”Vem som helst”

Musiksyn och melodiskrivande i 1870- och 80-talets väckelsemiljö med utgångspunkt från Nils Frykman

Abstract

The musical culture of the revivalist movement emerging in the second half of the 19th century, has been a vital part of Swedish musical culture. In addition, the surviving music, and the thinking on music within the revivalist movement, reflect a popular musical culture of which most other traces have vanished. In this article, I have focused on the preacher and schoolteacher Nils Frykman (1842–1911), with the twofold aim of a) determining the aestethical and functional framework of his songs, and b) showing how this framework was filled with music. The outermost frames were set by the preaching. Everyone had the right to preach, a right founded on an inner vocation acquired through spiritual experiences. The forms of expression came close to those of everyday culture. A tension between different, socially based forms of expression was thus a reality. Singing was means of evangelisation and a personal testimony. Frykman’s view on singing corresponds with the common conception of music in the revivalist movement. The melody was the most important part of the song. As a direct reflection of the innermost depths of the heart, a singable melody verified the song as being a true expression of real experiences. Simplicity was equally important, whereas elaboration based on knowledge was suspicious. Based on Rousseau and the music aesthetics of the bourgeoisie in the late 18th century, this view on music was widely spread in the middle class in the 19th century. A singable melody based on a simple harmonic foundation constituted the framework of the musical means of expression. The compositional process is best understood as a “melodification” of a chordal fundament, derived from a realization of the metrical structure of the text. The starting-point for Frykman was the folk music tradition with its simple triadic structure, influenced by the instrumental style of the late 18th century. This music was deeply rooted in the rural milieu. The melodies used to the texts of another popular preacher and songwriter, Carl Lundgren, are examples of this style, and they also show how melodies from an oral tradition have been preserved through their use with religious text. The emphasis on melody and on simplicity was a uniting link between the singing in the rural milieu and the middle-class parlour songs. There were, however, differences as well, as reflected by the melodies composed by Theodor Söderberg to texts written by Frykman. Söderberg, like earlier arrangers of folk songs, adopted the popular style to meet the needs of the middle class. One result of this process of reshaping was the development of melodies of a more emotional character. After his emigration to the USA in 1888, Frykman rapidly adopted the style of the popular gospel song, widely spread in print. Such influences are found in a few songs even before his emigration, but generally the influence of the American gospel song on Swedish composers in the 80’s was still rather limited. The gospel songs themselves were, however, widely sung. The revivalist movement thus helped to establish this new popular style which, after the turn of the century, was to dominate popular music in general. Some of the melodies composed by Frykman before his emigration are still sung. These melodies are based on well-known formulas commonly used in Frykman’s time and partly surviving even up to the present day. In contrast, those melodies that he composed in the USA, and in which he adapted himself to a rapidly changing musical style, are no longer sung.