Tom Gilland

Favorite Swedish Fiddle Tunes

Swedish fiddle music has been greatly influenced by the surrounding countries. Evidence of this can be found in the names of some types of tunes, such as Polska from Poland, Schottis (a schottische) from Scotland, and Engelska from England. Other popular types of tunes included in this collection are gånglåt which is a kind of march, brudmarsch which is a wedding tune, skänklåt which is played at weddings when gifts are given to the bride and groom, and vals (a waltz). With Swedish music being very much an aural tradition, there are almost as many versions of tunes as there are people who play them. For this reason, the notation does not include much ornamentation, leaving it up to the player. Second parts have been included with some of the tunes. Each tune includes a translation of the title.