''Baldrs draumar'' (Old Norse: '

Baldr Baldr (also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, Baldr (Old Norse: ) is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was kno ...

's dreams') or ''Vegtamskviða'' is an Eddic poem which appears in the manuscript AM 748 I 4to. It describes the myth of

's death consistently with '' Gylfaginning''. Bellows suggest that the poem was composed in the mid 10th century as well as the possibility that the author also composed '' Völuspá'' or at least drew from it, pointing at the similarity of stanza 11 in ''Baldrs draumar'' and stanzas 32-33 in ''Völuspá''.

Synopsis and text

has been having nightmares.

Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...

rides to Hel to investigate. He finds the grave of a '' völva'' and resurrects her. Their conversation follows, where the völva tells Odin about Baldr's fate. In the end Odin asks her a question which reveals his identity and the völva tells him to ride home.

Form and date

The poem is one of the shortest Eddic poems, consisting of 14 '' fornyrðislag'' stanzas. Some late paper manuscripts contain about five more stanzas, those are thought to be of young origin.

Sophus Bugge Elseus Sophus Bugge (5 January 1833 – 8 July 1907) was a Norwegian philologist and linguist. His scholarly work was directed to the study of runic inscriptions and Norse philology. Bugge is best known for his theories and his work on the runic ...

believed them to have been composed by the author of '' Forspjallsljóð'', which is thought to have been written in the 17th century. Bellows, on the other hand, suggests the poem is much older but could not date it earlier than the tenth century.

Influence

The confrontation between The Wanderer (Wotan) and Erda in Act 3, Scene 1 of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

's opera

Siegfried Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...

is based upon ''Baldrs draumar''. The poem inspired a ballet, ''

Baldurs draumar ''Baldur's Dreams'' ( no, Baldurs draumar) is a ballet by the Norwegian composer Geirr Tveitt. It is loosely based on the poem ''Baldrs draumar'' from the ''Poetic Edda''. It has never been staged as an actual ballet. The music was performed by ...

'' (''Baldur's Dreams''), by the Norwegian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Geirr Tveitt Geirr Tveitt (born Nils Tveit; 19 October 1908 – 1 February 1981) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. Tveitt was a central figure of the national movement in Norwegian cultural life during the 1930s. Life Early years Tveitt was born in Be ...

, first staged in 1938.

References

Bibliography

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External links

English translations

Baldrs Draumar
Translation and commentary by H. A. Bellows

Old Norse editions

's edition of the manuscript text
Baldrs draumar
Guðni Jónsson's edition of the text with normalized spelling

Facsimile of the original manuscript