Everipedia Logo
Everipedia is now IQ.wiki - Join the IQ Brainlist and our Discord for early access to editing on the new platform and to participate in the beta testing.
Elves' Hill

Elves' Hill

Elves' Hill (Danish: Elverhøj) is a comedy by Johan Ludvig Heiberg, with overture and incidental music by Friedrich Kuhlau (Op. 100), which is considered the first Danish national play.

Elves' Hill
Written byJohan Ludvig Heiberg
Date premiered6 November 1828
Original languageDanish
GenreComedy
SettingStevns

History

Elves' Hill was commissioned by Frederik VI for the wedding of his daughter Vilhelmine Marie and Frederik Carl Christian (later Frederik VII) and premiered on 6 November 1828, 5 days after the wedding.[1][2] Since the premiere, the play has been performed more than 1,000 times at the Royal Danish Theatre.[3]

Music

The work incorporated both the texts and melodies of two traditional ballad pieces featuring folklore about the Elven king.

Heiberg localized the legend of the Elven king to Stevns.[4] To these, the motif element of the swapped children was added. King Christian IV is cast as a sort of detective, who unravels the mystery.

The two ballads used were Elvehøj (DgF 46B) which begins "Jeg lagde mit hoved til Elverhøj" (I laid my head down on Elves' Hill)" and Elveskud (DgF 47B) that begins "Herr Oluf han rider saa vide" (Sir Oluf he rideth so far-and-wide). These ballads had appeared in Udvalgte Danske Viser fra Middelalderen (1812), edited by Werner Abrahamson.[4][7][8][9]

The work also contains "Kong Christian stod ved højen mast", which became the royal anthem of Denmark. It is set to Kuhlau's arrangement to a tune already being sung to the lyrics originally written by Johannes Ewald for an entirely different play.[10] However Elves' Hill is considered instrumental to the romantic popularity of the anthem.

In the eighth Olsen-banden movie (Olsen-banden ser rødt), the Olsen gang bombs, drills, and hammers its way through an opera house's basement in synchronicity with the music of the Elverhøj Overture.

References

[1]
Citation Linkopenlibrary.orgShore, Dan (2008). The Emergence of Danish National Opera, 1779–1846 (preview) (PhD dissertation). CUNY – via ProQuest., pp. 131
Sep 18, 2019, 7:27 PM
[2]
Citation Linkbooks.google.comMøller, Kristian Langdal. "H. C. Andersen i Helsingør" (snippet). Anderseniana. 2. rk. II:4: 342–51., p.344n "der opførtes 1. Gang 5 Dage efter Brylluppet"; Reprinted in: [Strejflys over hans Liv og hans Digtning] (1968), p.20.
Sep 18, 2019, 7:27 PM
[3]
Citation Linkbooks.google.comWamberg, Niels Birger (1971). H. C. Andersen og Heiberg (snippet). Politiken. p. 275.
Sep 18, 2019, 7:27 PM
[4]
Citation Linkopenlibrary.orgKuhn, Hans (2000), "Elverhøj: The making of a national musical" (snippet), Nordisk litteratur og mentalitet: foredrag fra den 22. studiekongres i International Association for Scandinavian Studies (IASS) arrangeret af Føroyamálsdeild, Fróðskaparsetur Føroya, Færøernes universitet 3.-9. august 1998 25, Føroya fróðskaparfelag, pp. 294-, p. 295
Sep 18, 2019, 7:27 PM
[5]
Citation Linkopenlibrary.org, pp. 136
Sep 18, 2019, 7:27 PM
[6]
Citation Linkopenlibrary.org, pp. 152
Sep 18, 2019, 7:27 PM
[7]
Citation Linkopenlibrary.org, pp. 133–135
Sep 18, 2019, 7:27 PM
[8]
Citation Linkbooks.google.comAbrahamson, Werner Hans Frederik, ed. (1812). "XXXIV:Elveskud, p.234; XXXV, p. 237". Udvalgte danske viser fra middelalderen. 1. F.F. Schultz.
Sep 18, 2019, 7:27 PM
[9]
Citation Linkbooks.google.comGrundtvig, Sven (1856). "46. Elvehøj, p.105-; 47.Elveskud, p. 109-". Danmarks gamle folkeviser. 2. Samfundet til den danske literaturs fremme.
Sep 18, 2019, 7:27 PM
[10]
Citation Linkopenlibrary.org, pp. 156–157
Sep 18, 2019, 7:27 PM
[11]
Citation Linkbooks.google.comThe Emergence of Danish National Opera, 1779–1846
Sep 18, 2019, 7:27 PM
[14]
Citation Linkbooks.google.com"Elverhøj: The making of a national musical"
Sep 18, 2019, 7:27 PM
[17]
Citation Linken.wikipedia.orgThe original version of this page is from Wikipedia, you can edit the page right here on Everipedia.Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Additional terms may apply.See everipedia.org/everipedia-termsfor further details.Images/media credited individually (click the icon for details).
Sep 18, 2019, 7:27 PM