Biography
Carl Michael Bellman ranks among Sweden’s greatest poets of any era and earned widespread acclaim as a composer of drinking songs. Determining whether poetry or music defined him more remains elusive, since he produced more than 1,700 poems and supplied music for the majority of them. In crafting these works he routinely drew on melodies then in circulation—folk tunes, operatic airs, and assorted instrumental pieces—yet routinely refined them or deployed them with striking originality.
Born in Stockholm, Bellman spent nearly his entire life there, aside from a short interval studying at Uppsala University and a period in the 1760s when he sought refuge in Norway from creditors. Although his earliest songs appeared in the late 1750s, it was during the next decade that he began producing a steady flow of popular drinking songs. Recognition of his skill in this sometimes contentious form eventually reached the court of King Gustav III (1746-1792). The monarch secured Bellman a position at the government lottery office, supplying steady income that sustained him for most of his remaining years.
By the 1770s Bellman’s songs enjoyed broad popularity across Sweden, yet his robust temperament rendered him unwelcome in many circles; the family of Wilhelmina Norman, whom he had hoped to wed, deemed him unsuitable. He married Lovisa Grönlund in 1777, and the couple had four sons. He continued writing songs and maintained comfortable circumstances until 1792, the year King Gustav III was assassinated. After that reversal, Bellman’s finances deteriorated rapidly, and declining health compounded his troubles. Among his finest collections are Fredmans Epistlar (1790), Bacchi Tempel (1783), and Fredmans Sånger (1791). Bellman died in Stockholm one week after turning 55, in 1795.
Born in Stockholm, Bellman spent nearly his entire life there, aside from a short interval studying at Uppsala University and a period in the 1760s when he sought refuge in Norway from creditors. Although his earliest songs appeared in the late 1750s, it was during the next decade that he began producing a steady flow of popular drinking songs. Recognition of his skill in this sometimes contentious form eventually reached the court of King Gustav III (1746-1792). The monarch secured Bellman a position at the government lottery office, supplying steady income that sustained him for most of his remaining years.
By the 1770s Bellman’s songs enjoyed broad popularity across Sweden, yet his robust temperament rendered him unwelcome in many circles; the family of Wilhelmina Norman, whom he had hoped to wed, deemed him unsuitable. He married Lovisa Grönlund in 1777, and the couple had four sons. He continued writing songs and maintained comfortable circumstances until 1792, the year King Gustav III was assassinated. After that reversal, Bellman’s finances deteriorated rapidly, and declining health compounded his troubles. Among his finest collections are Fredmans Epistlar (1790), Bacchi Tempel (1783), and Fredmans Sånger (1791). Bellman died in Stockholm one week after turning 55, in 1795.
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