Country: Senja, Troms, Norway
Type: couple dance
Formation: open circle of couples, M facing out of circle, W facing into circle. W and M have hands on partner's shoulders, M's arms on outside.
Steps:
figurersteig med eitt trinn (slow & rapid forward-back scissor step),
sidesteg II (slip-step) or
galopp (polka)
Sheet music:
(1) Semb, Klara/ Norske folkdansar: turdansar. Oslo: Noregs Boklag/Det Norske Samlaget, 1991. p.303.
(2) Semb, Klara/ Danse, danse dokka mi: songleikar og turdansar. Oslo: Noregs Boklag, 1958. p.138.
Recordings:
Egeland, Ånon & Susanne Lundeng 'Herr Smett Norske Turdansar II frå Agder og Nord-Norge (1996 Grappa Musikkforlag A/S) track 26 [YouTube];
See also recordings from Germany, France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, etc:
Bernie Wyte & his Musette Orchestra 'Herr Schmidt polka' 1953 [Internet Archive];
Folkedanseorkestret (His Master's Voice (A.L. 1358)) [Internet Archive];
Folkedanseorkestret 'silderumpen & Henrik Smith' (His Master's Voice (A.L. 1358)) [Internet Archive];
Folkedanseorkestret 'sønderhoning, silderumpen & Henrik Smith' (His Master's Voice (A.L. 1358)) [Internet Archive];
Banda Mensagem 'Herr Schmidt' [YouTube];
Follaton 'Tschiberli' [YouTube];
Freddie "Schnickelfritz" Fisher and his orchestra 'Herr Schmidt' (Decca (45067 A)) 1938 [Internet Archive];
Adolph Hofner 'Herr Schmidt' Rockin' and A-Boppin' - The Sarg Records Anthology 1954-1973 [YouTube];
Kapelle Otto Kermbach 'Herr Schmidt, Herr Schmidt, was kriegt die Jule mit?' Licht aus, Messer raus! (Tanzmusik der 30ER) [YouTube];
Louie and his Old Time Band 'Herr Schmidt' [Internet Archive];
Marc Chevrier et son orchestre 'Chiberli' Échos du Morvan [YouTube];
'Herr Schmidt' Musicas em Pomerano [YouTube];
Os 3 Xirús & Banda 'Herr Schmit' Alegres Músicas Alemäs [YouTube];
Red River Dave & the Texas Tophands 'Herr Schmidt' 1949 [Internet Archive];
Rudy Plocar's orchestra 'Herr Schmidt & Finger-tanz' [Internet Archive].
unattributed 'Herr Schmidt/Herr Schmied' from Czech Republic, Germany, Poland [Dancilla];
unattributed 'Herr Schmidt/Monsieur le forgeron' from Alsace, France [Dancilla];
| Bars | Part | Dance progression: |
| 1-2 | (a) | Figuré: Beginning hopping on R foot and swinging L foot forward with heel to the floor and toes pointing up, couples dance 2 slow forward-back scissor steps [ie one step per bar]. |
| 3-4 | Couples dance 4 rapid forward-back scissor steps, twice as quickly [ie two steps per bar]. | |
| 5-8 | Repeat (a). | |
| |:9-16:| | (b) | Couple 'turn':
Alternative 1: Couples take Norwegian waltz hold, and dance galopp, turning CW and moving in LOD around the floor. [16 polka steps] Alternative 2: Couples retain original [shoulder-to-shoulder] hold, and dance slip-steps, moving in LOD around the floor. [32 slip steps] [Repeat from (a) as desired.] According to Semb, couples sing below lyrics as they interact with partner. Lyrics
See video from Buskerud Mållag - Hått Halling 2014 Provenance: In the 1930s, Gudrun Lunde (1889-1973), the leader of Bondeungdomslaget in Tromsø, heard that Emil Berg, who had
grown up in Lysbotn on Senja, knew some old dances. She brought him to Tromsø to teach the dances, and wrote descriptions of them.
Two of these dances, Herr Smett and Gilrosen, Klara Semb included in the 1935 edition of Norske folkdansar II: rettleiing om dansen.
Helmer Tremnes, in Tromsø, had transcribed the music. The sheet music was first published in Semb's Danse, danse dokka mi. Semb had
'borrowed' part (a) of the tune and lyrics of e.g. Rits rats (ruder es)
for part (b) of Herr Smett,
while the Tremnes manuscript version of the tune had only 'tralla la' etc. as part (b). Semb had also adjusted the lyrics to Norwegian ny-norsk.
Source: Semb, Klara/ Norske folkdansar: turdansar. Oslo: Noregs Boklag/Det Norske Samlaget, 1991. pp. 303-305.
|
See also videos of 'Chiberli' from the Netherlands (Lët'zFolk Lëtzebuerger Folklor, Folklor Dänz) and Germany Kaiserstadt Kulturkreis Volkstanzgruppe. 'Herr Schmidt/Monsieur le forgeron' from Alsace, France (with Les Kochlöffel de Souffelweyersheim, Groupe Folklorique du Pays de Xacau). 'Chibreli Alsacien/Rutsch hin, rutsch her' from Alsace, France, (with Les Kochlöffel de Souffelweyersheim, Groupe des danses populaires de Kuttolsheim, Groupe Folklorique du Pays de Xacau).
Provenance:
The dance became very popular, especially in Germany and central Europe around 1820-1830. The music
has it's roots in a Portuguese military march from the 1790s, and was spread throughout Europe by the Napoleonic wars.
The dance likely originated in the area of Berlin and Halle as "Hallescher Stiefelknecht-Galop". In the early
1830s, a student in Halle wrote lyrics for the tune, which begin "Herr Schmidt!, Herr Schmidt! Wir haben eine Bitt", and
which contributed to the tune's popularity. Wolfram, an Austrian folkdance researcher, has identified the dance
under a variety of names throughout Germany, eastern provinces of France such as Lorraine (Chiberli)
and the Languedoc (Sauteuse), Switzerland (Ziberli and
Tschiberli),
the Netherlands and Flanders (Jan Piet and
De Smid), as well as Czechoslovakia and Latvia. [Sørensen, 1999]
See also:
-- Sørensen, Per '
Henrik Smith fra Himmerland'. in:
Dansens og musikkens rødder nr. 34, Jan. 1999. [in Danish]
-- Foreningen til Folkedansens Fremme (FFF)/ Gamle Himmerlands-danse. 4 opl.
København: Foreningen til Folkdansens Fremme, 1978, p. 12.
-- Heikel, Yngvar/ Folkdans: B. dansbeskrivningar sammanställda av Yngvar Heikel.
(Skrifter utgivna av Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, 268; Finlands Svenska folkdiktning, VI) Faksimilutgåva 1982.
Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, 1938. p.459.
-- Knappe, Adolf/ 'Herr Schmidt' in: Die Volkslieder und Volkstänze des Riesen- und Isergebirges. Hirschberg: , 1912 . [in German]
-- Stahl, Wilhelm/ 'Herr Schmidt' in: Niederdeutsche Volkstänze. Reprint 1998. Hamburg: Paul Harting Verlag, 1921. p 27. [in German]
-- Wolfram, Richard/ Die Volkstänze in Österreich und verwandte Tänze in Europa. Salzburg: Otto Müller Verlag, 1951. [in German]
-- Brinkers, Christa / 'Smit-Polka' in: Emsland singt und tanzt. Meppen: Verlag des Emsländischen Heimatvereins, 1955. [in German]
-- Dancilla wiki Herr Schmidt [includes additional German sources]
Translation: Laine Ruus, Oakville, 2023-07-18.
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