As many feet in the ceiling as on the floor

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Franz Brun's peasant festival copied from Sebald Beham and Hans Holbein the younger

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Links or clues to Pols and Polska History 1618 to 1800

The nicest link is probably the two page Ewa Dahlig-Turek's on history of
mazurka music.

1. Per Brahes Lute music lesson book 1618-1619.

2, The Düben collection 1620 to 1726 concertmasters for Swedish Royal Court.

3. Ramsten, Märta, her coauthor Ewa Dahlig-TUREK on mazurka and polska music.

4. Finnskog Nationalist Gottlund, folklorist 1821 Dalarna, and 1817 or later Varmland

5. Index of Ala-Könni, E. Die Polska-Tänze in Finnland, 1956 Phd dissertation in German, referenced by both Mat Rehnberg in Om folkdans, and Jan Ling.

6. The Danes are getting tunes from Rasmus Storm circa 1760.

7. Jan Ling writes about Swede Gustaf Blidström's 1715 - 1716 collection of 300 minuets and polskas.

In A History of European Folk Music, page 156.

8. Kjellberg, ( 1983 page 126) points out "A division becomes tangible between art and folk music songs of the polonnaise and polska types."

1.
http://www.academia.edu/874472/Per_Brahes_lute_book

I have downloaded the pdf document. 3 Teutcher Dantz and 1 Polensk Dantz.
Jan Olof Ruden explains that this a Western Europe student's music book circa 1618 and
that is happpenstance that it was created by a Swedish student.
He reports many errors in the manuscripts.

2.
The Düben collection at Uppsala University contains 2,300 musical manuscripts donated in 1732.
The 4 generations of the Düben family were concertmasters for the Swedish Royal court from 1640
to 1726. There is a number of dance music suites. There is one example of a springer dance, in a
set containing a Holland dance.
http://www2.musik.uu.se/duben/DubenCollectionInfo.php

Click on DCDC Advanced Search
Check instrumental and sort by title in the advanced search.
Click find
Click on the 576 work box
On the work you are interested in, click on select, to see the suite contents for example,
or to further click on a photo of the music.

Andreas Düben the Elder, became a principal figure in Swedish musical life. He traveled to Stockholm from his hometown Leipzig for the Royal wedding of 1620,
first assuming the position of organist and second concertmaster and later as principal concertmaster in 1640.
Members of the Düben family held this position as concertmaster for four generations until 1726. Anders von Düben donated the “Düben collection” –
a unique compilation of 2,300 musical manuscripts from over all of Europe – to the Uppsala University Library in 1732.
Here is a rough count of the individual dance melodies, independent of the 40 or 50 suites.
Allemand 44 entries
Branle 11 entries
Gaÿ (Branle) 9 entries
Montirande (Branle) 8 entries
Courante 75 entries
Galliard 10 entries
Gavotte 10 entries
Menuett 3 entries
Pavane or Pavana 25 entries
Polonaise 1 entry
Saraband(a)(e) 32 entries
Springtanz 1 entry, Klein Comedien Sachen) or Springer 1675-1679

Dance de Hollande [in Kleine Comedien Sachen] also known as Holländisch Tanz [in Kleine Comedien Sachen]

Here is an example of several dance suites in the database.
allemande-courante-sarabande-gigue 1610-1669
pavane-allemande-courant-courant-sarabande-sarabande
intrade-passepied-bourré-entrée-gavotte-menuett-rondeau-gigue
1684 opera
capriccio-gigue-gavotte
sonatina-allemande-courante-gavotte-sarabande-gigue-sonatina

3.

http://www.english.pan.pl/images/stories/pliki/publikacje/academia/2004/01/26-27_dahlig.pdf

EWA DAHLIG-TUREK
Institute of Art, Warsaw
Polish Academy of Sciences

The history of the mazurka and the polonaise

Ewa Dahlig-Turek, who worked with Marta Ramsten on Polska dans in Scandinavia and Poland,
has this introduction to the history of the mazurka and the polonaise music. She cites examples
going back to the 1500s.

4. Carl Axel Gottlund, Finnskog supporter from early 1800s.
Very interesting wikipedia entries on him.
From the LP record notes of Lekar och visor from Josseharad.

1821 beskriver den finske studenten Gottlund polskan i Jösse Härad på
följande sätt.

Och denna är en förbannad takt, det är en allegro con moto,
så både de dansande och de some spela få svetten i pannan.
Gossarna visa därvid en ofantelig vighet saltomoralsprång ingå i dansen
och flickorna en förvånande lätthet.

C. A. Gottlund. Dagbok öfver dess resor på finnskogarne i Dalarne, Helsingland, Vestmanland och Vermland år 1817. Utgiven av Nils Sahlström med förord av K. B. Wiklund. [With a portrait and a map.]. Published Stockholm, 1931, and Falun, 1984.
Google books search of this diary shows 4 instances of polska, 4 of spela, and 2 of dansades.
He writes of dances of waltzes, polskor, and anglais.

I can only speculate on the finnskog emmigration from Finnland circa 1600 to 1632 effect on
bygdedans in Norway , Western Sweden, and even other regions of Sweden.
Today many Swedish fiddlers are of Finnish descent.
I recall Jofried Sodal from Trondelog Norway telling me that the songs in Svenska bygdedansar
del II were in her dialect. Similarly the one can compare the singing in Finnish with recorded
songs from Western Dalarna and the NRK video series songs, especially those in the
Halbakken videos.

5.
Index of Ala-Könni, Erkki. Die Polska-Tänze in Finnland, 1956 Phd dissertation in German, referenced by both Mat Rehnberg in Om folkdans, and Jan Ling.
http://books.google.com/books/about/Die_Polska_T%C3%A4nze_in_Finnland.html?id=pFUYAQAAIAAJ

There is a short wikipedia entry on him.

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Polsk and Springarbo from Unprotected Females in Norway, 1857, Helen Lowe

Halling
Unprotected Females in Norway, 1857, 1859 Helen Lowe

Page 108. Almost verbatim of Edward Price's Norway and its Scenery 1853
Story of the Hulder, ( with the addition that the fiddler uses a Hardanger fiddle )

Page 83, Dancing on Sunday or Sunday Amusements in Jerkin

Sliding along, her hair often waving from beneath her head-dreass,
the girl follows her partner
round the room till she catches his extended hand; they then join in the lively “polztanz”
together; separating afterwards, except by the one hand,
she turns beneath his raised arm
with a charming movement, and then goes off with him again
doubly quick in the “springarbo.”
After each dance, the men, walking around with their partners,
laid a small coin before the musician; so there was no difficulty
as to who was to pay the piper. This is the Norwegian
peasants' way of spending Sunday afternoon, when they can manage it.

Page 211, Hallingdal, description of Halling dance, and belt fights to be repeated in
travelogues for many decades.

The lively airs (Slot) express in the most perfect manner the agility, the boldness,
and singularity of the dance and never fail to exercise a powerful charm on
all those who are acquainted with them.
You feel yourself, as it were, raised from the floor, and wish, like the practiced
Halling dancer, to touch the rafters of the ceiling with your toes. The dancer jumps
up light as a feather, turns round in the air, and descends again standing on one leg;
on the floor he curves also, resting on one heel while his jacket describes a circle
around him like a bell. Then he makes a jump to the opposite side of the room
and goes on as before.

Page 239, Hitterdal, Telemark, ( Hitterdalsvatn I assume )
… and get up to a grand dance to celebrate the event, the national “Eismel,”
which is the same nature as the “Halling,” being danced alone,
and when by a fine stalwart peasant in his best, is an animating sight.

Comments

Note the use of the polztanz instead of the Danish polsk or Norwegian pols.
I have not found any other references using "springarbo".
Interesting is the nomenclature by Lowe describing the "polztanz" and "springarbo".
Lively may refer to the feet in the air of the half quick dance turn.
Eismel perhaps translate as "ice bound" or "captured by ice". Again this is a term
that I have only found in this work. Lowe is not writing in a vacuum, she takes Price's
story of the Hulder almost verbatim. Frederika Bremmer's descriptions of the
"halling polska" were available from about 1839 to an English translation in 1852 or so.
Her use of Jerkin locale for the dance description is an echo of the
1820 visit by Arthur de Capell Brooke.

Friday, March 18, 2016

The Düben Collection Swedish Court Music 1640 to 1726

The Düben Collection

The Düben collection at Uppsala University contains 2,300 musical manuscripts donated in 1732.
The 4 generations of the Düben family were concertmasters for the Swedish Royal court from 1640
to 1726. There is a number of dance music suites. There is one example of a springer dance, in a set containing a Holland dance.
http://www2.musik.uu.se/duben/DubenCollectionInfo.php

Click on DCDC Advanced Search
Check instrumental and sort by title in the advanced search.
Click find
Click on the 576 work box
On the work you are interested in, click on select, to see the suite contents for example,
or to further click on a photo of the music.

Andreas Düben the Elder, became a principal figure in Swedish musical life. He traveled to Stockholm from his hometown Leipzig for the Royal wedding of 1620,
first assuming the position of organist and second concertmaster and later as principal concertmaster in 1640.
Members of the Düben family held this position as concertmaster for four generations until 1726. Anders von Düben donated the “Düben collection” –
a unique compilation of 2,300 musical manuscripts from over all of Europe – to the Uppsala University Library in 1732.
Here is a rough count of the individual dance melodies, independent of the 40 or 50 suites.
Allemand 44 entries
Branle 11 entries
Gaÿ (Branle) 9 entries
Montirande (Branle) 8 entries
Courante 75 entries
Galliard 10 entries
Gavotte 10 entries
Menuett 3 entries
Pavane or Pavana 25 entries
Polonaise 1 entry
Saraband(a)(e) 32 entries
Springtanz 1 entry, Klein Comedien Sachen) or Springer 1675-1679

Dance de Hollande [in Kleine Comedien Sachen] also known as Holländisch Tanz [in Kleine Comedien Sachen]

Here is an example of several dance suites in the database.
allemande-courante-sarabande-gigue 1610-1669
pavane-allemande-courant-courant-sarabande-sarabande
intrade-passepied-bourré-entrée-gavotte-menuett-rondeau-gigue
1684 opera
capriccio-gigue-gavotte
sonatina-allemande-courante-gavotte-sarabande-gigue-sonatina

Saturday, February 27, 2016

1799 description of Halling and Polsk in Røros by Edward Daniel Clarke

In Norway a well known source of dance history is the travel novel of

Englishman Edward Daniel Clarke who visited Røros on 21 Sept. 1799.

The available web link is https://archive.org/details/travelsinvarious02clar

For example, the Røros festival web site refers to Clarke.

http://rorosmartnan.no/rorospols/

The Røros UNESCO application also refers to Clarke.

Egil Bakka refers to Clarke on page in Norske dansetradisjonar, 1978.

The exhibit on Pols and the Bond Dans tapestry at the Røros museum refers to Clarke.

Clarke (1769-1822) was on a tour through Northern Europe through Turkey and on to Egypt.

At this time the Danes ruled Norway. In 1814 rule transferred to Sweden with the

connivance of England as opposed to becoming independent.

The Røros mines were a capitalist venture in which there were 172 shares at this time.

The workers were said to be from Norway, Finland, Sweden and Germany.

Edit: June 15, 2017.
<< Clarke was published in "travel" broadsheets or magazines in
London in around 1816 and published in book form in the various editions from 1816 to the1830s.
It would be great
to learn if Clarke had any diaries or contemporaneous writings on his encounters with
dance. Clarke encounters the waltz in Christiana, Stockholm and Dalarna in 1799 and uses the term "national dance". Either these have an element of fiction, or post dating, or they seem to be
the earliest such placement of the Waltz in Scandinavia and the use of the term "national dance".
The waltz was popular in Paris in 1803 but was introduced in London in 1813.
In popular literature Goethe use the word waltz in his 1789 poem Reciprocal Invitation to Dance.
and his 1774 "Sorrows of young Werther".
Similarly it would be great to confirm the author or ghost writer of this portion of Clarke's works.
The question is, how much of Clarke's narrative was modified 14 or more years later to make his
travelogue have a bigger audience.

A lack of detailed description of the dance steps beyond associating a "violent whirl" with a
waltz or graceful movements with a minuet.

I quite overlooked the writing by Clarke where he writes the national dances of Sweden are
the Waltz, and the Polska, the Polish dance and also the Minuet in Dalarna.
>>

Upon the next day (Sunday), the miners having received

a months's pay, there was a good deal of rejoicing, and a

miners' ball in the evening. We attended the latter.

The national dances of Norway differ from those of

Sweden. The most common are, the Halling and the Polsk

dances. We saw both of these at Röråås. The first is,

undoubtedly, the dance of Hippocleides the Athenian, when

contending with other rivals for the daughter of Cleisthenes;

namely, a dance in which the performer, standing upon

his head, kicks his heels about in the air as his hands.

The other, that is to say, the Polsk, answers the

account which Herodotus gives of the Attic dance

performed to the Emmeleia, which, by its indecency, offended

Cleisthenes. When we reached the room, in which the

miners with their lasses were assembled, they were beginning

the Polsk. In this dance a circle is formed, and two begin,

turning each other something after the manner of a waltz.

Presently the male dancer throws up his feet nearly as high

as his head, squeaks, falls on his knees; and in this posture,

leaning back till his head touches the ground, he beats the floor

with his knuckles, and practises every possible grimace, look,

and attitude, that may express lasciviousness; then rising,

without the assistance of his hands, he dodges his head

this way and that, and at length catching his partner in his

arms, more waltzing takes place, and the dance concludes.

When they all dance the Polsk together, the different couples

move round to tunes resembling our English hornpipes;

each man, as he comes opposite to the spot where the

fiddler stands, for this is the signal, throwing up his heels in

the manner before mentioned; squeaking, and exhibiting his

amorous propensities as was described. During these movements

the tune often changes, as in the waltz. Being provided

with partners, we joined in the dance at which they were

all much delighted. It was quite surprising to observe

with what agility in the midst of all this leaping and turning in

a small room, they managed to keep clear of each other.

A tread from one of their feed, which descended upon the

floor with shocks like so many paving hammers, would

have crushed the toes of the women, had it not been for this

circumstance. The men universally wore red woollen nightcaps;

the women short jackets; each of them, in the dance,

holding a handkerchief in her right hand. The Halling is

considered in the country as the older dance of the two; it is

frequently performed by men only; and sometimes, both the

Polsk and the Halling are performed to the same tune.

Clarke also referred to Sweden.

Added June 15, 2017 <<
At Grado, Dalarna, upon meeting a group returning from a wedding party while Clarke
was traveling south from Falun.

So the Swedes demand some spirit before they will dance for the English.
“and we expected to be gratified with a
sight of the curious old provincial dance of the
Dalecarlians. But they began with Waltzes;
and after swinging each other in whirls, with a
degree of violence that made an approach rather
dangerous, ended in the graver measures and
attitudes of the Minuet, which we found much
better suited to the sort of doubtful equilibrium
maintained by most of them: with the Minuets
the dance ended.”
>>

In another volume Clarke describes a polska dance in Sweden that sounds like a slang polska.

At Kalback we saw a Swedish dance it consisted of several couple placed

as in our common country dance,

swinging each other round as fast as possible and marking the time by stamping with their feet

but never quitting the spot on which the whirl began.

https://books.google.com/books?id=Di1GAQAAIAAJ

and search for dance

The national Dances of Sweden are the Waltz with various modifications,

the Polska or Polish Dance differing from that of Norway in having slower movements

also Minuets which are practised in Dalecarlia and are frequent among the lower orders

Back in Norway,

Clarke had some interesting comments on the miners calling them all asthmatic perhaps due

to sulphurous fumes, ( from the smelting?), ( or perhaps rock dust in the lungs). The miner's upper body strength

for dancing on their hands could be seen by Clarke's comment on their daily work quota of

drilling 4 feet of holes with hand tools such as a steel bit and a hammer.

The 1816 to 1824 10 volume edition of “Travels in various countries” is also available at

many libraries and is cited by C.B. Burchardt in 1920.

Burchardt's 1920 review of English travelogues of Norway is rather critical

of Clarke's use of a classical frame of reference for his observations.

page 36.

“The life and the manners of the peasants are studied by

the travellers with great interest, if not always with equal

accuracy. This interest usually centres round the wedding- •

feasts, at which the men wear their national costumes with

silver-buckled shoes and white stockings fastened at the

knee with crimson ribands. The Norwegian popular

dances, the Halling and ' the Polsk,' are frequently made

the subject of observation and gave Dr. Clarke occasion

for the following remarkable reflection …

(Clarke's comparison to Herodotus's dance description) ...

In similar far-fetched comparisons the travelers rejoice,

one of them even fancying he can trace a resemblance in

the manners and customs of the people of Dovre to the

ancient Greeks.”

Topics for thought.

In 1799 the halling was older than the polsk and both laus and couple halling were danced in Røros

as well as the polsk. The Norske couple halling dance is said to be a lost tradition.This is the only reference to the couple halling dance I have seen to date that is

not identified as the halling springar or halling polska. In the description of the polsk, the acrobatics

described are somewhat similar to the handstands and kneel hops in the bakmes dances from Dalarna, as well as the tradition of throwing the feet into the air in the Halling springar. The description of the music changing for the polsk acrobatics is interesting. Throwing up the feet as high as his head is seen today in the Halling springar when dancing two measures per revolution. Arthur de Capell Brookes 1820 description of the polsk in Jerkin has none of these acrobatics.

To me, Clarke's description is not inconsistent with the halling springar as danced today.

Second, the polsk in Sweden as danced to slower music just as it is over two

hundred years later. Third the polsk was distinct from the minuet and the waltz.

Supposedly the waltz was indroduced to English society in 1813, so one wonders whether Clarke was familiar with the

waltz in 1799, or was introduced to the waltz before he wrote his travelogue prior to 1816.

Clarke's use of the term waltz primarily indicated that the dance was a turning one, as in one would “waltz” in the polka.

The women holding a handkerchief is similar to dances in the Danish court circa 1630 or Augsberg in the 1580s.

Jan Ling reports Swedish Oboe player Gustaf Blidstrom annotated over 300 minuets and polskas while in prison in Russia in 1715.

He quotes Kjellberg (1983) A division becomes tangible between art and folk music songs of the polonnaise and polska types.

Clarke died in 1822, and some works published later are derived from Clarke's manuscripts and correspondence.

The description of the polsk seems to have been published no later than 1818 in “travel” newspaper in London.

One of several internet accessible versions.

https://archive.org/details/travelsinvarious02clar

The dance description starts on page 197.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

1820 Polsk in Jerkinn described by Arthur de Capell Brooke

This most fantastic description of the Pols was made by Arthur de Capell Brooke in 1820.
He was traveling North over the Doverfjäll and coming down off the pass
came to Jerkin, or Hjerkin, one of the royal "stations" on the pilgrimage from Oslo to Trondheim.

Combined with the 1799 description of Clarke of the polsk in Røros this shows to me that
the Pols polsteg was different and older than the Minuet, the Quadrille, the Waltz and so forth.

Jerkin is found at the junction of E6 and 29 highways.
English, chapter 5, page 130
https://archive.org/details/travelsthroughs00brok

French translation?
https://archive.org/details/4SCSUP14646NOR

At an early hour of the morning we reached Jerkin. The
place was crowded with peasants and their lasses, who had
been dancing the whole of the night to the merry sound of
the fiddle, and though the Sun was rising, they were still
enjoying their favourite Polsk dance. This is the national
dance of Norway, and is performed with a degree of spirit
and enthusiasm I never before witnessed. The manner of
dancing it is this. Each of the men, taking his partner by
the left-hand, runs round the room at a pretty sharp kind
of trot, rather than step. The lady, during this, occasion
ally whirls round by herself, with the same kind of movement
as is practised by our own young ladies in the quadrille,
and her partner does the same. The Polsk dance
then begins, which consists in a very rapid whirl, something
similar to the waltz, but the motion far more violent, and
the time entirely different. It is excessively difficult to
perform, on account of the quickness of the whirl, and the
necessity there is, nevertheless, of keeping the exact time.
It is a highly amusing dance, and the eagerness with
which the Norwegians hasten to join in it, when the Polsk
is played, shows their extreme fondness for it.

1842 dance description by P. Bjorkman of Varmland

1842 dance description by P. Bjorkman of Varmland

Swedish taken from liner notes from LP Lekar och visor fran Jösse Härad 1978
LP by Mats Edén, Inger Hallström, Leif Olsson
Apologies for my translation.

Pålskan i Jösse Härad är dock myket utmärkt framför alla andra,
dels genom hvarje handa svägningar och hjulningar, dels äfven
i synnerhet genom spänning i taket. Den dansande Jössehärsguten stödjer
sin högra armbåge i gäntans venstra armvek, under det de begge
i denna ställningen, starkt sammanknäppa händerna..
derefter tager han en sats, upplyfter sig med tillhjelp af arm styrkan
hos gäntan, hvilken alltid mycket under lättar denne manöver,
högt upp mot taket, hvilket vanligen beröres med bägge fötterna,
stundom äfven på samma gång med venstra handen. Detta sker en eller
flera gånger under promenaden kring golvet, allt eftersom den dansande
guten är vig och gäntan skicklig att understödja honom.
Mot slutet av danssällskapets samvaro, då alla dels af dansen dels af förplägningen är
fullkomligt värmde och upprymde, får man stundom se hela danslaget
på en gång i den livtligaste dansrörelse på gofvet, spellmannen icke undantagen.
Den står än i midten,
än hoppar han omkring de dansande,
hindras han af någon tillfällighet att bruka stråken, knäpper han takten.. för
öfrigt äro nu all hans rörelser and åtbörder så taktiska,
att de dansande blott deraf hafva tillräcklig ledning.
Både spelmannen och de fläste öfrige äro vid detta tillfälle nästan i fullkomlig extas, och det är omöjligt, äfven för den mäst kallblodige, att uppmärksamt
betrakta denne scen, utan att erfara ett eget, nästan hänförande intryck,
emedan man på en gång, åtminstone i Jössehärad, stund om set nästan
lika så många fötter i taket, som på golvet.

Polskan in Josse Härad is very excellent over all others,
and by providing every swinging and cartwheels, and even
in particular, hitting the ceiling. The dancing Jössehärsguten supporting his right elbow in his left gäntans folded arm, while he begins
in this position, strongly clasping her hands ..
afterwards he will take a set, lift up himself with the aid of arm strength
of gäntan, who always very facilitates this maneuver,
high up toward the ceiling, which, usually touched with both feet,
sometimes even at the same time with the left hand. This occurs one or
several times during the walk around the floor, as the dancing
the gut is nimble and the gäntan deftly supports him.
Towards the end of the dance group session, when all of the dancers are
completely warmed up and excited, one can sometimes see the whole dance team
at one time in the liveliest dance movement on the floor, including the fiddler.
Then he stands in the middle,
and he hops around the dancers,
He is prevented from any chance of using his bow and he snaps his rhythm .. for
besides, now all his movements and gestures are tactical,
since the dancing is enough to keep the rhythm.
Both the musician and the rest are enslaved at this time by almost complete ecstasy, and it is impossible even for the most cold-blooded, attentively
considering this scene without experiencing their own, almost breathtaking impressions,
because at this one time, at least in the Jösse district, there were almost as many feet on the ceiling as on the floor.