If ever thy wife kissed thy chin in her life, she'd have been drunk."
Songs
Number Title
1 Bacchi Härolder med guld och beslag
2 Ordens-Härolder ta'n Edra spiror
3 Se menigheten
4 Hör Pukor och Trompeter!
5a Så vandra våre store män
5b Se svarta böljans hvita drägg
5c Så slår min Glock nu locket til
6 Hör klockorna med ängsligt dån
7 Kärlek och Bacchus helgas min skål
8 Ack om vi hade, god' vänner, en Så
9 Nå ödmjukaste tjenare, gunstig Herr Värd!
10 Supa klockan öfver tolf
11 Portugal, Spanjen
12 Venus, Minerva
13 Det var rätt curieust; i går aftons
14 Hade jag sextusende daler
15 Kom sköna Källar-flickor
16 Är jag född så vil jag lefva
17 I Januari månad, Gutår!
18 Snart är jag rykt ur tidens sköte
19 Ack! döden är en faslig björn
20 Mina Björnar samlen eder
21 Så lunka vi så småningom
22 Ach hör ett roligt giftermål!
23 Så slutas våra Sorgedar
24 Bortt vid en grind uti en skog
25 Cornelius lefde femti år
26 Ur vägen och vik
27 Ur vägen För gamla Schmidtens bår!
28 Movitz skulle bli Student
29 Grannas Lasse! Klang på lyran
30 Hör Trumpetarn, alarm!
31 Opp Amaryllis! vakna min lilla!
32 Träd fram du Nattens Gud
33 Magistraten uti T**** fiker
34 På Gripsholm är alt för roligt
35 Gubben Noach, Gubben Noach
36 Gubben Loth och hans gamla Fru
37 Glada Bröder när vi dricka
38 En Potiphars hustru med sköna maner
39 Alt förvandlas, alt går omkull!
40 Ahasverus var så mägtig
41 Joachim uti Babylon
42 Judith var en riker Enka
43 Adams skål, vår gamla far!
44 Gamle bror Jockum, klang vid denna rågan!
45 Om ödet mig skull' skicka
46 M. Hur du dig vänder
47 Bacchus snyfta, gret och stamma
48 November den femtonde dagen
49 Som nu och emedan
50 Parterna syns kring Bacchus så röder
51 Utterquist - Ja!
52 Närvarande vid fluidum
53 Som af Handlingarne, Bröder
54 I närvarande Parter
55 Mollberg höll flaskan och Bredström satt
56 När jag har en plåt at dricka
57 Sjung och läs nu Bacchi böner
58 Nej fåfängt! hvart jag ser
59 Har du något i flaskan qvar?
60 Du har at fordra af mitt sinne
61 Se god dag min vän, min frände
62 Aldrig et ord!
63 Mäster Petrus från det helga höga
64 Fjäriln vingad syns på Haga
65 Så ser jag ut vid stranden

Persons

The songs portray a series of persons, mostly people lapsed into heavy drinking.[4] 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 Bacchus and Venus, plus a few more.

References

  1. ↑ Carl Michael Bellman (1791). "Fredmans sånger". Project Runeberg (in Swedish). Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Bellman. Verken" (in Swedish). Retrieved 2008-10-16.
  3. ↑ Domkapitlet i Lund (1768). "Som til Consistorium blifwit inlemnade ..." (in Swedish). Retrieved 2008-10-16.
  4. ↑ "Personerna i Fredmans Epistlar och Sånger" (in Swedish). Retrieved 2008-10-17.
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