Bellman, Carl Michael

Bellman, Carl Michael mē´käĕl bĕl´män [key], 1740–95, Swedish poet; protégé of Gustavus III. His early poetry was chiefly religious. His dithyrambic odes in Fredmans Epistlar (1790) and Fredmans Sånger (1791) include bacchanals, pastorals, and comic pieces. A fine performer of his own verse, Bellman sometimes wrote music for it, but more often he borrowed French melodies and music from contemporary plays.

See J. Massengale, The Musical-Poetic Method of C. M. Bellman (1979).

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