"Frère Jacques" (, ), also known in English as "Brother John", is a

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

of French origin. The rhyme is traditionally sung in a

round Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * The contour of a closed curve or surface with no sharp corners, such as an ellipse, circle, rounded rectangle, cant, or sphere * Rounding, the shortening of a number to reduce the number ...

. The song is about a

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...

who has overslept and is urged to wake up and sound the bell for the

matins Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning. The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which was originally celebrated by ...

, the midnight or very early morning prayers for which a monk would be expected to wake.

Lyrics

Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques, Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous? Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines! Din, din, don. Din, din, don. English translation Brother Jacques, Brother Jacques, Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Ring/Sound he bells for

! Ring he bells formatins! Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong. Traditional English lyrics Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Brother John, Brother John, Morning bells are ringing! Morning bells are ringing! Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong. YB4001Canon Frere Jacques

The song concerns a monk's duty to ring the bell for ''matines''. Frère Jacques has apparently overslept, it is time to ring the bells for matins, and someone wakes him up with this song. The traditional English translation preserves the scansion, but alters the meaning such that Brother John is being awakened by the bells. In English, the word ''

'' is derived from the

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...

word (Modern French ; "brother" in English), as French was still widely used in official circles in England during the 13th century when the four great orders of Friars started. The French word ''frère'' in turn comes from the Latin word (which also means "brother"). The French name ''

Jacques Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

'' would not ordinarily be translated to "John", which is "Jean" in French. The name Jacques, instead, corresponds to the English names ''James'' or ''Jacob'', which derive from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''Iacobus'' and the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Ἰακώβος (

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

al Greek Ἰακώβ), referring to the

Biblical Patriarch The patriarchs ( he, אבות ''Avot'', singular he, אב '' Av'') of the Bible, when narrowly defined, are Abraham, his son Isaac, and Isaac's son Jacob, also named Israel, the ancestor of the Israelites. These three figures are referred ...

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...

and the apostles known in English as James.

Theories of origin

A possible connection between "Frère Jacques" and the 17th century lithotomist

Frère Jacques Beaulieu Frère Jacques Beaulieu, OP (); 1651–1720), also known as Frère Jacques Baulot, was a travelling lithotomist with scant knowledge of anatomy and was also a Dominican friar. Beaulieu performed the frequently deadly procedure in France into th ...

(also known as Frère Jacques Baulot), as claimed by

Irvine Loudon Irvine Loudon (1 August 1924 – 7 January 2015) was a British doctor and a medical historian on childbirth fever and maternal mortality. Biography Loudon was born in Cardiff on 1 August 1924. His father, Andrew Walker Buist Loudon was a genera ...

and many others, was explored by J. P. Ganem and C. C. Carson without finding any evidence for a connection. Francesca Draughon and Raymond Knapp argue that "Frère Jacques" was originally a song to taunt

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

s or

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

. Martine David and A. Marie Delrieu suggest that "Frère Jacques" might have been created to mock the Dominican friars, known in France as the Jacobin order, for their sloth and comfortable lifestyles. In a review of a book about

Kozma Prutkov Kozma Petrovich Prutkov (russian: Козьма́ Петро́вич Прутко́в) is a fictional author invented by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817-1875) and his cousins, the brothers Alexei Zhemchuzhnikov (1821-1908), (1830-1884) and ...

, professor of Russian at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...

, Richard Gregg, notes it has been claimed that "Frère Jacques" was derived from a Russian seminary song about a "Father Theofil".

Published record

First publication

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

states that the earliest version of the melody is on a French manuscript circa 1780 (manuscript 300 in the manuscript collection of the

Bibliothèque Nationale A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

in Paris). The manuscript is titled "Recueil de Timbres de Vaudevilles", and the Bibliothèque Nationale estimates that it was written between 1775 and 1785. The "Frère Jacques" melody is labelled "Frère Blaise" in this manuscript. Sheet music collector James Fuld (1916–2008) states that the tune was first published in 1811, and that the words and music were published together in Paris in 1869. An earlier publication in 1825 included the words together with a description of the melody in

solfège In music, solfège (, ) or solfeggio (; ), also called sol-fa, solfa, solfeo, among many names, is a music education method used to teach aural skills, Pitch (music), pitch and sight-reading of Western classical music, Western music. Solfège is ...

, but not in musical notation. The words and music appear together in ''Recreations de l'enfance: Recueil de Rondes avec Jeux et de Petites Chansons pour Faire Jouer, Danser et Chanter les Enfants avec un Accompagnement de Piano Très-Facile'' by

Charles Lebouc Charles Joseph Lebouc (22 December 1822 – 6 March 1893) was a French cellist and composer. Career Born in Besançon, Lebouc attended the Conservatoire in Paris where he studied under Olive Charlier Vaslin (1794–1889) and Louis Norblin, and ...

, which was first published in 1860 by Rouart, Lerolle & Cie. in Paris. This book was very popular and it was republished several times, so many editions exist. French musicologist Sylvie Bouissou has found some evidence that composer

Jean-Philippe Rameau Jean-Philippe Rameau (; – ) was a French composer and music theory, music theorist. Regarded as one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century, he replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of Fr ...

had written the music. A manuscript at the

French National Library French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

contains "Frère Jacques" among 86 canons, with Rameau listed as author. In 1926, the tune was used in a patriotic anthem written by officers of the

Whampoa Military Academy The Republic of China Military Academy () is the service academy for the army of the Republic of China, located in Fengshan District, Kaohsiung. Previously known as the the military academy produced commanders who fought in many of China ...

, "Revolution of the Citizens" ().

Comparison with Fra Jacopino

"Frère Jacques" bears resemblance to the piece ''Toccate d'intavolatura, No.14, Capriccio Fra Jacopino sopra L'Aria Di Ruggiero'' composed by

Girolamo Frescobaldi Girolamo Alessandro Frescobaldi (; also Gerolamo, Girolimo, and Geronimo Alissandro; September 15831 March 1643) was an Italian composer and virtuoso keyboard player. Born in the Duchy of Ferrara, he was one of the most important composers of k ...

, which was first published around 1615—"Fra Jacopino" is one potential Italian translation for "Frère Jacques". Edward Kilenyi pointed out that "Fra Jacopino" shares the same "Frère Jacques"-like melody as "Chanson de Lambert", a French song dating from 1650, and a Hungarian folk tune. The "Frère Jacques" tune is one of the most basic repeating canons along with the melody of "

Three Blind Mice "Three Blind Mice" is an English-language nursery rhyme and musical round.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 306. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number o ...

". It is also simple enough to have spread easily from place to place. For example, Barbara Mittler in a conference abstract points out that the melody of "Frère Jacques" is so thoroughly assimilated into

Chinese culture Chinese culture () is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse and varying, with customs and traditions varying grea ...

that it might be widely regarded as a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

folksong in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

called " Two tigers".

Influence

Science

*In the fields of

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and

cheminformatics Cheminformatics (also known as chemoinformatics) refers to use of physical chemistry theory with computer and information science techniques—so called "''in silico''" techniques—in application to a range of descriptive and prescriptive problem ...

, the

circuit rank In graph theory, a branch of mathematics, the circuit rank, cyclomatic number, cycle rank, or nullity of an undirected graph is the minimum number of edges that must be removed from the graph to break all its cycles, making it into a tree or fo ...

of a

molecular graph In chemical graph theory and in mathematical chemistry, a molecular graph or chemical graph is a representation of the structural formula of a chemical compound in terms of graph theory. A chemical graph is a labeled graph whose vertices corresp ...

(the number of

rings Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

in the

smallest set of smallest rings In graph theory, a branch of mathematics, a cycle basis of an undirected graph is a set of simple cycles that forms a basis of the cycle space of the graph. That is, it is a minimal set of cycles that allows every even-degree subgraph to be expr ...

) is sometimes referred to as the Frèrejacque number.

Popular culture

*A version of the tune appears in the third movement of the Symphony No. 1 by

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

. Mahler presents the melody in a

minor key In Western music, the adjectives major and minor may describe a chord, scale, or key. As such, composition, movement, section, or phrase may be referred to by its key, including whether that key is major or minor. Intervals Some intervals ...

instead of a major key, thus giving the piece the character of a funeral march or

dirge A dirge ( la, dirige, naenia) is a somber song or lament expressing mourning or grief, such as would be appropriate for performance at a funeral. Often taking the form of a brief hymn, dirges are typically shorter and less meditative than elegies ...

; however, the mode change to minor might not have been an invention by Mahler, as is often believed, but rather the way this round was sung in the 19th century and early 20th century in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Francesca Draughon and Raymond Knapp argue''Mahler and the Crisis of Jewish Identity''
by Francesca Draughon and Raymond Knapp, ''Echo'' volume III, issue 2 (Fall 2001) that Mahler had changed the key to make "Frère Jacques" sound more "Jewish" (Mahler converted to Catholicism from Judaism). Draughon and Knapp claim that the tune was originally sung to mock non-Catholics, such as Protestants or Jews. Mahler himself called the tune by its German name, "Bruder Martin", and made some allusions to the piece being related to a parody in the programs he wrote for the performances. Interpretations similar to this are quite prevalent in academia and in musical circles. *The French performer known as

Le Pétomane Joseph Pujol (June 1, 1857 – August 8, 1945), better known by his stage name Le Pétomane (, ), was a French flatulist (professional farter) and entertainer. He was famous for his remarkable control of the abdominal muscles, which enabled him ...

entertained live audiences in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with his own unique rendition, according to the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...