Käraste Bröder Systrar och Vänner (Dearest Brothers, Sisters and Friends) 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.''" ("To the old Woman at

Thermopolium In the ancient Greco-Roman world, a thermopolium (plural ''thermopolia''), from Greek (''thermopōlion''), i.e. cook-shop, literally "a place where (something) hot is sold", was a commercial establishment where it was possible to purchase ready- ...

Boreale and her Maidens"),

Barbara Ekenberg Elsa Barbro "Barbara" Ekenberg (1717–25 May 1799), was the owner and manager of a coffeehouse in Stockholm in 1772–99. She was a figure in the work of Carl Michael Bellman, who dedicated to her one of his ''Fredman's Epistles'', No. 9 " Kära ...

. 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.

Background

Song

Music and verse form

The Epistle was written in the spring of 1770. The melody was initially thought to have been based on the 1768 French ''air du drapeau'' called "Tout n'est que vanité" from Bonafos de la Tour's ''Cantiques'', but Bellman's ''timbre'' "Menuet" shows that he was using an instrumental tune, not a sung canticle. The musicologist

James Massengale James Rhea Massengale is an American musicologist and former professor at UCLA, who has specialised in the Swedish poets Carl Michael Bellman and Olof von Dalin. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. He was educated at Yale Univer ...

writes that a more likely source, found by , is

Johan Helmich Roman Johan Helmich Roman (26 October 1694 – 20 November 1758) was a Swedish Baroque composer. He has been called "the father of Swedish music" or "the Swedish George Frideric Handel, Handel." He was the leader of Swedish Opera through most of Swedish ...

's 1744 ', No. 20, ''Allegro''. As usual, Bellman modified the melody to suit the song. There are four stanzas, each consisting of 16 lines, with cello interludes. The rhyming scheme is AABC-DDBC-BB-CEE-FFE. The Epistle's

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

is , with its

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

marked '' Menuetto''.

Lyrics

The subtitle text is "''Til Gumman på Thermopolium Boreale och hännes Jungfrur.''" ("To the old Woman at Thermopolium Boreale and her Maidens."). The locale was a coffee-shop in Myntgränden, an alleyway in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

's Gamla stan, run by

. Coffee was at that time an expensive luxury. The drunken revelries, brandy, music, and dancing girls indicate however that the establishment was halfway to being a

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

Reception and legacy

Carina Burman writes in her biography of Bellman that the song is one of the best-known of the early Epistles, and that it ends with Fredman's credo, a celebration of everything that is delightful in life, with drunkenness, dance, and love. These form one side of Fredman's world, she comments; the other side being anxiety, hangovers, and longing for death. Bellman himself keeps out of the fiction, with Fredman as the audience's eyes and ears. She notes that Fredman has been likened to a master of ceremonies, calling out the songs and explaining the action like an overenthusiastic tour guide. In the 18th century, ceremonies were fundamental, guiding individuals through life and through society. Through Fredman's eyes, however, the epistles never offer a sober, objective point of view. Epistle 9 presents, she writes, his typical mixture of elegance and drunkenness: "Käraste systrar, alltid honnett; / bröderna dansar jämt menuett, / hela natten fulla. / Rak i livet, Ulla, / ge nu hand, håll takten rätt!" (Dearest sisters, always honest; brothers always dance the minuet, drunk all night long. Stand straight, Ulla, give me your hand, keep to the time!) The

Bellman Society Carl Michael Bellman (; 4 February 1740 – 11 February 1795) 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 ...

calls the epistle much loved, succinctly stating the essence of Fredman's world with its "Här är Bacchus buden, här är Kärleks Guden, här är all ting, här är jag." (Here is

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...

bidden, here is the God of Love, here is everything, here am I."). The Epistle has been recorded by the actor

Mikael Samuelson Mikael Gustaf Lennart Samuelson (born 9 March 1951) is a Swedish baritone opera singer, actor, and composer. Samuelson, born in Njutånger in Hälsingland, central Sweden, is the son of the musician and music arranger . Mikael Samuelson has ...

on his 1988 album ''Carl Michael Bellman'', and by the troubadour Fred Åkerström on his 1977 album ''

Vila vid denna källa Vila may refer to: People * Vila (surname) Places Andorra * Vila, Andorra, a town in the parish of Encamp Brazil * Vila Bela da Santíssima Trindade, a municipality in the State of Mato Grosso * Vila Boa, Goiás, a municipality in the State of ...

'', where it is the first track. File:Fader Berg.jpg, Fader Berg, the musician described in the epistle, shown here playing the oboe. Early 19th century engraving by

Elis Chiewitz Elis Chiewitz (pronounced ''tje:vits''), born 13 April 1784 in Stockholm, died 24 June 1839 in Hammarlund, Åland, was a Swedish musician and artist. Biography Elis Chiewitz was the son of the court chapel violinist and Christina Elisabeth Ru ...

. File:Bacchus in a Bellman manuscript, by J. G. Brusell.jpg, The epistle's credo sings "Here Bacchus is bidden!" Illustration of

, god of wine, by in one of Bellman's manuscripts.

References

Sources

* * * * (contains the most popular Epistles and Songs, in Swedish, with sheet music) * (with facsimiles of sheet music from first editions in 1790, 1791) *

External links

Text of Epistle 9
at Bellman.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Fram med basfiolen, knäpp och skruva 1770 compositions Swedish songs Fredmans epistlar