Spader, Madame!
Encyclopedia
Spader, Madame! is a Swedish
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....

 variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...

 that had its première the 10 January 1969 on Oscarsteatern
Oscarsteatern
Oscarsteatern or "Oscars" is one of Stockholm's finest private theatres and the most well-known musical theatre in Sweden. It's located at Kungsgatan 63 in central Stockholm....

 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...

. It was written by Hans Alfredson
Hans Alfredson
Hans Folke "Hasse" Alfredson is a Swedish actor, film director, writer and comedian. He was born in Malmö, Sweden. He is known for his collaboration with Tage Danielsson...

 and Tage Danielsson
Tage Danielsson
Tage Danielsson was a Swedish author, actor, poet and film director. He was born in Linköping and died in Stockholm...

 and directed by Danielsson. Both of the writers starred in the show. Hasse played the banker Falkenström and Tage friherr
Freiherr
The German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname...

 von Löwenskiöld.

The show also starred Monica Zetterlund
Monica Zetterlund
Eva Monica Zetterlund was a Swedish singer and actress.-Biography:Zetterlund was a singer particularly noted for her jazz work. She began by learning the classic jazz songs from radio and records, initially not knowing the language and what they sang about in English...

, Birgitta Andersson
Birgitta Andersson
Ulla Birgitta Helena Andersson Bye is a Swedish actress and comedian.Andersson is a very popular and well liked actress in Sweden....

, Grynet Molvig
Grynet Molvig
Ann-Kristin "Grynet" Molvig is a Norwegian actress and singer. She made her name as a singer in the 1960, with acts such as Kjell Karlsen and Willy Andresen. Later she also started performing in Sweden, often together with Povel Ramel. At the same time she also acted in movies, both in Norway and...

, Martin Ljung
Martin Ljung
Martin Vilhelm Ljung was a Swedish comedian, actor and singer.His movie debut was in the 1947 movie Tappa inte sugen starring Nils Poppe....

, Gösta Ekman
Gösta Ekman
Hans Gösta Gustaf Ekman is a Swedish actor.-Biography:One of Sweden's most appreciated, respected and popular actors; Gösta Ekman started his career in theatre but has also appeared in several Swedish films, including the Jönssonligan series...

, Fatima Ekman, Fina Kören and Gunnar Svenssons Salongsorkester.

The show was later adapted for television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

, using Sturehof castle as the set. This version has been released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 and the soundtrack has been released for both LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

 and CD.

Plot

The story is set in the beginning of the 19th century, an era that 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...

 thought was very much like the 1960s.
A gang of people from the upper classes has withdrawn to a place in the country were they plan to live for a couple of days, listening to Schubert music
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...

 and simply enjoy life.

The plan goes very wrong however, when most of the things go wrong and the company runs out of food and drinks in a couple of days.

Music

All music in the show were based on music already written by Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...

 with new lyrics written by Hans Alfredsson and Tage Danielsson
Tage Danielsson
Tage Danielsson was a Swedish author, actor, poet and film director. He was born in Linköping and died in Stockholm...

.
The songs used in the show are as follows:

First Act.
  • Forellen (The Trout), sung by Monica Zetterlund
    Monica Zetterlund
    Eva Monica Zetterlund was a Swedish singer and actress.-Biography:Zetterlund was a singer particularly noted for her jazz work. She began by learning the classic jazz songs from radio and records, initially not knowing the language and what they sang about in English...

    .

(Die Forelle, D. 550
Die Forelle
Franz Schubert composed his lively lied "Die Forelle" in early 1817 for solo voice and piano. The text is from a poem by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart. In the Deutsch catalog of Schubert's works it is number 550, or D550...

).
  • Sång, som handlar om sig själv (Song, that is about itself), sung by Egil and the Manchoir.

(Nachthelle)
  • Herdens sång om herdens sång om herden (The shepherd's song about the shepherd's song about the shepherd), sung by Martin Ljung
    Martin Ljung
    Martin Vilhelm Ljung was a Swedish comedian, actor and singer.His movie debut was in the 1947 movie Tappa inte sugen starring Nils Poppe....

    .

(8:th symphony, Second Movement
Symphony No. 8 (Schubert)
Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B minor , commonly known as the "Unfinished Symphony" , D.759, was started in 1822 but left with only two movements known to be complete, even though Schubert would live for another six years. A scherzo, nearly completed in piano score but with only two pages...

)
  • Du går an (You're okay), sung by Grynet Molvig
    Grynet Molvig
    Ann-Kristin "Grynet" Molvig is a Norwegian actress and singer. She made her name as a singer in the 1960, with acts such as Kjell Karlsen and Willy Andresen. Later she also started performing in Sweden, often together with Povel Ramel. At the same time she also acted in movies, both in Norway and...

     and Tage Danielsson
    Tage Danielsson
    Tage Danielsson was a Swedish author, actor, poet and film director. He was born in Linköping and died in Stockholm...

    .

(Octet in F-Major, Fourth Movement, opus 166 d. 803)
  • Pigornas Kurt (Kurt of the maids), sung by Monica Zetterlund.

(Theme from the 6:th Symphony, First Movement)
  • Vid sybågen, aka Här sitter jag i värmen (At the Embroidery, aka Here i sit in the warmth), sung by Grynet Molvig.

(Der Lindenbaum, op 89, d. 911)
  • Spader, Madame! (A word play, Spader Madame can be thought of as The Queen of Spades
    Queen of Spades
    The Queen of spades is one of 52 playing cards.Queen of spades may also refer to:* alternative name of the card game Old Maid, in which that particular playing card plays an important role...

    , but the sentence actually means "I'm going crazy, madame"), sung by all.

(5th Symphony, 3rd Movement
Symphony No. 5 (Schubert)
The Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, D.485, written in 1816 by Franz Schubert is a work in four movements:#Allegro in B, in divided cut time.#Andante con moto in E, in 6:8 time.#Menuetto...

)
Second Act.
  • Den gode vilden aka Lilla svarta Saras dans (The Good Savage aka Little black Saras dance), performed by Fatima Ekman and the choir.

(Nr. 3, from 3 Klavierstücke, D 946).
  • Längtans blåa blomma (The Longings blue flower), sung by Ulla Hallin and the Choir.

(Rosamunda, intermission nr 2)
  • Blodvisan (The Bloodsong), sung by Grynet Molvig.

(Waltz nr six from Twelve Waltz, op. 18, D. 145).
  • Donna Juanita. sung by Monica Zetterlund.

(6:th Symphony, Second Movement).
  • Hittebarnet (The abandoned child), sung by Monica Zetterlund and the choir.

(First and Second waltz from Twelve Waltz, op. 18, D. 145).
  • Solen är en ball kula (The Sun is a groovey marble), sung by all.

(Ouvertyr from Rosamunda).
  • Lyckan är alltid kort (Happiness is always short), sung by all.

(Theme from the "unfinished" 8th Symphony, First movement
Symphony No. 8 (Schubert)
Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B minor , commonly known as the "Unfinished Symphony" , D.759, was started in 1822 but left with only two movements known to be complete, even though Schubert would live for another six years. A scherzo, nearly completed in piano score but with only two pages...

).

Reception

The stageplay, although popular by the public, got very bad reviews from the press. The TV-version however gave the show recognition among both public and critics. Those who had been negative about the stageplay and written harsh reviews on it gave very positive response to the other version of the show.
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