Bellman, Carl Michael

Bellman, Carl Michael (mē`käĕl bĕl`män), 1740–95, Swedish poet; protégé of Gustavus III. His early poetry was chiefly religious. His dithyrambic odes in Fredmans Epistlar (1790) and Fredmans Sånger (1791) include bacchanals, pastorals, and comic pieces. A fine performer of his own verse, Bellman sometimes wrote music for it, but more often he borrowed French melodies and music from contemporary plays.

Bibliography

See J. Massengale, The Musical-Poetic Method of C. M. Bellman (1979).

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Bellman, Carl Michael 

Born Feb. 4, 1740, in Stockholm; died there on Feb. 11, 1795. Swedish poet.

Bellman studied at the University of Uppsala. His songs are contained in the collections Fredman’s Epistles (1790) and Fredman’s Songs (1791). His songs, which are democratic in tone, depict the life of the Stockholm streets and often combine a cheerful humor with tragic undertones. He composed the tunes for his songs and successfully rendered them himself, thereby earning the name “the Swedish Anacreon.”

WORKS

Dikter. Stockholm, 1916.
Skrifter, vols. 1–11. Stockholm, 1921–64 . . . (publication not completed).

REFERENCES

Sylwan, O. Bellman och Fredmans epistlar. Lund, 1943.
Blanck, A. C. M. Bellman. Stockholm, [1948].
Austin.P. B. The Life and Songs of C. M. Bellman. Malmö, [1967].

A. A. MATSEVICH