BIS-CD-1199 STEREO Total playing time: 69'03

Seven Suites of Swedish Folk Tunes

Dalasvit 1 (Dalecarlian Suite No.1) for lute 10'29Preludium 1'31Marsch 1'31Gnglek 1'02Polska 1'19Vals 1'05Springlt 0'53Brllopsmarsch 1'21Brudmarsch 1'47

Svit frn Jmtland (Suite from Jmtland) for lute 12'22Preludium 1'21Sorgmarsch 3'03Vals 1'18Bevringarnas marsch 1'19Polska 1'08Brudlt 1'25Vallt 1'13Polska 1'3516

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Svit frn Vrmland (Suite from Vrmland) for lute mandore 8'26Preludium 0'46Polska 1'35Visa 1'33Halling 1'08Polska Strmkarlen spelar 1'19Vallt 1'22Polska 0'43

Svit frn Uppland (Suite from Uppland) for lute 10'22Visa 1'53Gustav III:s drickslt 1'38Polska 1'32Vallt 1'05Brudmarsch 1'59Polska I / II 2'15

Hlsingesvit 1 (Hlsing Suite No.1)for guitar 14'07Preludium 0'44Polska 0'58Polska 0'51Gnglt Blkullafrden 2'43Vals 1'28Vaggvisa 2'57Vals 1'19Fyrdjvulspolskan 1'51Polska 1'1638

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Hlsingesvit 2 (Hlsing Suite No.2)for lute 4'29Vallt 1'06Visa 1'09Kyrkmarsch 1'01Polska 1'13

Dalasvit 2 (Dalecarlian Suite No.2)for lute 7'19Preludium 1'33Leksands Sknklt 1'21Polska 0'54Vallvisa 1'06Polska Vrvindar friska 1'00Amerikavisan 1'25

Jakob Lindberg, lute/guitar / lute mandore

INSTRUMENTARIUM13-course baroque lute by Michael Lowe, Oxford 19815-course baroque guitar by Robert Eyland, Devon 19797-course soprano lute (in mandore tuning) by Michael Lowe, Oxford 1992

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I n the folklore of the Swedish countryside, Nckenor the Strmkarl (the man of thestream) is a powerful spirit of the forest, sitting naked by a stream and playing his violin.His music was supposedly devilish in origin and, by selling their soul to him, Swedishfiddlers were given supernatural powers. Many claimed to have learned their melodies direct-ly from the Strmkarl, or that tunes in their repertoire originated with him. The titles of sometunes still carry his name (such as Strmkarlen spelar the Strmkarl plays) and the bestmusicians were happy to encourage the notion that their virtuosity was a result of their asso-ciation with this inspirational spirit.

I have been fascinated by the Swedish folk music repertoire throughout my career as alutenist and played some of my arrangements to Robert von Bahr when we met at BIS in1979. My first recording for him, however, was of Scottish lute music selected from 17th-century lute manuscripts. The Scottish models were an important source of inspiration when Imade my arrangements of Swedish folk music for the lute. Initially I only performed these asencores in my recitals, but more recently I have grouped them as suites, and included them inprogrammes of music for baroque lute and baroque guitar. As a result I have found myselfwith a substantial repertoire of these tunes and, encouraged by the response of concert audi-ences, have decided to present them on this CD.

It is not possible to date any of the melodies as they have been handed down orally, oftenover many generations. Some tunes are probably several hundred years old whilst otherscould have been written as recently as the early 1900s. They were all collected and publishedin the famous anthology Svenska ltarat the beginning of the last century. Most of them areshort, and I have juxtaposed contrasting melodies to form seven suites from different regionsin Sweden. Five of those suites begin with a prelude of my own invention, which incorporatesmusical ideas from one or two of the movements that follow.

The polskaappears more frequently than any other dance in the repertoire of Swedish folkmusicians, and fourteen of them are included in this recording. Originally a folk dance fromPoland, it became fashionable with the nobility during the 16th century and soon spreadacross Europe. The polskawas danced by couples and involved physical contact and, despitereligious and moral objections, became very popular in Sweden towards the end of the 17thcentury. Local traditions and regional playing styles evolved and we find different musicaltypes such as sextondelspolska(semiquaver polska), ttondelspolska(quaver polska) andtriolpolska(triplet polska), with steps that stress the beat of the music in different ways.

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Life in rural communities was often hard, peasants had to work long hours, and festivitiesand holidays were welcome interruptions in a harsh reality. The most important feasts wereprobably those associated with weddings, and music played a central rle in festivities oftenlasting for several days. The musician was not only expected to provide music but would alsobe the master of ceremonies. Tunes such as the brllopsmarsch wedding march, brud-marsch bridal march, brllopslt wedding tune and sknklt gift tune were playedduring the procession to church, during the meal and when the wedding gifts were presented.After the meal the bride and priest would dance a polska, and this was followed by a varietyof dances and games to the accompaniment of music.

Most surviving folk tunes are instrumental, but there are also many hauntingly beautifulsongs. Some of the oldest of these were sung by women when they took the cattle, goats orsheep to pasture land during the summer months, a tradition that goes back to medivaltimes. Valltar or vallvisor were sung to keep the flock together, or for the women and girls tokeep in touch with each other, and sometimes they would sing to keep wolves and bears away.A wide range of expression was used from soft parlando to loud shouting, and the melodieswere usually embellished with elaborate ornamentations. Wind instruments were also used bythese women, in particular horn (cow horns) and nverlur (trumpets made from birch-bark)and the same tune could often either be sung or played.

Another, very old vocal tradition is the singing of vaggvisoror lullabies, which were also,naturally enough, sung by women. These tunes generally had a small compass and were char-acterized by repetitive phrases. Melodies have survived with many different texts, probablyresulting from improvisations intended to extend the lullaby until the child fell asleep. Theone from Hlsingland recorded here is known as Mormors vaggvisa(grandmothers lulla-by). Unusually, the gentle opening of the lullaby is interrupted by a rhythmic polska, beforethe piece returns to its soporific mood, emphasized in this arrangement by softly strummedchords on the baroque guitar.

Although folk music has traditionally been associated with the lower classes, both middleclasses and nobility showed an interest in Swedens popular musical heritage throughout thecenturies. The famous king Gustav III (1746-1792) was for example entertained on thenyckelharpaby the renowned spelmanOlof Hellstedt, while visiting baron De Geer at Lvstain Uppland. One of the tunes played by Hellstedt, which according to tradition accompaniedthe toast to the king, later became known as Gustav III:s drickslt(Gustav IIIs drinking6

tune). I play it here on the Baroque lute. Folk melodies would also have come to the ear ofthe king through the work of the renowned court poet Carl Michael Bellman, who frequentlyemployed traditional tunes when setting his poems. During the course of the 19th century agrowing interest in folk music was displayed among the middle classes, and folk tunes wereincreasingly adopted as a symbol of Swedens national identity.

Sorgmarsch(march of sorrow often, but not necessarily, a funeral march) in the suitefrom Jmtland is another tune with royal associations. It was known as Gustav Vasas sorg-marsch d han for ver Siljan(Gustav Vasas sorrowful march when he crossed lake Siljan)but whether it actually dates back to this 16th century monarch is uncertain. I have arranged itfor the lute in the style of a pavan or a tombeau, using fairly static harmonies and adding veryfew embellishments in order to retain its melancholy character.

My arrangements are generally inspired by 17th- and 18th-century arrangements of folktunes for lute and guitar, and I have used sonorous keys which I feel bring the music to life.This means, for example, that my guitar arrangements can incorporate strumming across allfive courses, in the manner of Gaspar Sanz or Santiago de Murcia, and that I can add walkingbasses on open diapasons in the way Scottish lutenists did when arranging their native folkmusic. The luth mandoreis a soprano lute which uses the same tuning, a combination offourths and fifths, as a scordaturaoften used by Swedish fiddlers. A few movements in thesuite from Vrmland thus use the same fingerings as when the folk fiddlers play them. Gracenotes, so typical of Swedish folk music, become very idiomatic here and these left-hand orna-ments also fit very well on the baroque lute and baroque guitar. Such decorations have beenadded to most pieces and I have also ornamented repeats with divisions and melodic variations.I would like to stress, however, that these arrangements are very much intended as adaptationsfor the lute and guitar, and I have not attempted to copy folk practice too literally. SometimesI may play a piece without accompaniment, or with a drone, as I feel that the melody is bestserved by this simplicity of interpretation. But in general, my purpose has been to emulate thework of historical composers who set folk tunes for their instruments. My artistic models havebeen, among others, the Elizabethan lutenists who set 16th-century popular tunes in England,the Scottish lutenists who performed their folk-s