Frère Jacques
Encyclopedia
"Frère Jacques" in English sometimes called "Brother John" or "Brother Peter", is a French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
nursery
Nursery rhyme
The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...
melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
. The song is traditionally sung in a round
Round (music)
A round is a musical composition in which two or more voices sing exactly the same melody , but with each voice beginning at different times so that different parts of the melody coincide in the different voices, but nevertheless fit harmoniously together...
. When the first singer (or group of singers) reaches the end of the first line (Marked by a star in picture of music) the next person starts at the beginning. This is continued until the singers decide to stop.
Lyrics
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 more literal translation of the French lyrics would be:
Brother Jacques, brother Jacques
Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?
(Bells) ring for Matins! (Bells) ring for Matins!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.
The translation of "Frère" would be "Friar" in this case, because this song is about Jacques, a religious monk. In English the name Friar is probably derived from the French word frère ("brother" in English), as French was still widely used in official circles in England during the 13th century when the great orders of Friars started. The French word frère in turn comes from the Latin word frater (which also means "brother").
The Matins
Matins
Matins is the early morning or night prayer service in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox liturgies of the canonical hours. The term is also used in some Protestant denominations to describe morning services.The name "Matins" originally referred to the morning office also...
mentioned in the literal translation refers to the midnight or very early morning prayers that a monk would be expected to wake for.
Theories of origin
A possible connection between Frère Jacques and the 17th century lithotomistLithotomy
Lithotomy from Greek for "lithos" and "tomos" , is a surgical method for removal of calculi, stones formed inside certain hollow organs, such as the kidneys , bladder , and gallbladder , that cannot exit naturally through the urinary system or biliary tract...
Frère Jacques Beaulieu
Frère Jacques Beaulieu
Frère Jacques Beaulieu , also known as Frère Jacques Baulot, was a travelling lithotomist with scant knowledge of anatomy and was also a Dominican friar. Beaulieu performed the frequently deadly procedure in France into the early 18th century....
(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
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
or Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
s or Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
(see below).
Martine David and A. Marie Delrieu suggest that Frère Jacques might have been created to mock the Dominican
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
monks, known in France as the Jacobin order, for their sloth and comfortable lifestyles.
In a review of a book about Kozma Prutkov
Kozma Prutkov
Kozma Petrovich Prutkov is a fictional author invented by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy and his cousins, three Zhemchuzhnikov brothers, Alexei, Vladimir and Alexander, during the later part of the rule of Nicholas I of Russia....
, Richard Gregg notes it has been claimed that Frère Jacques Frère Jacques was derived from a Russian seminary song about a "Father Theofil".
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 LeboucCharles Lebouc
Charles Joseph Lebouc was a French cellist. Born in Besançon, France, Lebouc attended the Conservatoire in Paris where he studied under Olive Charlier Vaslin and then Louis Norblin, and later became a cello professor. He played chamber music...
, 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
Bibliothèque nationale de France
The is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
). 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 FrescobaldiGirolamo Frescobaldi
Girolamo Frescobaldi was a musician from Ferrara, one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. A child prodigy, Frescobaldi studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi in Ferrara, but was influenced by a large number of composers, including Ascanio...
, 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
Edward Kilenyi
Edward Kilenyi was a classical pianist. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 7, 1910. His father, Edward Kilenyi, Sr., arrived in the United States from Hungary in 1908, taught music to George Gershwin for five years and later wrote music for movies and the Sam Fox music library.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 one of the most basic repeating canons
Canon (music)
In music, a canon is a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration . The initial melody is called the leader , while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower...
along with the melody of Three Blind Mice
Three Blind Mice
Three Blind Mice is an English nursery rhyme and musical round. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3753.-Lyrics:The modern words are:-Variations and uses:Amateur music composer Thomas Oliphant noted in 1843 that:...
. It is also simple enough to 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
Culture of China
Chinese culture is one of the world's oldest and most complex. The area in which the culture is dominant covers a large geographical region in eastern Asia with customs and traditions varying greatly between towns, cities and provinces...
that it might be widely regarded as a Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
folksong in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.