Years in Sweden: | 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 |
Centuries: | 17th century · 18th century · 19th century |
Decades: | 1760s 1770s 1780s 1790s 1800s 1810s 1820s |
Years: | 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 |
Events from the year 1791 in Sweden
Carl Michael Bellman 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 in Scandinavian literature, to this day. He has been compared to Shakespeare, Beethoven, Mozart, and Hogarth, but his gift, using elegantly rococo classical references in comic contrast to sordid drinking and prostitution—at once regretted and celebrated in song—is unique.
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 elegant and low life is humorous, while allowing Bellman to convey a range of emotions. Ulla Winblad has been called "one of the really great female figures in Swedish literature". The character was partly inspired by Maria Kristina Kiellström (1744–1798).
Swedish enlightenment literature was written between approximately 1732 and 1809. Key figures included the mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, the botanist Carl Linnaeus, the poet Johan Henrik Kellgren and the songwriter and performer Carl Michael Bellman.
Fredmans sånger is a collection of 65 poems and songs published in 1791 by the Swedish poet Carl Michael Bellman.
"Gubben Noak" is a traditional Swedish song, a drinking song and bible travesty written in 1766 or earlier by Carl Michael Bellman. The song is possibly the best known of all Bellman's works. The song was initially published anonymously for fear of the church. In 1768 the Lund chapter attempted to have all copies of the song and other biblical travesties destroyed. It was included in the 1936 Songs for the Philologists by J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon. Simplified and more innocent versions of the song are widely sung by children around the world. English versions have been recorded by Adam McNaughtan and the Linköping University Male Voice Choir.
Hvila vid denna källa is a song by the Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman from his 1790 collection, Fredman's Epistles, where it is No. 82, the final Epistle. It is subtitled "Eller Oförmodade avsked, förkunnat vid Ulla Winblads frukost en sommarmorgon i det gröna. Pastoral dedicerad till Kgl. Sekreteraren Leopoldt" . It depicts the Rococo muse Ulla Winblad, as the narrator offers a "little breakfast" of "red wine with burnet, and a newly-shot snipe" in a pastoral setting in the Stockholm countryside.
Så lunka vi så småningom is a song from the Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman's 1791 collection, Fredman's Songs, where it is No. 21. The song, written a few months after the death of his son Eli, is addressed to his hosts at a meal. It makes light of death, while presenting it to each person individually, of high or low rank in society. The refrain sings of a pair of gravediggers discussing whether the grave is too deep, taking repeated swigs from a bottle of brandy.
Käraste Bröder Systrar och Vänner is Epistle No. 9 in the Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman's 1790 song collection, Fredman's Epistles. The epistle is subtitled with the dedication "Til Gumman på Thermopolium Boreale och hännes Jungfrur.", Barbara Ekenberg. It describes the fictional Jean Fredman's cheerful world of brandy, women, and dance, in the setting of a tavern which is halfway to a brothel. The song ends with Fredman's credo, a celebration of everything that is delightful in life.
Blåsen nu alla, "All blow now!", is one of the Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman's best-known and best-loved songs, from his 1790 collection, Fredman's Epistles, where it is No. 25. It is a pastorale, based on François Boucher's rococo 1740 painting Triumph of Venus.
Glimmande Nymf! blixtrande öga!, is a song by the Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman from his 1790 collection, Fredman's Epistles, where it is No. 72. It is subtitled "Lemnad vid Cajsa Lisas Säng, sent om en afton", and set to a melody by Egidio Duni. A night-piece, it depicts a Rococo muse in the Ulla Winblad mould, asleep in her bed in Stockholm, complete with allusions to both classical and Nordic mythology.
Fjäril'n vingad syns på 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 setting of King Gustav III's never-completed Haga Palace just north of Stockholm. An earlier version of the song was a verse petition to obtain a job for Bellman's wife. The composition is one of the most popular of Bellman's songs, being known by many Swedes by heart. It has been recorded many times from 1904 onwards, and translated into English verse at least four times.
Gråt Fader Berg och spela is No. 12 in the Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman's 1790 song collection, Fredman's Epistles. The epistle is subtitled "Elegi över Slagsmålet på Gröna Lund". It is a lament over a pub brawl, caused by Fredman's drinking a soldier's beer and dancing with someone else's girlfriend. Set to the melody from the aria "The flocks shall leave the mountains" in George Frideric Handel's opera Acis and Galatea, it is the best-known of his poems describing the consequences of brandy-drinking. Bellman used the contrast between the romantic associations of the melody and the brutal reality of heavy drinking to humorous effect.
Stolta stad! is Epistle No. 33 in the Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman's 1790 song collection, Fredman's Epistles. One of his best-known works, it combines both spoken and sung sections. In the spoken sections, Bellman, as composer and as performer, imitates a whole crowd of people of many descriptions. It has been described as Swedish literature's most congenial portrait of the country's capital city, Stockholm.
Opp Amaryllis! is one of the Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman's songs from his 1791 collection, Fredman's Songs, where it is No. 31. The song is a graceful pastorale in rococo style, involving a sleeping nymph who is invited to come fishing upon the sea's stormy wave. In reality, the nymph is a Swedish woman, Wilhelmina Norman, the stormy wave is a Swedish waterway, and the progression from shore to fishing-boat can equally well be read as a seduction. It is one of Bellman's best-known and best-loved songs, and has been recorded by musicians including Folke Andersson and Edvard Andreasson.
"Träd fram du nattens gud", "Aftonkväde", or Fredmans sånger no. 32 is a nature-lyrical Swedish song by Carl Michael Bellman, a nocturne in the style of Edward Young's Night-Thoughts.
Martin Bagge is a Swedish musician and composer known for his interpretations of Carl Michael Bellman's songs.
Fram med basfiolen, knäpp och skruva is Epistle No. 7 in the Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman's 1790 song collection, Fredman's Epistles. The epistle is subtitled "Som synes vara en elegi, skriven vid Ulla Winblads sang, sent om en afton". It describes an attempt by Jean Fredman to make love to Ulla Winblad, set to a tune from a French operetta, narrated with a combination of biblical allusion and suggestive metaphor. The mention of elegy implies that the song is about death, but the subtext is of the "little death" or female orgasm. Scholars have remarked the epistle's ambiguity, enabling it to work both on a high mythological level and a low worldly level. Similarly, the musician's cello serves both as a musical instrument and as a symbol for Ulla Winblad's body, allowing the singer to mime plucking strings and feeling a woman's body.
Kära Syster is No. 24 in the Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman's 1790 song collection, Fredman's Epistles. The epistle is subtitled "Till kära mor på Bruna Dörren" ; its themes are drinking and death. One of his best-known works, it is set to a tune extensively modified from one by Egidio Duni for Louis Anseaume's 1766 song-play La Clochette. Bellman's biographer, Carina Burman, calls it a central epistle.
Hör klockorna med ängsligt dån or Fredman's Song no. 6 is one of the Swedish 18th century poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman's Fredman's Songs, written in 1769. It is subtitled Över brännvinsbrännaren Lundholm. It was originally one of the texts for Bellman's Order of Bacchus. It was first performed on 15 October 1769, and quickly became popular, spreading as a transcript. It is structured as a funeral oration for a member of Lundholm's Order, parodying the Swedish system of noble Orders.
Charon i Luren tutar is epistle No. 79 in the Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman's 1790 song collection, Fredman's Epistles. The epistle is subtitled "Afsked til Matronorna, synnerligen til Mor Maja Myra i Solgränden vid Stortorget, Anno 1785". The song describes Jean Fredman's departure from the world.