''Elves' Hill'' ( da, Elverhøj) is a comedy by Johan Ludvig Heiberg, with overture and incidental music by

Friedrich Kuhlau Friedrich Daniel Rudolf Kuhlau (German; Danish sometimes ''Frederick Kulav'') (11 September 1786 – 12 March 1832) was a Danish pianist and composer during the late Classical and early Romantic periods. He was a central figure of the Danish ...

(Op. 100), which is considered the first Danish national play.

History

''Elves' Hill'' was commissioned by

Frederik VI Frederick VI (Danish and no, Frederik; 28 January 17683 December 1839) was King of Denmark from 13 March 1808 to 3 December 1839 and King of Norway from 13 March 1808 to 7 February 1814, making him the last king of Denmark–Norway. From 1784 un ...

for the wedding of his daughter Vilhelmine Marie and Frederik Carl Christian (later

Frederik VII Frederick VII (Frederik Carl Christian; 6 October 1808 – 15 November 1863) was King of Denmark from 1848 to 1863. He was the last Danish monarch of the older Royal branch of the House of Oldenburg and the last king of Denmark to rule as a ...

) and premiered on 6 November 1828, 5 days after the wedding. Since the premiere, the play has been performed more than 1,000 times at the Royal Danish Theatre.

Story

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. 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.

Music

The two ballads used were '' Elvehøj'' (

DgF ''Danmarks gamle Folkeviser'' is a collection of (in principle) all known texts and recordings of the old Danish popular ballads. It drew both on early modern manuscripts, such as Karen Brahes Folio, and much more recent folk-song collecting activi ...

46B) which begins "''Jeg lagde mit hoved til Elverhøj''" (I laid my head down on Elves' Hill)" and ''

Elveskud "Elveskud" or "Elverskud" (; Danish for "Elf-shot") is the Danish, and most widely used, name for one of the most popular ballads in Scandinavia (''The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad'' A 63 'Elveskud — Elf maid causes man's sicknes ...

'' (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 . The work also contains "

Kong Christian stod ved højen mast ''Kong Christian stod ved højen mast'' (; "King Christian stood by the lofty mast"), commonly shortened to ''Kong Christian'', is the unofficial royal anthem of the Kingdom of Denmark that officially has equal status of national anthem togethe ...

", 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. However ''Elves' Hill'' is considered instrumental to the romantic popularity of the anthem.

In popular culture

In the eighth '' Olsen-banden'' movie (''

Olsen-banden ser rødt ''The Olsen Gang Sees Red'' ( da, Olsen-banden ser rødt) is a 1976 Danish comedy film directed by Erik Balling and starring Ove Sprogøe, Morten Grunwald and Poul Bundgaard. The film was the eighth in the Olsen Gang-series, and was selected as ...

''), the Olsen gang bombs, drills, and hammers its way through an opera house's basement in synchronicity with the music of the ''Elverhøj Overture''.

Footnotes

References

* *

External links

* {{IMSLP2, work=Elverhøj, Op.100 (Kuhlau, Friedrich), cname=''Elverhøj'' Plays by Johan Ludvig Heiberg Compositions by Friedrich Kuhlau 19th-century Danish plays Plays set in Denmark Plays set in the 17th century Cultural depictions of Christian IV of Denmark Fantasy theatre Elves in popular culture 1828 plays