Hugo Alfvén (1872-1960)

Klang, min vackra bjällra
Dance song

Rudén no. 176

Print
  • Year of composition: Tibble 9 April 1941
  • Work category: Mixed choir a cappella
  • Text author: Zacharias Topelius
  • Arrangement/revision: Arranged for mixed choir by Hugo Alfvén in 1941
  • Duration: 2 min

Solo voices/choir

S.A.T.B.

Examples of printed editions

Gehrmans Musikförlag, Stockholm 1941, CG 3272. Gehrmans kör-biblliotek, 142

  • Location autograph: Uppsala Universitetsbibliotek
  • Possible call no. and autograph comment: UUB VMhs 184:32

Description of work

Vivace C major 3/4


Work comment

This is yet another well-known song that Alfvén, in 1941, transformed into a choral work. The author of the text, Topelius, gave the poem the title Respolska (Travel Polska). He wrote the text to a folk song that the composer Johan Fredrik Berwald (cousin of Franz B.) had inserted into a play that was staged in Helsinki in 1846. It is noteworthy that Alfvén varies the second verse by adding a counter-melody.


Libretto/text

Klang, min vackra bjällra, i den sena kväll!
Spring, min raska fåle, över mo och fjäll!
Hemåt ila vi med vindens snabba fart,
där så vila vi i mjuka armar snart;
och vår lycka ingen må förtycka.
Alla kvällens norrsken flämta där i skyn,
alla sälla minnen skymta för min syn.

Hej, hej, galopp det går på insjöns silvertak!
Hejda loppet ej för varje liten vak!
Långa djupa fjärdar brusa under oss,
många ljuva världars ljus i stjärnors bloss
vackra glimma uti isens strimma.
Höjden är så klar och klart är djupet ock:
dö, det är visst gott, men leva bättre dock.

In English:
Chime, my bonny bell in evening tide so bright!
Fly, oh trusted steed, o'er mountains like a kite!
Hasten homebound, hurry, run alike the wind,
Rest in tender arms where fondness overbrims;
And our joy knows no bounds, never shall it vanish.
See Northern Lights dancing, crackling across the star-filled skies.
Fond memories flicker and linger, life passes 'for my eyes.
Giddy up and galop on silvery ice lagoon!
Leap o'er icy ridges, trust you'll be home soon!
Deep, dark rivers tumble, roaring down below
Night lights twinkle gently, hope in us bestow,
Wondrously glimmer, ice crust faintly shimmers.
Crisp is the air, crystal clear, the abyss fills us with fear;
Death might be near, anywhere; cling to life that you hold dear.

Translation: Annika Vallgren