Fram med basfiolen, knäpp och skruva
Song by the 18th century Swedish bard Carl Michael Bellman / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fram med basfiolen, knäpp och skruva (Out with the cello, pluck and screw) is Epistle No. 7 in the Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman's 1790 song collection, Fredman's Epistles. The epistle is subtitled "Som synes vara en elegi, skriven vid Ulla Winblads sang, sent om en afton" ("Which seems to be an elegy, written by Ulla Winblad's bed, late one evening"). It describes an attempt by Jean Fredman to make love to Ulla Winblad, set to a tune from a French operetta, narrated with a combination of biblical allusion and suggestive metaphor. The mention of elegy implies that the song is about death, but the subtext is of the "little death" or female orgasm. Scholars have remarked the epistle's ambiguity, enabling it to work both on a high mythological level and a low worldly level. Similarly, the musician's cello serves both as a musical instrument and as a symbol for Ulla Winblad's body, allowing the singer to mime plucking strings and feeling a woman's body.
"Fram med basfiolen, knäpp och skruva" | |
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Art song | |
English | Out with the cello, pluck and screw |
Written | 1770 |
Text | poem by Carl Michael Bellman |
Language | Swedish |
Melody | An ariette from Justine Favart and Adolphe Blaise's comedy Annette et Lubin |
Composed | 1762 |
Published | 1790 in Fredman's Epistles |
Scoring | voice, cittern, and cello |