"Du gamla, du fria",[a] originally titled "Sång till Norden",[b] is the de factonational anthem of Sweden. Its music is based on a Swedish folk tune with lyrics written by Swedish antiquarian Richard Dybeck in 1844.
Although the Swedish constitution makes no mention of a national anthem, "Du gamla, du fria" enjoys universal recognition and is used, for example, at government ceremonies as well as sporting events. It first began to win recognition as a song in the 1890s, and the issue of its status was debated back and forth up until the 1930s. In 1938, the Swedish public service radio company Sveriges Radio started playing it in the evenings at the end of transmission, which marked the beginning of the de facto status as national anthem the song has had since.[3]
Despite the belief that it was adopted as the national anthem in 1866, no such recognition has ever been officially accorded. A kind of official recognition came in 1893, when King Oscar II rose in honor when the song was played. In 2000, a Riksdag committee rejected a proposal to give the song official status as "unnecessary". The committee concluded that the song has been established as the national anthem by the people, not by the political system, and that it is preferable to keep it that way.
The original lyrics were written by Richard Dybeck in 1844, to the melody of a variant of the ballad "Kärestans död" (lit.'Loved One's Death'). The ballad type is classified as D 280 in The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad; the variant from Västmanland that Dybeck reproduced is classified as SMB 133 G.[4] It was recorded by Rosa Wretman at the beginning of the 1840s. Dybeck published the traditional text in Folk-lore I, and the melody in 1845 in his Runa, where he also published his new text "Sång till Norden" (Song for/to the North).
Dybeck himself originally wrote the beginning as "Du gamla, du friska" (lit.'Thou Ancient, Thou Healthy'), but in the late 1850s, he changed the lyrics to "Du gamla, du fria". The song was already published in several song books and sung with "Du gamla, du friska", but a priest who had known Dybeck took the opportunity to inform the singer most associated with the song, opera singer Carl Fredrik Lundqvist [sv], about the change in the year 1900. From that point on, printings of the "friska" version ceased to be seen in song books, but a recording from 1905 where it is sung with "friska" still exists.[5] The Swedish composer Edvin Kallstenius made an orchestral arrangement of the song in 1933.[2]
By the early 20th century, many[who?] regarded the song unsuitable as a national anthem. From the 1890s, it was included in the "patriotic songs" section of song books, but up to the 1920s it was occasionally published just as "folk music". In 1899, a contest to produce a national anthem was held. It led to Verner von Heidenstam writing "Sverige", but did not lead to a new national anthem.[6]
Patriotic sentiment is notably absent from the text of the original two verses, due to their being written in the spirit of Scandinavism popular at the time.[c] After the song started to acquire its informal status as the national anthem, various people wrote additional verses to increase the "Swedish-ness" of the song. The aforementioned Lundqvist wrote his own third verse beginning with "Jag älskar dig Sverige" (lit.'Thee I Adore, Sweden'); Frans Österblom [sv] wrote four verses beginning with "Jag älskar min hembygd" (lit.'I Adore My Homestead'); and Louise Ahlén with two verses. However, these are not accepted as part of the anthem, and are not normally published or sung.
Du gamla, Du fria, Du fjällhöga nord
Du tysta, Du glädjerika sköna!
Jag hälsar Dig, vänaste land uppå jord,
𝄆 Din sol, Din himmel, Dina ängder gröna. 𝄇
Du tronar på minnen från fornstora da'r,
då ärat Ditt namn flög över jorden.
Jag vet att Du är och Du blir vad Du var.[e]
𝄆 Ja, jag vill leva, jag vill dö i Norden. 𝄇[15][16]
Thou ancient, thou free, thou mountainous north
Thou quiet, thou joyful beauty!
Thee I greet, loveliest land upon Earth,
𝄆 Thy sun, thy sky, thy green landscapes. 𝄇
Enthroned thou art upon memories of great olden days,
When honoured thy name flew across Earth,
I know that thou art and remain what thou wert,
𝄆 Yes, I want to live, I want to die in the North. 𝄇
Tån aiteki lanta tu all vari kum,
tån tjappa tån avost tievas ätnam.
Mån ätsav tu fapmokis ruodnis mietsi kum
𝄆 tu almev, tu jaurit, tu änoit. 𝄇
Tu namma li allak tu fapmo vil aj,
tu kudne kitt alme radjai kulloi.
Mån tietav att nåu tat kalka sjaddat aj.
𝄆 Mån sitav viessot, japmet ietjat lunne. 𝄇
Sa vana, vaba ja mõõtmatu Põhjamaa
oma sõnatus ja karges ilus!
Ma tervitan Sind, kauneim paik maa peal,
𝄆 Tervitan Sinu päikest, taevast, aasu haljaid! 𝄇
Sind mäletatakse juba muistsetest aegadest,
kui Sinu auline nimi sai teatavaks üle kogu maailma.
Ma tean, et Sa oled ja jääd selleks, kes olid.
𝄆 Jah, ma tahan elada ja surra Põhjamaal! 𝄇
Sä jylhä ja ponteva Pohjolanmaa,
sä hiljainen riemun kehto parhain,
sa armahin seutu, min kohdata saa.
𝄆 Maa kukkanurmein, koskein, tähtitarhain. 𝄇
Sun muistosi suuret, sun uljahat työs
ei hukkua saata ajanvuolla.
mit ennen voit olla, voit vastakin myös.
𝄆 Ma Pohjolassa tahdon elää, kuolla. 𝄇
^ abHolm, Anna Lena (August 1991). "Edvin Kallstenius". musikverket.se (in Swedish). Musik- och teaterbiblioteket / Musikverket. Archived from the original on 20 October 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
^Collections., University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special (2005-11-16). "Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project". cylinders.library.ucsb.edu. Archived from the original on 2017-10-20. Retrieved 2017-06-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
