Evert Taube
Encyclopedia
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and singer. He is best known for his folk songs, and is widely regarded as one of Sweden's most respected musicians.
Biography
Evert Taube was born in GothenburgGothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
, and brought up on the island of Vinga, Västergötland
Västergötland
', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
, where his father, Carl Gunnar Taube, a ship's captain, was the lighthouse keeper. His mother was Julia Sofia Jacobsdotter.
In 1925, he married Astri Bergman Taube
Astri Bergman Taube
Astri Bergman Taube was a Swedish sculptor and artist known for her child portraits and sculptures in public venues.She was married to songwriter Evert Taube.-Biography:...
, a painter and sculptress. He died in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
and is buried on the graveyard of Maria Magdalena Church
Maria Magdalena Church
Maria Magdalena Church is a church on Södermalm in central Stockholm, Sweden.The church plan has a nave but no aisles. In its eastern end is a three-sided choir and the transept taking up three bays. In the corners of the crossing are enlargement from various periods, all serving liturgical...
on Södermalm
Södermalm
Södermalm, often shortened to "Söder", is a district in central Stockholm. It covers the large island formerly called "Åsön". With a population of 99,685, it is one of the most densely populated districts of Scandinavia...
.
Having spent two years (1907–1909) sailing around the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
, Ceylon and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Taube began his career as a singer-songwriter and collector of sailors' songs, and on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
1908, on board the Norwegian ship SS Bergen headed for Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, he performed "Turalleri, piken fra Hamburg".
Following a five-year stay (1910–1915) in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, he developed an interest in Latin American music
Latin American music
Latin American music, found within Central and South America, is a series of musical styles and genres that mixes influences from Spanish, African and indigenous sources, that has recently become very famous in the US.-Argentina:...
and introduced the Argentinian tango
Tango (dance)
Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
to Sweden in the twenties. Contrary to widespread perceptions, Taube did not work as a gaucho
Gaucho
Gaucho is a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile, and Southern Brazil...
(cowboy) on the Pampa
Pampa
The Pampas are the fertile South American lowlands, covering more than , that include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Córdoba, most of Uruguay, and the southernmost Brazilian State, Rio Grande do Sul...
s but as a foreman
Construction foreman
A construction foreman is the worker or tradesman who is in charge of a construction crew. While traditionally this role has been assumed by a senior male worker, the title in the modern sense is gender non-specific in intent...
supervising workers who were digging canals designed to prevent flooding on the vast plains.
He is perhaps best known as a depictor of the idyllic, with motifs from the Swedish archipelagoes and from the Mediterranean, from a perspective every Swedish four-week holiday tourist could recognize. But he also wrote the most hitting anti-fascist anti-war poem in the Swedish language, "Målaren och Maria Pia", about the Italian war in Abyssinia, from the late 30s, as well as the anthem of the budding environmental movement in the 70s, "Änglamark" (originally written for the successful 1971 "Hasseåtage
Hasseåtage
Hasseåtage is the commonly used name for the popular Swedish comedy-duo featuring Hans "Hasse" Alfredson and Tage Danielsson. The term was created by the Swedish press in the 1960s, and was never used by the duo themselves...
"-film The Apple War
The Apple War
The Apple War is a 1971 Swedish comedy-drama film directed by Tage Danielsson, starring Gösta Ekman, Hans Alfredsson, Tage Danielsson, Monica Zetterlund and Max von Sydow. The political theme of the film is the battle between nature on the one hand and commercialisation and industrialisation on...
).
On his 60th birthday in 1950, Taube received the Bellman
Carl Michael Bellman
was a Swedish poet and composer. Bellman is a central figure in the Swedish song tradition and remains a very important influence in Swedish music, as well as in Scandinavian literature in general, to this day....
Award from the Swedish Academy
Swedish Academy
The Swedish Academy , founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden.-History:The Swedish Academy was founded in 1786 by King Gustav III. Modelled after the Académie française, it has 18 members. The motto of the Academy is "Talent and Taste"...
and in 1960 he received an honorary doctorate from Gothenburg University
Gothenburg University
The University of Gothenburg is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg.- Character :The University of Gothenburg is the third-oldest Swedish university, and with 24,900 full-time students it is also among the largest universities in the Nordic countries...
. He was elected as a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music
Royal Swedish Academy of Music
The Royal Swedish Academy of Music or Kungl. Musikaliska Akademien, founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden...
in 1970.
Among Taube's most famous songs are "Calle Schewens vals
Calle Schewens vals
Calle Schewens vals is a 1932 Swedish waltz written by Evert TaubeWhen Taube wanted to be member of the secret society Pelarorden in 1931, he was stumped until Albert Engström ordered him to write a song about the "Stockholm archipelago, summer air, and darkening nights in July at Roslagen". Carl...
", "Min älskling (du är som en ros)
A Red, Red Rose
"My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose" is a 1794 song in Scots by Robert Burns based on traditional sources. The song is also referred to by the title My Love is Like A Red, Red Rose or Red, Red Rose and is often published as a poem.-The poem:...
", "Dans på Sunnanö", "Flickan i Havanna", "Änglamark'", "Så skimrande var aldrig havet
Så skimrande var aldrig havet
"Så skimrande var aldrig havet" is a 1948 love ballad, written by Evert Taube. In 1997, Norwegian singer Elisabeth Andreassen recorded the song on her album "Så skimrande var aldrig havet"....
" and "Så länge skutan kan gå".
Taube is regarded as one of the finest troubadours in Sweden. There is a complete pavilion, opened in 2008, dedicated to him at Liseberg Theme Park in Gothenburg.
On 6 April 2011, the Bank of Sweden announced that Taube's portrait will feature on the 50 kronor
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
banknote, beginning in 2014-15.
Children
- Per-Evert Arvid Joachim Taube (1926–2009)
- Rose Marie Astrid Elisabet Taube (1928 - 1928)
- Ellinor Gunnel Astri Elisabeth Taube (1930–1998)
- Sven-Bertil TaubeSven-Bertil TaubeSven-Bertil G. E. Taube is a Swedish singer and actor. Born in Stockholm, he is the son of songwriter Evert Taube and sculptor Astri Bergman Taube.-Biography:...
(born 1934)
His works in English
- Sea Ballads & Other Songs (1940) - (trans. by Helen Asbury)
- I Come From A Raging Sea (1967) - (trans. by Paul Britten AustinPaul Britten AustinPaul Britten Austin was an English author, translator, broadcaster, administrator, and scholar of Swedish literature. He was born in Dawlish, South Devon, England. He was educated at Winchester College...
) - CD: A Talk While Dancing (1999) - (trans. by Emily Melcher)
Biography in English
- I Come From A Raging Sea (1967) - (Foreword by Inga-Britt Fredholm)
- A History of Swedish Literature (1989) - (Ingemar Algulin)
- A History of Swedish Literature (1996) - (Lars G. Warme)
External links
- Evert Taube's (unofficial) home page
- Taube Society (Swedish only)
- Helen Asbury's translations at Evert Taubes hörna
- Taube biography at Allmusic - Enter "Evert Taube" in Artist/Group window.