Frère Jacques is a well-known children's song. It can be sung as a simple melody or as a round with up to four parts.
French version
The song is popularly believed to be French in origin, and even in the English-speaking world, it is frequently sung in French (though typically with a somewhat anglicised pronunciation).
Frère Jacques,
Frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous?
Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines!
Sonnez les matines!
Din, dan, don.
Din, dan, don.
English version
The English version is a slightly free translation; some details (e.g. the name of the bell ringer) are changed, presumably to better fit a rhyme:
Are you sleeping,
Are you sleeping,
Brother John?
Brother John?
Morning bells are ringing,
Morning bells are ringing.
Ding, dang, dong.
Ding, dang, dong.
For other languages, see the article Translations of Frère Jacques.
Other lyrics
The song, like many other children's songs, has had other lyrics made popular to its melody, such as "Where is Thumbkin?":
Where is Thumbkin?
Where is Thumbkin?
Here I am!
Here I am!
How are you today, Sir?
I'm very well, thank you!
Run and hide!
Run and hide!
Another version replaces "run and hide" with "run away". There are several other verses in the song "Where is Thumbkin?"[1].
In India, English-speaking children are taught another version of this rhyme in the nursery. Perhaps it is related to the monsoon season on the Indian subcontinent:
I hear thunder,
I hear thunder,
Hark don't you? (oh don't you)
Hark don't you? (oh don't you)
Pit-a-patter raindrops,
Pit-a-patter raindrops,
I'm wet through,
I'm wet through (so are you).
Discussion
The most common English translation of Frère Jacques has a distinctly different meaning than the standard French version. "Matines" corresponds to matins, or morning prayers. This would imply that the subject of the verse, Frère Jacques, is a friar or monk. The French verb "sonnez" is the imperative second person formal form of the verb "sonner". The infinitive "sonner" means "to sound", as in sounding a bell; for example, a bell used to call people to morning prayers. "Sonnez" would not normally be used to address one's fraternal brother, but a superior or someone with whom the singer had a more formal relationship.
This gives the verse a potentially darker tone in its most prevalent French form than in its common English version. This conjecture seems more credible because some maintain that nursery rhymes have serious themes when they are examined in detail (this might not be true, however [2]).
In this vein, some have suggested that this verse might not refer to sleep, but to the death of a friar or monk, or perhaps a member of one of the religious military orders, such as the renowned Frère Jacques de Molay of the Templar Knights, who was executed in 1314[3]. This claim should be probably approached with an air of caution, because there are many alternate interpretations.
For example, the poet Jean-Luc Aotret has written a poem suggesting that the subject of Frère Jacques is the excommunicated Franciscan poet Jacopone da Todi.[4][5]
Also, in the Polish Wikipedia article on Frère Jacques, (known as "Panie Janie"), it is suggested that there is a connection between Frère Jacques and the Way of St. James (it should be noted that the "correct" translation of the name "Jacques" is "James").
First Publication
James Fuld[6] states that the tune was first published in 1811[7], and that the words and music were published together in Paris in 1869. However, the words and music appear together in Recreations de l'enfance.Recueil de Rondes avec jeu et de Petites Chansons pour faire jouer, danser et chanter les enfants avec un accompagnement de piano by Charles Lebouc, which was published in 1860.
It is intriguing to compare Frère Jacques to the piece Toccate d'intavolatura, No.14, Capriccio Fra Jacopino sopra L'Aria Di Ruggiero composed by Girolamo Frescobaldi[8], which was first published around 1615[9]. One can definitely detect a resemblance between Frescobaldi's piece and the familiar Frère Jacques melody. Also, "Fra Jacopino" is one potential Italian translation for "Frère Jacques".
Fra Jacopino has additional historical importance. The half note and quarter note reportedly first appeared in Frescobaldi's publication of Fra Jacopino[10].
Cultural references
It is well known that the Frère Jacques tune appears in the third movement of the Symphony No. 1 by Gustav Mahler. Mahler uses the melody in a minor key instead of a major key, thus giving the piece the character of a funeral march. However, the mode change to minor was not an invention by Mahler, as often believed, but rather the way this round was sung in the 19th and early 20th century in Austria. [11] [12]
Frère Jacques has lead to many parodies. For example, Allan Sherman is noted for writing new lyrics based on typical Jewish-American family gossip and small talk. The resulting song, "Sarah Jackman" was quite famous at the time, and lead to Sherman's career in musical parody.
References
- ^ http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/thumbkin.htm
- ^ http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/rosie.htm
- ^ http://www.goldenlotus-oto.org/knightsTemplar.htm
- ^ http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08263a.htm
- ^ http://temps-pestif.over-blog.org/archive-08-22-2006.html
- ^ The Book of World Famous Music Classical, Popular, and Folk, James J. Fuld, 1995, Dover Publications, Inc., ISBN: 048628445X
- ^ La Cle du Caveau a l'usage de tous les Chansonniers francais, Paris, 1811
- ^ Frescobaldi: Harpsichord Works, composer: Jacques Arcadelt, Girolamo Frescobaldi; Performer: Louis Bagger. Audio CD (August 28, 2001)
- ^ http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/cds/tct80680.htm
- ^ http://www.bartleby.com/61/imagepages/A4halfno.html
- ^ Reinhold Schmid: 50 Kanons. Vienna, n.d. [ca. 1950] (Philharmonia pocket scores No. 86)
- ^ Ute Jung-Kaiser: Die wahren Bilder und Chiffren „tragischer Ironie“ in Mahlers „Erster“. In: Günther Weiß (ed.): Neue Mahleriana: essays in honour of Henry-Louis de LaGrange on his seventieth birthday. Lang, Berne etc. 1997, ISBN 3-906756-95-5. pp. 101-152