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Frère Jacques

"Frère Jacques" (in English sometimes called "Brother John", or pronounced ˈfrɛrəˌʒɑːkə; ) is a famous French nursery melody.

Lyrics

"Frère Jacques" is peculiar in that the French version is perhaps sung as often in English as its translation. The original French version of the song is as follows:

Frère Jacques, frère Jacques, Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous? ''Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines! Din, dan, don. Din, dan, don.

The song is traditionally translated into English as:

Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping Brother John, brother John? Morning bells are ringing! Morning bells are ringing! Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.

A literal translation of the French lyrics is:

Brother James, brother James Do you sleep? Do you sleep? Ring the morning bells! Ring the morning bells! Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.

Identity of Frère Jacques?

Summary

There are many potential origins of Frère Jacques. There are several people that have been conjectured to be the subject of the song Frère Jacques. Some candidates for Frère Jacques include:

Frère Jacques could possibly be a mistranslation; e.g. a small blotch on an original piece or score misinterpreted as an accent, which could have meant that it was originally called Frere Jacques (Brother John in loose English)It could have been composed by someone as a song for their brother Jacques, as a birthday present etc.

However, there is no direct evidence that the subject of this song was actually named "Jacques". The earliest known printed version of the Frère Jacques tune is actually entitled Frère Blaise. There is also an early version about a "Father Theofil", and versions with lyrics about a "Brother Martin", leading some to conjecture that the song is about Frère Martin Luther.

Another possibility is that the song Frère Jacques emerged independently at different times and in different places. Speculative literary assertions have suggested that the song could be of French, Spanish, Austrian, Italian, Hungarian, or Russian origin, among others. Without additional evidence, it is probably impossible to determine with absolute certainty who Frère Jacques is referring to, if anyone, or from whence the song originated.

Versions

The song Frère Jacques has many different versions with different sets of lyrics.

A Dark Interpretation

Given that some maintain that nursery rhymes have serious themes when they are examined in detail (this might not always be true, however ), one might infer some morbid undercurrent to the French version of this song. Admittedly, if the song originally was created to commemorate some negative event, it might have greater cultural resonance and be more likely to be incorporated into the canon of cultural elements that are transmitted from generation to generation. Once a memetic unit like this song reached sufficient familiarity and social penetration, it presumably would continue to be passed on as part of a tradition even though its original meaning had been forgotten. If one subscribes to this line of reasoning, one might expect Frère Jacques to refer to a well known figure and a well known event.

Another piece of evidence that appears to support a dark interpretation of this song is the fact that in some places such as Austria, it was at one time commonly sung in a minor key, rather than a major key, giving the song the quality of a funeral dirge.

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. For example, it is widely believed in France that the renowned Frère Jacques de Molay of the Templar Knights, who was executed in 1314, is the subject of the Frère Jacques song. This claim should probably be 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 (1236–1306).

Another candidate for Frère Jacques is Frère Jacques Clément (1567-1589), a Dominican Friar and the assassin of Henry III of France. The letters of Clément's name can be rearranged to form the famous anagram, "c'est l'Enfer qui m'a créé", which can be translated as "it is Hell that created me". Clément was drawn and quartered for committing regicide, but some believed his actions were defensible. This theory does not appear to be as popular as some of the others in the literature.

Others have suggested that the subject of Frère Jacques is a friar or monk who has died of the plague. However, this might be an effort to cast Frère Jacques in the same light as the familiar children's songs Ring around the Rosie, or Oh du lieber Augustin.

Frère Jacques as Pilgrim

Another theory is that the song Frère Jacques is related to the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela where the Apostle St. James the Great has been honored since the early Middle Ages. Frère Jacques in this case could be any of the pilgrims going on this pilgrimage, called the Way of St. James, or "El Camino".

Other Theories

A possible connection between Frère Jacques and the seventeenth century lithotomist Frère Jacques Beaulieu (also known as Frère Jacques Baulot) , as claimed by Irvine Loudon and many others, was explored by J. P. Ganem and C. C. Carson without finding any evidence for a connection.

Francesca Draughon and Raymond Knapp argue that Frère Jacques originally was a song to taunt Jews or Protestants or Martin Luther (see below).

Martine David and A. Marie Delrieu suggest that Frère Jacques might have been created to mock the Jacobin monks for their sloth and comfortable lifestyles.

In a review of a book about Kozma Prutkov, Richard Gregg notes it has been claimed that Frère Jacques was derived from a Russian seminary song about a "Father Theofil".

Published record

First publication

James Fuld (1995) states that the tune was first published in 1811, 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 Jeux et de Petites Chansons pour Faire Jouer, Danser et Chanter les Enfants avec un Accompagnement de Piano Très-Facile by Charles Lebouc, which was first published in 1860 by Rouart, Lerolle & C. in Paris. This book was very popular and it was republished several times, so many editions exist.

Allmusic states that the earliest printed version of the melody is on a French manuscript circa 1780 (manuscript 300 in the manuscript collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris). The manuscript is titled "Recueil de Timbres de Vaudevilles", and the Bibliothèque Nationale estimates that it was printed between 1775 and 1785. The Frère Jacques melody is labelled "Frère Blaise" in this manuscript.

Comparison with Fra Jacopino

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, which was first published around 1615. 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". Edward Kilenyi pointed out that Fra Jacopino shares the same Frère Jacques-like melody as Chanson de Lambert, a French song dating from 1650, and a Hungarian folk tune.

Clearly, the Frère Jacques tune is a common melody that might have arisen in more than one location. It is also simple enough that it might have spread easily from place to place. For example, Barbara Mittler in a conference abstract points out that the melody of Frère Jacques is so thoroughly assimilated into Chinese culture that it might be widely regarded as a Chinese folksong in China.

Cultural references

Frère Jacques is one of the most widely-known songs on earth, and it can be found in many places in modern world culture. For example:

A version of the Frère Jacques tune appears in the third movement of the Symphony No. 1 by Gustav Mahler. Mahler presents the melody in a minor key instead of a major key, thus giving the piece the character of a funeral march or dirge. However, the mode change to minor might not have been an invention by Mahler, as is often believed, but rather the way this round was sung in the 19th century and early 20th century in Austria.
Francesca Draughon and Raymond Knapp argue that Mahler had changed the key to make Frère Jacques sound more "Jewish" (Mahler converted to Catholicism from Judaism). When it was first performed, many thought it was a parody or grotesque. Draughon and Knapp claim that the tune was originally sung to mock non-Catholics, such as Protestants or Jews. To support this, they point out that the subject of one version of the lyrics in Austria was "Bruder Martin", a possible reference to Bruder Martin Luther, and another Austrian version was about a "Bruder Jakob". Mahler himself called the tune "Bruder Martin", and made some allusions to the piece being related to a parody in the programs he wrote for the performances. Many also detect Gypsy influences in this Mahler work. Interpretations similar to this are quite prevalent in academia and in musical circles.
The French performer known as Le Pétomane entertained live audiences in the late 1800s and early 1900s with his own unique rendition of Frère Jacques, according to the BBC.
The demonstrators in Tiananmen Square chanted political slogans to the tune of Frère Jacques.
There is a strong oral tradition among children in China, Vietnam and other places in Asia of passing on songs with their own lyrics, sung to the tune of Frère Jacques. For example, one of the most popular version of the lyric among Chinese children is about "two tigers."
In the background of the Beatles' song Paperback Writer one can hear George Harrison and John Lennon singing Frère Jacques.
The Frère version of the Jerusalem computer virus plays Frère Jacques if the day is Friday or on the 13th of any month.
The Chinese song "Dadao lie qiang" ("Cut down the great powers", or rather: "Let's beat together the great powers", also known as 'The "Revolution of the Citizens" Song') celebrates the cooperation in China in the 1920s of Mao's Communist Party and the Kuomintang against warlords and imperialist powers, and is sung to the tune of Frère Jacques.