Ja, må han (hon) leva

Ja, må han (hon) leva (Yes, may he (she) live) is a Swedish birthday song. It origins from the 18th century, but the use as well as its lyrics and melody has changed over the years. It is a song that "every Swede" knows and it is therefore rarely printed in songbooks. Both lyrics and melody are of unknown origin.[6] It has a similar melody as the Dutch birthday song "Lang zal hij leven",[7] probably Dutch-translated Indonesian birthday song "Panjang Umurnya" [8] and Romanian birthday song "Mulți ani trăiască".[9]

Ex A: "Ja, må han (hon) leva" as printed in the songbook "Gula visboken", 1953.[1]Listen! 
Ex B: "Ja, må han (hon) leva" as sung lately. Listen! 
Ex C: "Venus Minerva", Fredman's song no 12 with lyrics by Carl Michael Bellman.[2][3] Listen! 
Ex D: "Portugal, Spanjen", Fredman's song no 11 with lyrics by Carl Michael Bellman.[4][5] Listen! 

Music

James Massengale states that the melody is of a common 18th century form, used by both Mozart and Haydn, and was therefore well known in Austria at the end of the 18th century.[10]

Carl Michael Bellman uses the melody in different shapes for three different songs. Fredman's song no. 11 (“Portugal, Spanjen”) has the form of a light 3/8 Contra dance while no. 12 (”Venus Minerva”) is a steady march in 4/4. This melody is also used in the song "Högtid beredes och Ganymedes".[10][11]

In Germany the melody was published in 1877 in a songbook for high schools with the words ”Hoch soll er leben”.[12] In the Netherlands the song "Lang zal hij leven" is used at birthdays. The three first bars of this songs are equal to ”Ja må han leva”.[13]

Lyrics

The three songs by Bellman have all words concerning drinking and feast. The wedding song "Brudgum och bruden vilka i skruden" published in a broadsheet around 1800 is noted to be sung to the melody of "Venus Minerva".[10]

The Swedish Salvation Army published in Stridsropet (The War Cry) in 1884 a hymn "Jesus allena mitt hjärta skall äga" ("Jesus alone shall own my heart") to the melody of ”Venus Minerva”.[14]

The first time the song appears with the lyrics "Ja må han leva" is in a student songbook in 1914,[15] then used as a drinking song and the first confirmation of the use of the song as a birthday song is as late as of around 1940.[16] Consequently, the song was mainly used as a drinking song during the 19th century but from around 1940 mainly as a birthday song.[17]

References
Notes
  1. Ralf, p 206
  2. Bellman 1, p 38
  3. Bellman 2, p 21
  4. Bellman 1, p 36
  5. Bellman 2, p 20
  6. Danielson, p 7, 16
  7. "Lang zal hij leven" (in Dutch). www.kinderliedjes.overtuin.net/. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  8. "Panjang Umurnya". www.mamalisa.com. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  9. "Mulți ani trăiască!". YouTube.
  10. Danielson, p 8
  11. Bellman, Carl Michael; Völschow Carl Matthias von (1814). C.M. Bellmans Skaldestycken, efter C.M. Völschows manuscripter första gången utgifna. I tvenne delar. Stockholm. Hos Strinnholm och Häggström. =1-2. 1814.= (in Swedish). Stockholm.
  12. Danielson, p 11
  13. "Lang zal hij leven" (in Dutch). www.kinderliedjes.overtuin.net/. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  14. Danielson, p 9
  15. Knut Sigurd Stenbäck; Ragnar Hollmérus; Fritiof Freudenthal, eds. (1914). Nylänningarnas sångbok. Nyländska afdelningen.
  16. Danielson, p 15
  17. Danielson, pp 15-16
Printed sources
  • Bellman, Carl Michael (1992). Fredmans sånger: text- och melodihistorisk utgåva med musiken i reproduktion efter originaltrycket. 1, Texten (in Swedish). Hillbom Gunnar, Massengale James Rhea. Stockholm: Norstedt i samarbete med Bellmanssällskapet. ISBN 91-1-919452-8.
  • Bellman, Carl Michael (1992). Fredmans sånger: text- och melodihistorisk utgåva med musiken i reproduktion efter originaltrycket. 2, Musik och kommentarer (in Swedish). Hillbom Gunnar, Massengale James Rhea. Stockholm: Norstedt i samarbete med Bellmanssällskapet. ISBN 91-1-919462-5.
  • Eva Danielson (1995). Eva Danielson (ed.). "Ja må han leva". Noterat (in Swedish). Stockholm: Svenskt visarkiv (7).
  • Ralf Klas; Nilsson Tage, eds. (1953). Gula visboken. När-Var-Hur-serien, 99-0106773-1 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Forum.

See also
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