Traditional Czech Sedlák, sedlák
My arrangement for classical guitar of this Czech folk tune, also known as the Zither Carol.
Sheet music PDF.
Edition notes
Here is a little Christmas project of mine - a guitar arrangement of this old Czech tune, that I previously knew only as the Zither Carol. Doing a bit of searching, I learnt that the 19th century Czech folklorist Karel Jaromír Erben included the song ‘Sedlák, sedlák’ in his collection Prostonárodní české písně a říkadla (‘Czech Folk Songs and Nursery Rhymes’).
It was set with English words by Malcolm Sargent for his Zither Carol (‘Girls and boys, leave your toys, make no noise’), which appeared in the first book of Carols for Choirs in 1961. I remember first singing the carol in primary school in the UK, when it featured on the BBC radio program for schools Singing Together.
With Sedlák meaning ‘peasant farmer’ (according to Google Translate), the sentiment of the words seems light-hearted and frolicsome, gently poking fun at a corpulent farmer:
Farmer, farmer, farmer, once again farmer,
farmer, farmer, farmer, he is a big man:
he has a girdle on his belly,
and on his coat a tulip.
The tune is also quoted in Bedřich Smetana’s comic opera The Bartered Bride (Act 2 - Furiant).
The furiant is a fast Bohemian dance with metre shifting between duple and triple time. In my arrangement here I’ve added my own intro, break and middle-eight sections, and I’ve tried to incorporate some lively textures and varied sonorities for contrast. The repeats are in AABB form, which diverges from the Zither Carol, but is perhaps more how the tune would have been danced.
Links
BBC Radio 4 “Archive on 4 | Singing Together” https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04stc6c
BBC Singing Together pamphlets (Zither Carol appears in Autumn 1978), scans by Nigel Parsons. mudcat.org thread ‘BBC Singing Together - Downloads’ https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=171789
Erben, Karel Jaromír. “Sedlák, sedlák” Nápěvy prostonárodních písní českých. Příloha k písním. (‘Melodies of Czech folk songs. Appendix to songs.’), Praha 1862. NÚLK electronic library. https://eknihovna.nulk.cz/kniha.php?k=53&typ=ori&s=str0151
Erben, Karel Jaromír. “Sedlák, sedlák” song 588 / page 151 Nápěvy prostonárodních písní českých. Příloha k písním.”, 1862. Google Books https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JzVfskSUScQC&pg=PA151
Erben, Karel Jaromír Prostonárodní české písně a říkadla (‘Czech Folk Songs and Nursery Rhymes’), 1862-1864. Retrieved from “Erben 5/141 | Sedlák sedlák sedlák”, FolkSong.eu - Online catalog of folk songs, ed. Jan Koláček http://folksong.eu/cs/song/23065
Sargent, Malcolm. “Zither Carol / Czech folk tune arranged by Malcolm Sargent; words by Malcolm Sargent (1958)” Carols for Choirs edited and arranged by Reginald Jacques and David Willcocks. Oxford University Press, 1961.
Edition summary
| Title | Sedlák, sedlák |
| Composer | Traditional Czech |
| Instrument | Guitar |
| Arranger | Jonty Dawson |
| Edition date | 2023-12-30 |
| Page count | 2 |
| Edition PDF | trad-czech-sedlak-sedlak-guitar.pdf |