Scandinavian Ballad Melodies

New prints of my three ballad books: Lord Peter and Little Kerstin, Warrior Lore, and The Faraway North, now include music notation for the traditional ballad melodies. This should be a useful resource for those who are wanting to sing these ballads in English translation.

I have also collected the melodies together in an ebook, Scandinavian Ballad Melodies, that is available separately for those who might need that option.

Traditional melodies are not known for all the ballads I have translated. (This is because the melodies were not always recorded by the ballad collectors at the same time as they were writing down the ballad texts.) So only 9 of 10 ballads in Lord Peter and Little Kerstin have melodies, only 9 of 10 ballads in Warrior Lore, and only 11 of 15 ballads in The Faraway North. I have also included alternative melodies for some of the ballads.

I hope those who are wanting to sing these ballads might find this addition useful.

The Amazon link to the ballad melody ebook is here (UK|US).

Scandinavian Ballad Melodies,
by Ian Cumpstey

Published 2026.