Märk hur vår skugga

{{short description|Song by the 18th century Swedish bard Carl Michael Bellman}}

{{Infobox musical composition

| name = "{{nowrap|{{lang|sv|Märk hur vår skugga|italic=no}}}}"

| type = Art song

| composer =

| image = Epistel 81 Märk hur vår skugga, märk Movitz Mon frere.jpg

| image_upright = 1.2

| alt = Sheet music

| caption = First page of sheet music for the 1810 edition

| translation = Mark how our shadow

| catalogue =

| dedication =

| text = poem by Carl Michael Bellman

| written = Late 1780s–1790

| language = Swedish

| melody = Perhaps by Bellman himself

| composed =

| published = 1790 in Fredman's Epistles

| scoring = voice and cittern

}}

Märk hur vår skugga (Mark how our shadow) is one of the best-known of the 1790 Fredman's Epistles, where it is No. 81. These were written and performed by Carl Michael Bellman, the dominant figure in the Swedish song tradition. Its subject is the funeral of one of Bellman's female acquaintances, Grälmakar Löfberg's wife.

Context

Song

= Music and verse form =

{{listen |filename=CMB EP81.MID|title=Melody of Epistle 81 |description= }}

The song has four verses, each of 9 lines. The music is in 4/4 time, and is marked Andantino.{{sfn|Bellman|1790}} The melody may be by Bellman himself; a very similar melody was used by Eric Lorentz Zebell, but it was printed after the Epistles.{{sfn|Massengale|1979|pp=204–205}}{{cite book |last=Massengale |first=James |author-link=James Massengale |editor1-last=Ingwersen |editor1-first=Faith |editor2-last=Norseng |editor2-first=Mary Kay |title=Fin(s) de Siècle in Scandinavian Perspective: Studies in Honor of Harald S. Naess |date=1993 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer |isbn=978-1879751248 |pages=28–41 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FK_ASX73HZ4C&pg=PA29 |chapter=The Note that was Worth a Ducat: The Search for the Source Melody to Bellman's Epistel 81}} The real Doctor Blad was the Bellman family's doctor, and one of their closest friends, during the latter part of Bellman's life.{{cite web |title=Kommentar: No. 81 |url=http://www.bellman.net/texter/epistel.php?nr=81 |website=Bellman.net |access-date=19 April 2016}}

= Lyrics =

The song was written late in the 1780s or in 1790, not long before publication.{{cite web |title=N:o 81 (Kommentar tab) |url=http://www.bellman.net/texter/epistel.php?nr=81 |website=Bellman.net |access-date=3 February 2022}}

Epistle No. 81 is subtitled "Til Grälmakar Löfberg i Sterbhuset vid Danto bommen, diktad vid Grafven" (To Quarrelsome Löfberg in the Hospice by the Danto barrier, dictated at the Grave). The dedication runs "Dedicerad til Doctor BLAD" (Dedicated to Doctor Blad).

class="wikitable" \|+ Epistle 81, first verse
Carl Michael Bellman, 1790{{sfn\|Bellman\|1790}}{{sfn\|Hassler\|Dahl\|1989\|pp=186–188}} ! Prose translation ! Paul Britten Austin, 1977{{sfn\|Britten Austin\|1977\|pp=92–94}}
{{lang\|sv\|Märk hur' vår skugga, märk Movitz Mon Frère! Innom et mörker sig slutar, Hur Guld och Purpur i Skåfveln, den där, Byts til grus och klutar. Vinkar Charon från sin brusande älf, Och tre gånger sen Dödgräfvaren sjelf, Mer du din drufva ej kryster. Därföre Movitz kom hjelp mig och hvälf Grafsten öfver vår Syster.}} \| Mark how our shadow, mark, Movitz mon frère,{{efn\|French: "my brother"}} within a darkness ends, How gold and purple in that shovel, is changed to grit and rags. Charon waves from his roaring stream, and three times too the gravedigger waves, no more your grape will glisten. So, Movitz, come and help me place a gravestone over our sister. \|Mark how our shadow, mark, Movitz mon frère, One small darkness encloses, How gold and purple that shovel there To rags and rubbish disposes. Charon beckons from tumultuous waves, Then thrice this ancient digger of graves. For thee ne'er grapeskin shall glister. Wherefore, my Movitz, come help me to raise A gravestone over our sister.

class="wikitable"

|+ Epistle 81, first verse

Carl Michael Bellman, 1790{{sfn|Bellman|1790}}{{sfn|Hassler|Dahl|1989|pp=186–188}}

! Prose translation

! Paul Britten Austin, 1977{{sfn|Britten Austin|1977|pp=92–94}}

{{lang|sv|Märk hur' vår skugga, märk Movitz Mon Frère!

Innom et mörker sig slutar,

Hur Guld och Purpur i Skåfveln, den där,

Byts til grus och klutar.

Vinkar Charon från sin brusande älf,

Och tre gånger sen Dödgräfvaren sjelf,

Mer du din drufva ej kryster.

Därföre Movitz kom hjelp mig och hvälf

Grafsten öfver vår Syster.}}

| Mark how our shadow, mark, Movitz mon frère,{{efn|French: "my brother"}}

within a darkness ends,

How gold and purple in that shovel,

is changed to grit and rags.

Charon waves from his roaring stream,

and three times too the gravedigger waves,

no more your grape will glisten.

So, Movitz, come and help me place

a gravestone over our sister.

|Mark how our shadow, mark, Movitz mon frère,

One small darkness encloses,

How gold and purple that shovel there

To rags and rubbish disposes.

Charon beckons from tumultuous waves,

Then thrice this ancient digger of graves.

For thee ne'er grapeskin shall glister.

Wherefore, my Movitz, come help me to raise

A gravestone over our sister.

Reception

File:Titelbldd med vinjett till "Bilder ur Fredmans Epistlar".jpg" by C. Wahlbom]]

The scholar of literature Lars Lönnroth writes that Bellman often begins with a priestly tone, as he does for this churchyard epistle, before turning from the elegiac to a drinking-orgy, as Fredman and the other guests are unmasked. The language, the genre, the voice, and the roles played all switch over, he observes, from the elevated to a drinking song's slapdash interaction. He writes that this does not mean that the sacred is accorded no value; rather, Bellman directs the "holy light" of attention from the high to the low, valuing both of them.{{sfn|Lönnroth|2005|pp=18, 314}}

Students of Swedish literature at the University of Gothenburg are expected to study Fredman's Songs and Epistles, "especially Fredman's epistle nos. 23, 33, and 81."{{cite web |title=Litteraturlista V15 LV1150 Moment 2: Klassiker ur Sveriges litteratur |url=http://gul.gu.se/public/pp/public_courses/course67437/published/1438852697750/resourceId/29271744/content/UploadedResources/Litteraturlista%20LV1150%202%2015.docx |publisher=University of Gothenburg|access-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307232418/http://gul.gu.se/public/pp/public_courses/course67437/published/1438852697750/resourceId/29271744/content/UploadedResources/Litteraturlista%20LV1150%202%2015.docx |archive-date=2016-03-07 |url-status=dead}}

Recordings and translations

Epistle 81 has been recorded by Fred Åkerström and by Cornelis Vreeswijk.{{sfn|Hassler|Dahl|1989|p=284}} Other versions have been recorded by Stefan Sundström and Imperiet, who scored a 1985-1985 Svensktoppen hit with the song. The English-speaking band Mediaeval Baebes recorded the song in Swedish on their 2005 album Mirabilis.{{cite web|last1=Loftus|first1=Johnny|title=Mediæval Bæbes Mirabilis|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/mirabilis-mw0000304522|publisher=Allmusic.com|access-date=17 March 2016}} The Swedish folk singer Sofia Karlsson included it in her 2007 album Visor från vinden, alongside works by poets such as Baudelaire and Dan Andersson; it was the only Bellman song in the collection.{{cite web |url=http://www.sonoloco.com/rev/composers/karlsson/vinden/visor1.html |title=Visor från vinden |access-date=13 May 2012 |publisher=Sonloco.com }} The Danish metal band Evil Masquerade included the song, in Swedish, in their 2016 album The Outcast Hall of Fame.{{cite book |title=The Outcast Hall Of Fame album notes |year=2016 |publisher=Dark Minstrel Music |pages=11}}{{cite web|url=http://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Evil_Masquerade/The_Outcast_Hall_of_Fame |title=Evil Masquerade - The Outcast Hall of Fame - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives |publisher=metal-archives.com |access-date=13 July 2016}}/>

A Danish translation was recorded by Nis Bank-Mikkelsen. An English translation, entitled Epistle No. 81, has been recorded by the Swedish doom metal band Candlemass on the 1988 album Ancient Dreams, and by the American doom metal band While Heaven Wept on the 2003 album Of Empires Forlorn. Another English translation, entitled Castrum Doloris, was recorded by the Swedish black metal band Marduk on their 2003 album World Funeral.Gunnar Sauermann: Marduk. Schweden, Tod & Teufel. In: Hard Rock & Metal Hammer, February 2003, p. 28. Vreeswijk translated the epistle to Dutch.{{cite web |title=Geen blijvend succes, 1972-1982 |url=https://cornelisvreeswijk.nl/biografie/8-geen-blijvend-succes-1972-1982 |website=Biografie |publisher=Cornelis Vreeswijk Genootschap |language=Dutch |access-date=20 February 2022}}{{cite web |title=Cornelis Vreeswijk - Epistel 81 |url=https://muzikum.eu/en/cornelis-vreeswijk/epistel-81-lyrics |website=Muzikum |access-date=20 February 2022}}

The Bellman biographer Paul Britten Austin made a verse translation in 1977.{{sfn|Britten Austin|1977|pp=92–94}}

Notes

References

Sources

{{cite book |last=Bellman |first=Carl Michael |author-link=Carl Michael Bellman |title=Fredmans epistlar |date=1790 |publisher=By Royal Privilege |location=Stockholm |url=http://litteraturbanken.se/#!/forfattare/BellmanCM/titlar/FredmansEpistlar/sida/v/faksimil}}
{{cite book |last=Britten Austin |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Britten Austin |title=The Life and Songs of Carl Michael Bellman: Genius of the Swedish Rococo |publisher=Allhem, Malmö American-Scandinavian Foundation |location=New York |date=1967 |isbn=978-3-932759-00-0}}
{{cite book |last=Britten Austin |first=Paul |title=Fredman's Epistles and Songs |location=Stockholm |publisher=Reuter and Reuter |year=1977 |oclc=5059758 }}
{{cite book |last1=Hassler |first1=Göran |last2=Dahl |first2=Peter (illus.) |author2link=Peter Dahl (artist) |title=Bellman – en antologi |trans-title=Bellman – an anthology |publisher=En bok för alla |year=1989 |isbn=91-7448-742-6 |url=http://libris.kb.se/bib/7642413}} (contains the most popular Epistles and Songs, in Swedish, with sheet music)
{{cite book |last1=Kleveland |first1=Åse |author1-link=Åse Kleveland |last2=Ehrén |first2=Svenolov (illus.) |title=Fredmans epistlar & sånger |trans-title=The songs and epistles of Fredman|year=1984 |publisher=Informationsförlaget |location=Stockholm|isbn=91-7736-059-1 |url=http://libris.kb.se/bib/7663908 |ref=none}} (with facsimiles of sheet music from first editions in 1790, 1791)
{{cite book |last=Lönnroth |first=Lars |author-link=Lars Lönnroth |title=Ljuva karneval! : om Carl Michael Bellmans diktning |title-link=Ljuva karneval! |trans-title=Lovely Carnival! : about Carl Michael Bellman's Verse |publisher=Albert Bonniers Förlag |publication-place=Stockholm |year=2005 |isbn=978-91-0-057245-7 |oclc=61881374}}
{{cite book |last=Massengale |first=James Rhea |author-link=James Massengale |title=The Musical-Poetic Method of Carl Michael Bellman |year=1979 |publisher=Almqvist & Wiksell International |location=Stockholm |isbn=91-554-0849-4}}

External links

[http://www.bellman.net/texter/epistel.php?nr=81 Text of Epistle 81]

Category:1790 compositions

Category:Swedish songs

Category:Fredmans epistlar