Christine’s father was a ”ménétrier”, a strolling fiddler, with a peasant background. This is not explored at length in Leroux, just mentioned in passing as background information. To give you an idea of what Christine grew up with, I'd like to tell you a little more about music and violins in Swedish folklore and tradition. People wonder at her belief in an Angel of Music, and how she could become so carried away by Erik’s singing and violin playing. I hope to shed some light on the subject.
In Sweden, the violin as an instrument was central in social life in the countryside. You had ”spelmän”, fiddlers, to play at the midsummer feast, at harvest dances or other celebrations. A traditional wedding, for a rich farmer’s daughter could last three days, and a large part of the time was taken up with dancing.
There were different kinds of fiddlers: the ordinary man who played for his own pleasure in his spare time, the village fiddler who provided the music for local dances, and then the “grand masters” of the violin, “storspelmännen” who could make a living from their talent, performing on more important occasions, such as weddings[1].
Swedish folk music is often in minor keys, sad, wistful and haunting. I'd like to think of the folk songs (some of them really haunting airs) Christine’s father would have played as well as the pieces mentioned in Leroux (Resurrection of Lazarus).
By a funny coincidence there is a traditional Swedish tune called “Lazarus”. But it isn’t about the Lazarus resurrected from the dead, but about the rich Lazarus who was unkind to a beggar. It was composed by travelling musicians who came to the county of Uppland (Uppsala, mentioned in Leroux is in Uppland) and found people to be very mean there. So by naming it Lazarus, they were actually commenting on the miserliness of their hosts... A painter would draw a caricature, this was another way of getting even.
In Swedish folklore there was a strong connection between violinplaying and the supernatural. There were links both to the traditional folklore, and to Christianity.
"Näcken" was a water spirit who played the violin in the rapids of rivers, and could lure people to their death with his music. A fiddler who had taken lessons from Näcken could spellbind the listener and play so that people could not stop dancing.
Some tunes and dances are named after the water spirit, "Näckens polska" for example. There are stories about the fiddler smashing his violin, because he can't stop playing because he has been possessed by Näcken. Another way to break the spell was to cut the violin strings with a knife.
In the mid nineteenth century, red water lilies were discovered in a tarn (small lake in a wood) in Tiveden, called Fagertjärn. Local legend says that the water lilies were dyed red by the blood of a fisherman's daughter, who stabbed herself to death rather than marry Näcken.
The Swedish for water lilies is "näckros", literally Näcken's rose, since it was believed than Näcken would hide under the leaves of water lilies.
The red water lilies from Fagertjärn became so popular that they were exported all over Europe. Even to Monet's garden in Giverny. So the massive paintings of pink Nymphéas in French museums have Swedish inspiration behind them, just Leroux' Christine.
I've found traces of Näcken in connection with Christina Nilsson... The composer Ambroise Thomas inserted a Swedish folktune, called "Näckens Polska", Näcken's dance in his opera "Hamlet". He had heard Christina sing this folktune, and he incorporated in Ophelia's part... a maiden driven to madness after being disappointed in love, who found a watery grave...
The critics were overwhelmed by Christina Nilsson's interpretation of Ophelia at the Paris Opera, and one wrote: "If ever an actress has interpreted an immortal rôle created by a poet, then it is truly Mlle Nilsson as Ophelia. She was delightful, confused, coquettish, passionate and at last so poignant that it broke your heart. From this evening onwards, Mlle Nilsson bears the word Diva written on her brow."[2]
In Swedish folk tradition we also find connections between songs and dances and the Devil... there are songs called "Hinspolskor", literally the Devil's reel, "Hin", or "Hin håle", is a euphemism for the devil. It was bad luck to say the real name, so you said "Hin" instead.
For some of the music named after Näcken or the Devil, the violin was tuned in a special way, called “troll-tuning”, and sections of string-plucking with the left hand were incorporated. The normal tuning for violins is g-d-a-e, but for Näcken's tunes, it would be a-e-a-c#. The left-hand pizzicato was not unique to Swedish folk music, the great violinist Paganini used the technique too.
One particularly gruesome legend illustrates the diabolical properties of violins, and has given name to a famous dance tune: Hårgalåten. The tune has been traced to the 18th century, but the first written version of the story was in the late 19th or early 20th century as far as I've been able to make out.
The young people in the village were dancing in the barn, one Saturday evening. The fiddler had to stop playing, it would soon be Sunday and he wanted to "hold Sabbath". When he'd left, a dark stranger knocked on the door and offered to play for them. So the dance continued, even though it was almost Sunday, and everyone ought really to be going home. The music became wilder and faster, the stranger led the dancers outdoors, and up on Horga/Hårga mountain. He jumped up into a pine tree, and showed his cloven hoof, still playing the violin. The young people could not stop dancing, they danced until the flesh fell from their bones, and just the skeletons were rattling around the rocks on the mountain.
I suppose that the thought behind this story is to 1) demonstrate the immorality of breaking the Sabbath, and 2) warn against the seductive/magical powers of music/violins.
This echoes the "Danse Macabre" or "Dance of Death". Death is often leading the way with some musical instrument... There are so many examples of the power of music. We've got the sirens luring men to their ruin, the Pied Piper of Hamlin leading first the rats and then the children out of the town, the Devil playing the violin, and Erik using the power of music to his own ends...
Now let us imagine Christine, raised on the beautiful and terrible legends of the country of the North, a gruesome mixture of folklore, superstition and stories of the Devil... can we blame her for believing in an Angel of Music, and traipsing off to Perros, to listen to violinplaying in a graveyard at midnight?
[1] Eric Hammarström: ”HAN SLOG SÖNDER SIN FIOL NÄR HAN
TRÄFFAT EN SPELMAN SOM VAR BÄTTRE - om organister och klockare som folkliga ceremoni- och
dansspelmän” 2004. http://www.ostgotakultur.se/BildMapp/KN/pdf/Klockaruppsats2.pdf
[2] N-O Franzén: ”Christina Nilsson, En svensk saga,” Stockholm 1976.
In Sweden, the violin as an instrument was central in social life in the countryside. You had ”spelmän”, fiddlers, to play at the midsummer feast, at harvest dances or other celebrations. A traditional wedding, for a rich farmer’s daughter could last three days, and a large part of the time was taken up with dancing.
There were different kinds of fiddlers: the ordinary man who played for his own pleasure in his spare time, the village fiddler who provided the music for local dances, and then the “grand masters” of the violin, “storspelmännen” who could make a living from their talent, performing on more important occasions, such as weddings[1].
Swedish folk music is often in minor keys, sad, wistful and haunting. I'd like to think of the folk songs (some of them really haunting airs) Christine’s father would have played as well as the pieces mentioned in Leroux (Resurrection of Lazarus).
By a funny coincidence there is a traditional Swedish tune called “Lazarus”. But it isn’t about the Lazarus resurrected from the dead, but about the rich Lazarus who was unkind to a beggar. It was composed by travelling musicians who came to the county of Uppland (Uppsala, mentioned in Leroux is in Uppland) and found people to be very mean there. So by naming it Lazarus, they were actually commenting on the miserliness of their hosts... A painter would draw a caricature, this was another way of getting even.
In Swedish folklore there was a strong connection between violinplaying and the supernatural. There were links both to the traditional folklore, and to Christianity.
"Näcken" was a water spirit who played the violin in the rapids of rivers, and could lure people to their death with his music. A fiddler who had taken lessons from Näcken could spellbind the listener and play so that people could not stop dancing.
Some tunes and dances are named after the water spirit, "Näckens polska" for example. There are stories about the fiddler smashing his violin, because he can't stop playing because he has been possessed by Näcken. Another way to break the spell was to cut the violin strings with a knife.
In the mid nineteenth century, red water lilies were discovered in a tarn (small lake in a wood) in Tiveden, called Fagertjärn. Local legend says that the water lilies were dyed red by the blood of a fisherman's daughter, who stabbed herself to death rather than marry Näcken.
The Swedish for water lilies is "näckros", literally Näcken's rose, since it was believed than Näcken would hide under the leaves of water lilies.
The red water lilies from Fagertjärn became so popular that they were exported all over Europe. Even to Monet's garden in Giverny. So the massive paintings of pink Nymphéas in French museums have Swedish inspiration behind them, just Leroux' Christine.
I've found traces of Näcken in connection with Christina Nilsson... The composer Ambroise Thomas inserted a Swedish folktune, called "Näckens Polska", Näcken's dance in his opera "Hamlet". He had heard Christina sing this folktune, and he incorporated in Ophelia's part... a maiden driven to madness after being disappointed in love, who found a watery grave...
The critics were overwhelmed by Christina Nilsson's interpretation of Ophelia at the Paris Opera, and one wrote: "If ever an actress has interpreted an immortal rôle created by a poet, then it is truly Mlle Nilsson as Ophelia. She was delightful, confused, coquettish, passionate and at last so poignant that it broke your heart. From this evening onwards, Mlle Nilsson bears the word Diva written on her brow."[2]
In Swedish folk tradition we also find connections between songs and dances and the Devil... there are songs called "Hinspolskor", literally the Devil's reel, "Hin", or "Hin håle", is a euphemism for the devil. It was bad luck to say the real name, so you said "Hin" instead.
For some of the music named after Näcken or the Devil, the violin was tuned in a special way, called “troll-tuning”, and sections of string-plucking with the left hand were incorporated. The normal tuning for violins is g-d-a-e, but for Näcken's tunes, it would be a-e-a-c#. The left-hand pizzicato was not unique to Swedish folk music, the great violinist Paganini used the technique too.
One particularly gruesome legend illustrates the diabolical properties of violins, and has given name to a famous dance tune: Hårgalåten. The tune has been traced to the 18th century, but the first written version of the story was in the late 19th or early 20th century as far as I've been able to make out.
The young people in the village were dancing in the barn, one Saturday evening. The fiddler had to stop playing, it would soon be Sunday and he wanted to "hold Sabbath". When he'd left, a dark stranger knocked on the door and offered to play for them. So the dance continued, even though it was almost Sunday, and everyone ought really to be going home. The music became wilder and faster, the stranger led the dancers outdoors, and up on Horga/Hårga mountain. He jumped up into a pine tree, and showed his cloven hoof, still playing the violin. The young people could not stop dancing, they danced until the flesh fell from their bones, and just the skeletons were rattling around the rocks on the mountain.
I suppose that the thought behind this story is to 1) demonstrate the immorality of breaking the Sabbath, and 2) warn against the seductive/magical powers of music/violins.
This echoes the "Danse Macabre" or "Dance of Death". Death is often leading the way with some musical instrument... There are so many examples of the power of music. We've got the sirens luring men to their ruin, the Pied Piper of Hamlin leading first the rats and then the children out of the town, the Devil playing the violin, and Erik using the power of music to his own ends...
Now let us imagine Christine, raised on the beautiful and terrible legends of the country of the North, a gruesome mixture of folklore, superstition and stories of the Devil... can we blame her for believing in an Angel of Music, and traipsing off to Perros, to listen to violinplaying in a graveyard at midnight?
[1] Eric Hammarström: ”HAN SLOG SÖNDER SIN FIOL NÄR HAN
TRÄFFAT EN SPELMAN SOM VAR BÄTTRE - om organister och klockare som folkliga ceremoni- och
dansspelmän” 2004. http://www.ostgotakultur.se/BildMapp/KN/pdf/Klockaruppsats2.pdf
[2] N-O Franzén: ”Christina Nilsson, En svensk saga,” Stockholm 1976.
