Petter Dass: «Du skal ikke slå i hjel» – En folkemelodi med livskraft gjennom flere århundrer

Abstract

In this article I will analyse the variants of the melody used for the song Petter Dass wrote around 1690 about the 5th commandment. There exist about 100 variants of this melody in different archives in Norway, but not in Sweden or Denmark. It is possible to follow the melody in oral tradition through the 19th and 18th centuries. We don’t know if the melody dates back to Petter Dass himself, but it is possible. In that case there are reasons to assume that the melody was well known already then, which means it must be even older. So the melody seems to be an old Norwegian melody used in oral tradition for hundreds of years.