Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
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On ""Bergatrollets frieri" - (2016)
for piano
The Swedish folk lyric and tune, also known as "Herr Mannerlig" in a number of variants, is a medieval-styled ballad, found in "Bidrag till Södermanlands äldre kulturhistoria," H. Aminson,Strängnäs, Södermanlands Fornminnesförening, Stockholm, 1877. It tells the tale of a a female mountain troll who proposes marriage to a "handsome young man," though the first verse informs us the troll had "a false tongue." The word "frieri" is the proposal.
In exchange for a betrothal, the troll offers twelve wild horses in a grove of roses, twelve mills whose mill stones are made of gold with wheels of silver, a gilded sword for battle, a special shirt crocheted of white silk, all as lures to tempt "Herr Mannelig herr Mannelig," as the lyric repeats in plea. The man answers that because the troll is no pious woman but rather "the spawn of a water spirit and the devil," he will not. This sets the tune in successive verse form, rising in intensity only to fall and fade.
3 pages, circa 5' 00" - an MP3 demo is here:
The score is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano score.
