The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Bellman, Carl Michael
(m´käl bl´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.
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