Pehr Hörberg (January 31, 1746, in Virestad parish in

Småland Småland () is a historical Provinces of Sweden, province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name ''Småland'' literally means "small la ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

– January 24, 1816, in Risinge in

Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English li ...

) was a Swedish artist, painter and musician. In 1769 he married the maid Maria Eriksdotter and they had three sons.

Biography

Pehr Hörberg's birthplace Virestad is a small town and a village in

Älmhult Älmhult () is a locality and the seat of Älmhult Municipality in Kronoberg County, Sweden with 17950 as of 2024 It was in Älmhult that the first IKEA (the Swedish furniture company) store was built. IKEA continues to have a large corporate pr ...

Municipality in

Kronoberg County Kronoberg County (; ) is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. Kronoberg is one of three counties in the province of Småland. It borders the counties of Skåne, Halland, Jönköping, Kalmar, and Blekinge. Its capital is the city of V ...

, in Småland, Sweden. It was formerly the central area of the old Virestad parish. The church in Virestad was built of stone 1799–1800 on the site of a former medieval church. Some of its treasures include a pulpit from the 1600s and an

altarpiece An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...

by Pehr Hörberg. He died in Falla in Hällestad Bergslag, where he owned 1/4 of the homestead, and part of the village Olstorp, in Risinge parish, where he also owned 1/4 of the homestead. Both the fourth in Falla in Hällestad and the fourth in Olstorp in Risinge were mining districts estates, located in Finspång Municipality in Östergötland County. Hörberg got his "huts in an aiding position", so to his own satisfaction that he 25 years later wrote about Olstorp and the farm in Falla, that he had later acquired, that the estates were very important for him.

Early tasks, education, marriage and family

Pehr Hörberg grew up in a poverty-sticken soldier crofter's holding Övra Ön and began to craft- and tapestry artist in Småland. Then he started as a professional painter in the rural areas in the Swedish countryside and then he became a county painter in Småland. He early showed a passion for painting. His works, which he brought forth with primitive colors and materials, caused a sensation and wonder in the district. After a few summers as a shepherd boy, he was apprenticed to a decorative painter in Växjö. He completed his apprentice training and served as crafts- and church painter in the area of Sävsjö and Eksjö. In 1769 he married the maid Maria Eriksdotter and together they had three sons. The family lived in poverty in a cottage, but later the family had access to crofting. In 1783 a long-awaited dream for him came true. He came to Stockholm and studied for three periods during the years 1783–1787 at the

Royal Swedish Academy of Arts The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts (), commonly called the Royal Academy, is located in Stockholm, Sweden. An independent organization that promotes the development of painting, sculpture, architecture, and other fine arts, it is one of seve ...

in Stockholm.

Study at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm

Finally, at the age of 37 years, he got the opportunity to study at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts (Konstakademien) in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, on and off, between the years 1783–1786 for the famous Swedish painter

Carl Gustaf Pilo Carl Gustaf Pilo (5 March 1711 – 2 March 1793) was a Swedish painter. Pilo worked extensively in Denmark as a painter to the Danish Royal Court and as professor and director at the Royal Danish Academy of Art (), as well as in his native S ...

(1711–1793), a Swedish-born artist and painter.

was named Director of the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body t ...

in 1777, but first took office in 1780 when he also received an apartment in Stockholm as part of his directorship at the

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

lived out his days at the academy, both engaged in the academy's business and in painting his masterpiece, the painting of ' which he worked on until the very end of his life. He copied paintings from old masters for the purposes of studying the paintings and the

antique An antique () is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely to describe any object that i ...

plaster sculptures which made a deep impression on him, such as the statue of ''

Laocoön and His Sons The statue of ''Laocoön and His Sons'', also called the Laocoön Group (), has been one of the most famous ancient sculptures since it was excavated in Rome in 1506 and put on public display in the Vatican Museums, where it remains today. The st ...

'' (50 B.C.) (''Swedish'': '), at that time it was in the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm, and

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

's '' The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis'' or ''Bataverna's allegiance'' (''Swedish'': ''Batavernas trohetsed'' (1662)). Rembrandt's oil painting ''The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis'' has been in the ownership of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts since 1798 and it has been deposited in the

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum is the List of national galleries, national gallery of fine arts of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretch far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, including the Natio ...

in Stockholm since 1864. So, when Pehr Hörberg studied these works of art, the statue Laocoön and His Sons and

's oil painting ''The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis'', he could see them in his own art school, the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, (Konstakademien) in

, where he studied between the years 1783–1786. The story about the

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

statue Laocoön and His Sons at Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in Stockholm. The story about

's oil painting ''The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis'' in

in Stockholm. Hörberg also got permission to study the collection of paintings in

Drottningholm Drottningholm, literally "Queen's Islet", is a locality situated in Ekerö Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden, with 398 inhabitants in 2010. It is on the island Lovön in lake Mälaren on the outskirts of Stockholm. Drottningholm Palace, ...

and took part of some of the Swedish nobleman, portrait painter and royal court painter Ehrenstrahl's works at the

Storkyrkan Storkyrkan (, ), also called Stockholms domkyrka (Stockholm Cathedral) and Sankt Nikolai kyrka (Church of Saint Nicholas), is the oldest church in Stockholm. Storkyrkan lies in the centre of Stockholm in Gamla stan, between Stockholm Palace and ...

in Stockholm, Sankt Nikolai kyrka (Church of St. Nicholas), in

Gamla stan Gamla Stan (, "The Old Town"), until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna ("The Town between the Bridges"), is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla Stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. Gamla Stan includes the surrounding islets ...

in Stockholm. But already during the time in

Växjö Växjö () is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 71,282 inhabitants (2020) out of a Municipalities of Sweden, municipal population of 97,349 (2024). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial ce ...

Hörberg had seen the

graphic Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of the data, as in design and manufa ...

works of

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

(Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, 1483–1520), the Italian master painter and architect in

High Renaissance In art history, the High Renaissance was a short period of the most exceptional artistic production in the Italian states, particularly Rome, capital of the Papal States, and in Florence, during the Italian Renaissance. Most art historians stat ...

, and Wierix renaissance works with its numerous figurative scenes in

classicism Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for a classical period, classical antiquity in the Western tradition, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. In its purest form, classicism is an aesthe ...

surroundings. The Wierix family (or "Wierix" and other variants) were a

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

dynasty of

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...

s in

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

printmakers in the 16th and early 17th centuries, active in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. A painting, which he admired particularly strong and often returned to, was the altarpiece in Växjö Cathedral with the motif ''The Ordain of the Communion'', painted in 1733 by the Swedish painter

Georg Engelhard Schröder Georg Engelhard Schröder (31 May 1684 – 17 May 1750), also spelled George Engelhardt Schroeder, was a Swedish painter. Life Early life Schroder's father, Veit Engelhard Schröder (died 1710), was a goldsmith from the German city of Nuremberg. ...

Purchase of the new homestead in Östergötland

In 1788, Pehr Hörberg purchased a homestead in Olstorp in Risinge near Finspång in Östergötland. That was a real estate business that must have brought attention among the peasants in Rising and especially in Olstorp was made up in 1788. Then the crofter son from Småland, "The Royal Court Painter", Pehr Hörberg, bought a fourth part mantal by Chamberlain , a Swedish baron and upper-class chamberlain family

De Geer The De Geer family (, ; also: De Geer van Jutphaas and De Geer van Oudegein) is a prominent industrial family of Walloon origin that belongs to the Swedish and Dutch nobility. History The name derives from the town of Geer near Liège (in pre ...

. In March 1790, Pehr Hörberg moved to Rising in Östergötland, where he had bought his new homestead Olstorp in

. Chamberlain Jean-Jacques De Geer af Finspång (1737–1809), at Finspång castle, gave him commissioned works in quantity and he also got assignments for the church. He dedicated himself quickly knowledge and appropriated

rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

art soft colors and

chiaroscuro In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to ach ...

, and impressions especially from

. During his time in Olstorp, Pehr Hörberg painted most of his altarpieces. And when he portrayed "''Jesus' Sermon on the Mount''" in Risinge Church's altarpiece a piece of Olstorp's nature formed the framework. Just where "riksväg 51" is today in a slight downhill slope approaching the parish border with Hällestad, there is, north of the road, a small rocky knoll. "There the Master is sitting!" At least this is what many people believe. The dwelling-house on "Hörbergsgården" (Hörberg farm) has been rebuilt several times. The entrance door was moved, the roof was raised and so on. Today's house probably looks quite different from when Pehr Hörberg built it.

Commission for painting altarpieces

He was commissioned to paint

s for a large number of churches in several parishes, especially from the parishes in Småland and

. Consequently, he got orders for painting the

The altarpiece in Årstad Church

Sometimes he carried the altarpieces in huge format. The large format of the altarpiece in the Årstad Church, Falkenberg, is over 42 sqm. Årstad parish is a locality situated in

Falkenberg Municipality Falkenberg Municipality () is a municipality in Halland County on the Swedish west coast. The town Falkenberg is the municipal seat. The municipality was created in 1971 when the ''City of Falkenberg'' was amalgamated with six rural municipalit ...

Halland County Halland County (, ) is a county ('' län'') on the western coast of Sweden. It corresponds roughly to the cultural and historical province of Halland. The capital is Halmstad. Prince Julian, the son of Prince Carl Philip, is Duke of Halland. ...

. Årstad's oldest church was built in the

Romanesque style Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe that was predominant in the 11th and 12th centuries. The style eventually developed into the Gothic style with the shape of the arches providing a simple distinction: the Ro ...

during the 1200s. It was about 35 feet long and 12 meters wide. The height of the vault was over 7 feet. It was demolished and replaced by a new church in 1890. The thoughts of building a new church had been there already in 1849 and in 1869, but no breakthrough was until 1883, whereupon the planning started. The new church was designed by the Swedish architect and professor (1844–1925).

Some famous altarpieces

Some famous altarpieces, most of them in Östergötland and Södermanland, out of his 87 altarpieces are: *Algutsboda Church *Årstad Church *Asarum Church in Karlshamn *Björsäter Church *Foss Church *Gryt Church *Gustaf Church *Hedvig Church in

Norrköping Norrköping ( , ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Lin ...

*Husby Oppunda Church *Hycklinge Church *Hölö Church *Häradshammar Church *Konungsund Church *Kvarsebo Church in 1810–1813 *Kvillinge Church *Norra Ljunga Church * (the painting is stolen) *Lunda Church in

Södermanland Södermanland ( ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latinisation of names, Latinized form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a Provinces of Sweden, historical province (or ) on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Österg� ...

s county *Östra HusbyChurch *Östra Skrukeby Church in Linköping diocese and *Rappestad Church *Risinge Church, Risinge old Church (Sankta Maria Church), *Regna Church *Rystad Church in Linköping diocese *Skeda Church *Skrukeby Church *Stigtomta Church *Stora Malm Church *Svenarum Church *Svennevad Church in Strängnäs diocese *Svärta Church *Sund Church *Söndrum Church *St. Olai Church in Norrköping, *St. Lars Church in Linköping *Tingstad Church *Tåby Church in

Linköping Linköping ( , ) is a city in southern Sweden, with around 167,000 inhabitants as of 2024. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Chu ...

*Tjällmo Church *Vapnö Church *Vårdsberg Church *Västerlösa Church *Virestad Church *Vissefjärda Church *Vrigstad Church Moreover, Hörberg also painted in the Templet in Åtvidaberg in 1809. Baron (1751–1810) was a Swedish baron, military, landlord and politician, who constructed the "Templet" at Bysjön in Åtvidaberg. The prototype was a round temple in the park at Versailles. The painted ceilings, which is an allegory about the mining industry in Åtvidaberg, is made by Pehr Hörberg. The romantic temple is one of many buildings that are part of the gardens around Adelsnäs, which was in possession of Adelswärd. Another is "Solkanonen". Today the temple is an oasis at the beach Bysjön. Pehr Hörberg also painted the ceiling in in 1809.

The first Swedish arts incipient romantic

The year before his death, in 1815, Pehr Hörberg painted his 87th altarpiece, which also was his last. He takes up the

Geatish The Geats ( ; ; ; ), sometimes called ''Geats#Goths, Goths'', were a large North Germanic peoples, North Germanic tribe who inhabited ("land of the Geats") in modern southern Sweden from antiquity until the Late Middle Ages. They are one of ...

motif (''Swedish'': Götiska Förbundet) and he is the first Swedish arts incipient romantic. The 87 altarpieces he painted were mainly in Linköping diocese. He was a godly man and he spent a lot of feeling in his altar paintings. He was honest as clear water. He also painted

easel An easel is an upright support used for displaying and/or fixing something resting upon it, at an angle of about 20° to the vertical. In particular, painters traditionally use an easel to support a painting while they work on it, normally stan ...

paintings with religious,

mythological Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

and historical subjects and

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

and moreover he made

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

s and

tapestries Tapestry is a form of textile art which was traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical pieces are intended to han ...

. The drawings often reveal his lack of education, but the compositions are often grand and lively, the colors are highly impressive and the atmosphere, especially in his religious motives, are heartfelt. Hörberg's altarpieces associates with a previous tradition of

paintings with elements of

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

lighting effects and a

environment. ''Pehr Hörbergs väg'', a way in

Södra Ängby Södra Ängby is a residential area blending functionalism with garden city ideals, located in western Stockholm, Sweden, forming part of the Bromma borough. Encompassing more than 500 buildings, it remains the largest coherent functionalist ...

Bromma Bromma () is a Boroughs of Stockholm, borough (''stadsdelsområde'') in the western part of Stockholm, Sweden, forming part of the Stockholm Municipality. Bromma is primarily made up of Bromma Parish and Västerled Parish. The fourth largest airpo ...

in Stockholm, is named after the artist Pehr Hörberg. In Södra Ängby :sv:Södra Ängby there are seventeen ways named after Swedish artists. Pehr Hörberg wrote an autobiography in 1787. The book by Pehr Hörberg was called: "''Min lefwernes beskrifvning''" (The description of my life). The book was written in 1791 with additional text in 1815 and it was published in 1968 by Risinge Hembygdsförening and Östgöta konstförening, with introductions by Bengt Cnattingius. In 1796 Pehr Hörberg became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts and royal

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

. He was a popular and respected artist.

Holdings

Hörberg's portraits are held in the following locations: *17 paintings at

(or National Museum of Fine Arts) in Stockholm, Sweden, including the painting ''Småländsk bondstuga'' (Småland farmhouse, Interior of a peasant's cottage) and a drawing after Rembrandt's '' The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis'', Nationalmuseum NMH 74/1919. *around 15 paintings at the

Gothenburg Museum of Art Gothenburg Museum of Art () is located at Götaplatsen in Gothenburg, Sweden. It claims to be the third-largest art museum in Sweden by the size of its collection. Collections The museum holds the world's finest collection of late 19th-cen ...

, including ''Petri förnekelse'' (Peter's denial) *Lunds University Museum *Smålands Museum and Växjö (Småland's museum) *Linköpings Stadsmuseum *Finspångs slottskyrka, altarpiece 1794 *Stockholms Frimurarorden *Norrköpings museum, ''David's Orchestra''

Musicianship

A lesser known side of Pehr Hörberg was his career as a musician. He both wrote and made music. A number of songs for/of Pehr Hörberg has been in folk circles and still today they are fairly widespread. Among other melodies, "Pigopolska" and "Pehr Hörberg's julpolska" (Christmas

polska Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

) are his work. Pigopolskan is a

reel A reel is a tool used to store elongated and flexible objects (e.g. yarns/ cords, ribbons, cables, hoses, etc.) by wrapping the material around a cylindrical core known as a '' spool''. Many reels also have flanges (known as the ''rims'') arou ...

in g-minor and it is a type of

polonaise The polonaise (, ; , ) is a dance originating in Poland, and one of the five Polish folk dances#National Dances, Polish national dances in Triple metre, time. The original Polish-language name of the dance is ''chodzony'' (), denoting a walki ...

/ polonesse / slängpolska or swinging

. Polonesse (French Polonaise, Polish Polonez) is the commonly used name of

Polonaise The polonaise (, ; , ) is a dance originating in Poland, and one of the five Polish folk dances#National Dances, Polish national dances in Triple metre, time. The original Polish-language name of the dance is ''chodzony'' (), denoting a walki ...

in ¾-beat in elderly Swedish fiddler books. In the South and East of Sweden the dance usually is called slängpolska, while many other names are used on the local dance forms, such as Bingsjöpolska, Leksandslåt, Hälsingepolska, etc. When the dance was introduced in Sweden in the early 1700s it was a graceful dance in a relaxed tempo and the dance was of the accompanied by minuet, sometimes as a single dance (suite) to the same melody. During the 1700s century, the polonesse was evolved from eightbeat polonesse (not to be confused with the eight Polish) to sixteenth polonesse (commonly called the sixteenth Polish) and locally also in the faster tempo and wilder dance. In the border areas of Norway the eightbeat polonesse with triplets quickly got its own line of development. The "''Slängpolska''" ("släng" Swed. for "toss, throw, chuck") is a Swedish

folk dance A folk dance is a dance that reflects the life of the people of a certain country or region. Not all ethnic dances are folk dances. For example, Ritual, ritual dances or dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances. Ritual dances ...

and sometimes also the description of certain

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

tunes. The dances bearing the name slängpolska can be divided into two major types. The first type is for two or four people, and is one of the sixteenth-note versions of the

. The second type of slängpolska is more related to other polskas than to the above slängpolska type, in that the couples move counterclockwise around the periphery of the room, and choose to do so with or without rotation clockwise around an internal axis, one full rotation for each measure. The

music of Sweden The music of Sweden shares roots with its neighbouring countries in Scandinavia, as well as Eastern Europe, including polka, schottische, waltz, Polska (dance), polska and mazurka. The Swedish violin, fiddle and nyckelharpa are among the most ...

shares the tradition of Nordic folk dance music with its neighbouring countries, including

polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...

schottische The schottische is a partnered country dance that apparently originated in Bohemia. It was popular in Victorian-era ballrooms as a part of the Bohemian folk-dance craze and left its traces in folk music of countries such as Argentina (Spanish ...

waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...

and

mazurka The Mazurka ( Polish: ''mazurek'') is a Polish musical form based on stylised folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, with character defined mostly by the prominent mazur's "strong accents unsystematically placed on the seco ...

. The

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

and

nyckelharpa ''Nyckelharpa'' (, roughly "keyed fiddle" in Swedish language, Swedish, , plural: ) is a "keyed" Bowed string instrument, bowed chordophone, primarily originating from Sweden in its modern form, but with its historical roots scattered across med ...

(keyed fiddle) are among the most common Swedish folk instruments. This instrumental genre is the biggest one in Swedish traditional music. A

(literally "key harp", plural nyckelharpor or sometimes keyed fiddle) is a traditional Swedish

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...

. It is a

string instrument In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play some ...

chordophone In musical instrument classification, string instruments, or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play some ...

. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as

fret A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical inst ...

s to change the pitch of the string. The nyckelharpa is similar in appearance to a

or the bowed

Byzantine lira The Byzantine lyra or lira () was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. In its popular form, the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by stopping ...

but is more closely related to the

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...

, both employing key-actuated tangents to change the pitch. The

is a slow dance of Polish origin, in 3/4 time. Its name is French for "Polish". The polonaise had a rhythm quite close to that of the Swedish

semiquaver Figure 1. A 16th note with stem facing up, a 16th note with stem facing down, and a 16th rest. Figure 2. Four 16th notes beamed together. In music, a 1/16, sixteenth note ( American) or semiquaver (British) is a note played for half the du ...

or sixteenth-note

, and the two dances have a common origin. The

is a family of music and dance forms shared by the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...

: called polsk in Denmark, polska in Sweden and Finland and by several names in Norway in different regions and/or for different variants – including . The polska is almost always seen as a partner dance in 3/4-beat, although variants in 2/4 time and for two or more couples exist. As suggested by the name, the roots of the polska are often traced back to the influence of the Polish court throughout the northern countries during the early 17th century. (Polska also means

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

in Swedish, though the pronunciation may be different: "Polish" is pronounced Paul-ska by some speakers and Poll-ska by others, while the dance is always pronounced Poll-ska.) In Sweden, the polska music tradition is continuous, with tunes and styles passed down through families, relatives and neighbors. Sheet of music, notes, to the

has been found on the backside of an altarpiece of Pehr Hörberg. The title of the notes reads "Pigopolskan – den ägta". There are two records, discs, with the Pigopolskan, one of them is Bengt Löfberg's "Luringen" and the other is Sågskäras "Krook", the latter has been transposed to a-minor. The reel is a folk dance type as well as the accompanying dance tune type. In Scottish country dancing, the reel is one of the four traditional dances, the others being the jig, the strathspey and the waltz, and is also the name of a dance figure. In Irish dance, a reel is any dance danced to music in reel time (see below). In Irish stepdance, the reel is danced in soft shoes and is one of the first dances taught to students. There is also a treble reel, danced in hard shoes to reel music.

References

Sources

Pehr Hörberg in Konstnärslexikonett AmandaPehr Hörberg och modernismen
(''Swedish''), pdf-file, 4 A4-pages. Published in Konstvetaren 2008 by Konsthistoriska klubben in Linköping. Author: Sune Axelsson.

* ttps://runeberg.org/nfbl/0168.html Pehr Hörberg in ''Nordisk Familjebok'', volume 12, 1910, pages 274–275br>Pehr Hörberg in ''Nordisk Familjebok'', volume 12, 1910, page 276
Picture of the altarpiece in

Östra Husby Östra Husby is a Village situated in Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with 904 inhabitants in 2020. Östra Husby is situated 22 kilometers east of Norrköping and 16 kilometers northeast of Söderköping, Sweden. Östra Husb ...

kyrka,

Vikbolandet Vikbolandet is a large peninsula east of Norrköping city in Östergötland, Sweden. The area is limited by Bråviken to the north, Slätbaken to the south and the Baltic Sea to the east. The biggest population center is Östra Husby with a pop ...

, by Pehr Hörberg. The motif is "''Kristi himmelsfärd''" (''"The

Ascension of Christ The Ascension of Jesus (anglicized from the Vulgate ) is the Christian and Islamic belief that Jesus ascended to Heaven. Christian doctrine, as reflected in the major Christian creeds and confessional statements, holds that Jesus ascended afte ...

"'').
Pehr Hörberg
(''Swedish''). Author: Carl Thelander.