Barefoot Songs


Barefoot Songs is a large song cycle for voice and piano by Allan Pettersson.

Background

The 24 songs in Swedish were composed between 1943 and 1945. At this time, Pettersson was violist at the Stockholm Concert Society. The text of the songs was written by Pettersson himself and is partly autobiographical. The main topic of the song cycle is his youth in poverty. The diatonic songs were kept simple, but the text is not easy to understand and uses a highly poetic and cryptic language. Pettersson wrote over 100 poems, but only 24 were set to music. The Swedish Broadcasting Corporation and his publisher Nordiska Musikförlaget initially refused to publish the songs. The cycle was first published in 1976. Musicologist Andreas Krause has posited that the name Barefoot Songs is a reminiscence and tribute to Schubert's Winterreise. "Barefoot on the ice" is a quotation from the 24th and last song Der Leiermann. Some songs are reminiscent of ballads or romances, folk songs or hymns and Schubert's Winterreise.

Synopsis

  1. Visa i sorgton
  2. Klokar och knythänder
  3. Fattig är mor
  4. Kärleken går vilse
  5. Stjärnan och gallret
  6. Nånting man mist
  7. Blomma säj!
  8. Vintervisa
  9. Liten ska vänta
  10. Jungfrun och Ljugarpust
  11. En spelekarls himlafärd
  12. Du vet
  13. Du lögnar
  14. Herren går på ängen
  15. Hundarna vid havet
  16. Kivlynnte liten
  17. Jag tänker på ting
  18. Blomma vid min fot
  19. Rymmaren
  20. Min längtan
  21. Nu väntar man vinter
  22. Vännen i Söndagslandet
  23. Mens flugorna surra
  24. Han ska släcka min lykta

Quotations

Pettersson quoted songs from his 24 Barefoot Songs in several of his larger scale compositions. His 6th Symphony cites the song Han ska släcka min lykta, the 14th Symphony cites Klokar och knythänder and Violin Concerto No. 2 cites Herren går på ängen.

Arrangements

Orchestration

In 1968–1969, conductor and composer Antal Doráti arranged eight of Pettersson's Barefoot Songs as full-scale orchestral songs.
  1. Herren går på ängen
  2. Klokar och knythänder
  3. Blomma säj!
  4. Jungfrun och Ljugarpust
  5. Mens flugorna surra
  6. Du lögnar
  7. Min längtan
  8. En spelekarls himlafärd

Suite

In 1969, conductor and composer Eskil Hemberg arranged six songs for mixed choir.
  1. Herren går på ängen
  2. Vännen i Söndagslandet
  3. Blomma säj!
  4. Nu väntar man vinter
  5. En spelekarls himlafärd
  6. Du lögnar

Selected recordings