Carl Michael Bellman
The Swedish poet and singer Carl Michael Bellman (1740 – 1795) was a contemporary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Already in his childhood Bellman showed a remarkable talent for singing and presentation. As an adult he sang everywhere, from the Royal Court in Kungliga Slottet in Stockholm till the salons, pubs and brothels in the same city. That’s a bit of a parallel with Mozart indeed!
He wrote about 1700 poems and songs. Many of them were about the daily life with for this era daring lyrics about booze, erotica, death and life’s wisdom. He often presented his songs in a tragical-comical or even parodic way.
Bellman accompanied himself on a Centrina – a kind of eleven string lute – and caught all kinds of catchy tunes for his songs. He did not compose himself, but he had a perfect sense for the right melody with his songs and a lot of friends who could help him with the music.
Thus, many of his songs are set to popular melodies from his time. These melodies are part of Sweden’s cultural heritage and even popular in our days! The songs are simple yet catchy. The Dutch singer Cornelis Vreeswijk (1937 – 1987), who was quite popular in Sweden, recorded a few of Bellman’s songs.
Bellman’s songs are mainly passed down in two collections, Fredman’s Epistles (1790) and Fredman’s Songs (1791). The clockmaker Fredman was one of the main characters from his songs.
Music
Fredman’s Brief Nr. 71 is een liefdesliedje getiteld Ulla, min Ulla. Het is een rustige melodie, die je niet al te snel moet spelen.
Het instrumentale arrangement werd gemaakt door de Zweed Carl Oscar Boije af Gennäs (1849-1923). Hij was een verzekeringsagent met een grote liefhebberij: gitaarmuziek. Niet alleen speelde hij zelf, zijn verzamelwoede was onverslaanbaar. Hij had prints en manuscripten van bijna alle belangrijke 19e eeuwse gitaarmuziek. In 1924 ging de hele collectie na zijn dood over naar de Statens Musikbibliothek, de muziekbibliotheek van de Zweedse Staat.
Op dit moment is de zogenaamde Boije Collectie beschikbaar in het Public Domain en zodoende een belangrijke bron voor mijn eigen zettingen van negentiende eeuwse gitaarmuziek.