Ian Cumpstey's Blog - Posts Tagged "sweden"
A picture tells of a translated verse
The cultural impact of a work of art or literature can often grow in unexpected ways. What better illustration for this than the way that the ballad of Hilla-Lill and Hillebrand has made its way into international consciousness.
A beautiful and enigmatic painting can reach out to a wide audience. And indeed, recently (in 2012), a scene from this Scandinavian medieval ballad was voted Ireland's Favourite Painting.
The Meeting on the Turret Stairs (Hellelil and Hildebrand) is an 1864 watercolour painting by Frederic William Burton. In creating this painting, Burton, an artist from County Clare in Ireland, was inspired by the 1855 translation of the Danish ballad by Whitley Stokes.
The ballad tells of how a princess, Hilla-Lill, has fallen in love with one of her guards. Needless to say, this is not a match that would be welcomed by the princess's father the King. And as ever in the world of balladry, things will not go smoothly.
The Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton (National Gallery of Ireland)
The painting captures the two lovers in an early moment of intimacy, tinged by the inevitability of their downfall.
A new translation of the Swedish ballad Hilla-Lill is included in Warrior Lore.
(As ever with such old ballads, there is quite some variation with the spellings of the names, and indeed of the names themselves. Hellelil and Hildebrand are taken from a Danish variant; I have preferred Hilla-Lill and Hillebrand for my translation from the Swedish.)
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2015 Ian Cumpstey
A beautiful and enigmatic painting can reach out to a wide audience. And indeed, recently (in 2012), a scene from this Scandinavian medieval ballad was voted Ireland's Favourite Painting.
The Meeting on the Turret Stairs (Hellelil and Hildebrand) is an 1864 watercolour painting by Frederic William Burton. In creating this painting, Burton, an artist from County Clare in Ireland, was inspired by the 1855 translation of the Danish ballad by Whitley Stokes.
The ballad tells of how a princess, Hilla-Lill, has fallen in love with one of her guards. Needless to say, this is not a match that would be welcomed by the princess's father the King. And as ever in the world of balladry, things will not go smoothly.
The Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton (National Gallery of Ireland)
The painting captures the two lovers in an early moment of intimacy, tinged by the inevitability of their downfall.
And it was young Sir Hillebrand,
I fled with him from my father’s land.
Hillebrand saddled his palfrey grey,
He lifted me up and we rode away.
A new translation of the Swedish ballad Hilla-Lill is included in Warrior Lore.
(As ever with such old ballads, there is quite some variation with the spellings of the names, and indeed of the names themselves. Hellelil and Hildebrand are taken from a Danish variant; I have preferred Hilla-Lill and Hillebrand for my translation from the Swedish.)
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2015 Ian Cumpstey
Horga, the Horga Song, and Other Stories
It happened that one Saturday evening, the young people of the village of Horga in Sweden were all assembled together to dance. This was nothing particularly unusual in itself. But that evening something unusual did happen. At the dance a mysterious stranger turned up. He was wearing a hat and cloak that quite covered up his features, but he had brought a fiddle with him. And he took out his fiddle, and he started to play.
Well if the young people of Horga had been dancing before, they were certainly dancing now. The fiddler was playing a wild and magical music, and everyone was feeling an irresistable urge to dance.
When the fiddler began to walk away, through the scattered houses and into the woodland surrounding the village, they all followed. As he played on, more wildly than ever, the young people of Horga began to tire. Their legs were aching, their feet were sore, their shoes began to show clear signs of wear ... but they couldn't stop dancing.
The fiddler played on, and he climbed up through the woods towards the top of Horga barrow, a long hill with a flat, rocky top that overlooked the village. All the time the young people, still dancing, followed after him. They started to beg him to stop playing. They were too tired to carry on dancing, but they felt the urge to continue. But the fiddler didn't reply. He just kept right on playing.
Just as they were emerging onto the summit of Horga barrow, the fiddler's cloak caught on a branch and lifted it for a moment, revealing his leg. One of the girls happened to glance at that moment, and she saw, not a human foot, but a goat's hoof. And she cried out, realising that it was none other than Satan himself who had come to play for them that night.
The next morning it was Sunday. When the people of Horga got up to go to church, they wondered where all the young people were. They couldn't find them anywhere.
But the young people of Horga were still dancing with the devil high up on the top of Horga barrow, until one by one they dropped dead of exhaustion.
Nice story ... but what more?
This story is also associated with a traditional tune, called Horgalåten (the Horga song).
Here is a version of Horgalåten from youtube (Leif Billyz):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7BVr...
There are also different texts written for the Horgalåten tune. One traditional song tells the story of the fiddler and the young people of Horga. Before I started translating ballads, I translated a number of songs from Swedish, and Horgalåten is one of them. Translating a song like this presents a slightly different challenge to ballads. Here is my translation:
The Horga Song
The fiddler drew his violin up,
And raised his bow towards the Sunday sunrise dawning.
Then started up the Horga people,
Forgetting God and all around them.
Dancing over hills and meadows,
High up on Horga barrow's top.
Wearing out their shoes and boot-soles,
When would their dancing ever stop?
Where do you come from tell me, fiddler,
Say who has taught you this music so wild and crazy?
Our hearts will burst if you don't stop now.
Oh God preserve us, he has goat's feet.
Church-bells were ringing in the valley,
And there came father, mother, brother all to pray, but,
Where can now Horga's youth have got to,
Oh dear Lord they're dancing yet still.
Dancing to the Horga lay-song,
High up on Horga barrow's top.
Tears of tiredness will come before long,
Dancing till soul and body drop.
Cease with your playing, fiddler, now, or,
We'll dance the life and soul and bones from all our bodies.
No he will never end his dance,
Until everybody's fallen down dead!
Good, but what more?
The name Horga (or Hårga) bears a striking resemblance to Hörg, the old Norse word for an outdoor hilltop pagan altar. Hörg is also found in some English placenames as Harrow.
Good, but what more?
Also in Norwegian there is a similar story: the devil on the fiddle, recognised by a glimpse of his foot.
The occasion for this incident was a wedding in Hol in Norway. Two young men had started to argue, and this had escalated into fighting. While this was going on, the inkeeper went down into the cellar intending to fetch up beer to give to the one who won the fight. While he was in the cellar, he saw a fiddler sitting on a beer barrel. He was playing a tune that the innkeeper had not heard before. Moreover he was holding the fiddle the wrong way round, with the neck pointing towards his chest, and he was keeping time by beating with his foot against the beer barrel. But the inkeeper saw that this foot was no ordinary foot, but a goat's hoof. He knew straight away that this was the devil. When the inkeeper ran up again, one of the two young men lay dead in the yard.
Good, but what more?
To finish off, here comes the tune the devil played on his fiddle that time in Norway. This is called Fanitullen, played on the Hardanger fiddle with a special tuning called the troll tuning. This is a version from youtube (Christian Borlaug):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc-WG...
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2015 Ian Cumpstey
Well if the young people of Horga had been dancing before, they were certainly dancing now. The fiddler was playing a wild and magical music, and everyone was feeling an irresistable urge to dance.
When the fiddler began to walk away, through the scattered houses and into the woodland surrounding the village, they all followed. As he played on, more wildly than ever, the young people of Horga began to tire. Their legs were aching, their feet were sore, their shoes began to show clear signs of wear ... but they couldn't stop dancing.
The fiddler played on, and he climbed up through the woods towards the top of Horga barrow, a long hill with a flat, rocky top that overlooked the village. All the time the young people, still dancing, followed after him. They started to beg him to stop playing. They were too tired to carry on dancing, but they felt the urge to continue. But the fiddler didn't reply. He just kept right on playing.
Just as they were emerging onto the summit of Horga barrow, the fiddler's cloak caught on a branch and lifted it for a moment, revealing his leg. One of the girls happened to glance at that moment, and she saw, not a human foot, but a goat's hoof. And she cried out, realising that it was none other than Satan himself who had come to play for them that night.
The next morning it was Sunday. When the people of Horga got up to go to church, they wondered where all the young people were. They couldn't find them anywhere.
But the young people of Horga were still dancing with the devil high up on the top of Horga barrow, until one by one they dropped dead of exhaustion.
Nice story ... but what more?
This story is also associated with a traditional tune, called Horgalåten (the Horga song).
Here is a version of Horgalåten from youtube (Leif Billyz):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7BVr...
There are also different texts written for the Horgalåten tune. One traditional song tells the story of the fiddler and the young people of Horga. Before I started translating ballads, I translated a number of songs from Swedish, and Horgalåten is one of them. Translating a song like this presents a slightly different challenge to ballads. Here is my translation:
The Horga Song
The fiddler drew his violin up,
And raised his bow towards the Sunday sunrise dawning.
Then started up the Horga people,
Forgetting God and all around them.
Dancing over hills and meadows,
High up on Horga barrow's top.
Wearing out their shoes and boot-soles,
When would their dancing ever stop?
Where do you come from tell me, fiddler,
Say who has taught you this music so wild and crazy?
Our hearts will burst if you don't stop now.
Oh God preserve us, he has goat's feet.
Church-bells were ringing in the valley,
And there came father, mother, brother all to pray, but,
Where can now Horga's youth have got to,
Oh dear Lord they're dancing yet still.
Dancing to the Horga lay-song,
High up on Horga barrow's top.
Tears of tiredness will come before long,
Dancing till soul and body drop.
Cease with your playing, fiddler, now, or,
We'll dance the life and soul and bones from all our bodies.
No he will never end his dance,
Until everybody's fallen down dead!
Good, but what more?
The name Horga (or Hårga) bears a striking resemblance to Hörg, the old Norse word for an outdoor hilltop pagan altar. Hörg is also found in some English placenames as Harrow.
Good, but what more?
Also in Norwegian there is a similar story: the devil on the fiddle, recognised by a glimpse of his foot.
The occasion for this incident was a wedding in Hol in Norway. Two young men had started to argue, and this had escalated into fighting. While this was going on, the inkeeper went down into the cellar intending to fetch up beer to give to the one who won the fight. While he was in the cellar, he saw a fiddler sitting on a beer barrel. He was playing a tune that the innkeeper had not heard before. Moreover he was holding the fiddle the wrong way round, with the neck pointing towards his chest, and he was keeping time by beating with his foot against the beer barrel. But the inkeeper saw that this foot was no ordinary foot, but a goat's hoof. He knew straight away that this was the devil. When the inkeeper ran up again, one of the two young men lay dead in the yard.
Good, but what more?
To finish off, here comes the tune the devil played on his fiddle that time in Norway. This is called Fanitullen, played on the Hardanger fiddle with a special tuning called the troll tuning. This is a version from youtube (Christian Borlaug):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc-WG...
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2015 Ian Cumpstey
