Liksom en Herdinna, högtids klädd

"Liksom en Herdinna, högtids klädd"
Art song
First page of sheet music for Epistle 80, a Siciliana or musical pastorale
EnglishLike a Shepherdess, festively dressed
Written1789 or 1790
Textpoem by Carl Michael Bellman
LanguageSwedish
MelodyUnknown origin, perhaps Bellman himself
Published1790 in Fredman's Epistles
Scoringvoice and cittern

Liksom en Herdinna, högtids klädd ("Like a Shepherdess, festively dressed"), is a song by the Swedish poet and performer Carl Michael Bellman from his 1790 collection, Fredman's Epistles, where it is No. 80. The Epistle is subtitled "Angående Ulla Winblads Lustresa til Första Torpet, utom Kattrumps Tullen" (Concerning Ulla Winblad's pleasure-trip to Första Torpet, outside Kattrump Tollgate). It is a pastorale, starting with a near-paraphrase of Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux's French guide to the construction of pastoral verse. That doesn't prevent the supposed shepherd and shepherdess from falling into bed drunk at the end of the song. It has been described as lovelier in Swedish than in Boileau's original French. The epistle's humorous depiction of the human condition has been praised by critics.