''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 The Danish Realm ( da, Danmarks Rige; fo, Danmarkar Ríki; kl, Danmarkip Naalagaaffik), officially the Kingdom of Denmark (; ; ), is a sovereign state located in Northern Europe and Northern North America. It consists of Denmark, metropolitan ...

that officially has equal status of

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

together with '' Der er et yndigt land'', though it is almost exclusively used in relation to the Danish royal house and the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

. The theme of the song is about the heroics of Danish and Norwegian sailors during the wars against Sweden (including the

Torstenson War The Torstenson war, Hannibal controversy or Hannibal War ( no, Hannibalsfeiden) was a short period of conflict between Sweden and Denmark–Norway from 1643 to 1645 towards the end of the Thirty Years' War. The names refer to Swedish general L ...

) in the 17th and 18th centuries. On New Year's Eve, it is tradition to sing along as the

Danmarks Radio DR (), officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English, is a Danish public-service radio and television broadcasting company. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enter ...

Girl's Choir sing the song on television, immediately after midnight following the other national anthem. Usually, only the first verse is sung on official occasions. Adopted in 1780, it is one of the oldest national anthems in the world.

The lyrics

History of the lyrics

The lyrics first appeared in May 1778, in Johannes Ewald's

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

play ''The Fishermen'', which premiered at the

Royal Danish Theatre The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first s ...

in January 1780 on the birthday of King Christian VII. The play depicts the heroics of fishermen from the northern part of

Zealand Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

, who saved a lot of sailors from drowning and then refused to take pay for it.Ove Malling: "Store og gode Handlinger af Danske, Norske og Holstenere", Copenhagen 1777 (Reprinted 1992), pp. 64–70 For this reason, the play was seen as a tribute to the navy, in particular because of the King Christian song. In the original staging of the play, however, only the final fourth verse was ever sung. The first three verses were omitted because of the animosity they showed towards

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, who at the time were an important ally against the United Kingdom as members of the League of Armed Neutrality.

Theme

The theme of the song is the heroics of Danish-Norwegian sailors during the wars against Sweden in the 17th and 18th centuries. It specifically names the Danish-Norwegian naval heroes

King Christian IV Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian monar ...

Niels Juel Niels Juel (8 May 1629 – 8 April 1697) was a Danish admiral and a naval hero. He served as supreme command of the Dano-Norwegian Navy The history of the Danish navy began with the founding of a joint Dano-Norwegian navy on 10 August 1510, ...

and

Peter Wessel Tordenskiold Peter Jansen Wessel Tordenskiold (28 October 1690 – 12 November 1720), commonly referred to as Tordenskjold (), was a Norwegian nobleman and flag officer who spent his career in the service of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy. He rose to the rank ...

. The first verse refers to the 1644

Battle of Colberger Heide The Battle of Colberger Heide (also Kolberger Heide or Colberg Heath) took place on 1 July 1644 during the Torstenson War, off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein. The battle was indecisive, but a minor success for the Dano-Norwegian fleet command ...

, where King Christian IV is hurt by shrapnel and thought to be dead but quickly gets to his feet and incites his crew to continue the battle.

History of the music

It has long been debated who composed the music to the song. It was originally accredited to Johann Hartmann, the same composer who wrote the score for the original play ''Fiskerne'', where the lyrics had first appeared. Another suggestion was that a friend of Johannes Ewald, High Court judge

Ditlev Ludvig Rogert Ditlev (or Ditlef) Ludvig Rogert (1742–1813) was a Danish songwriter who is credited with composing the music for Denmark's royal anthem " Kong Kristian stod ved højen mast". He was also a High Court judge and violinist. The lyrics to the anth ...

, who was known to have played the violin, had been the original composer – a claim that was backed up by several 19th century intellectuals. In 1880,

Vilhelm Carl Ravn Vilhelm is a masculine given name, the Scandinavian form of William and Wilhelm. Notable people with the name include: * Vilhelm Ahlmann (1852-1928), Danish-Swedish architect * Vilhelm Andersen (1864–1953), Danish author, literary historian and ...

presented his theory that the score significantly preceded Ewald's poem and had no one particular composer. This is the most commonly supported theory today. However, even today the score is also often wrongfully accredited to

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 Dani ...

, who made "King Christian" a popular anthem by using his own arrangement of the score in his play ''

Elverhøj ''Elves' Hill'' ( da, 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. History ''Elves' Hill'' was commissioned by Frederik V ...

'', which premiered at the wedding between Crown Prince Frederik (the later King Frederik VII) and Princess Vilhelmine in November 1828.

Lyrics

References

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kong Kristian stod ved hojen mast Danish anthems Royal anthems Cultural depictions of Christian IV of Denmark Songs about kings Danish monarchy National anthem compositions in B-flat major Historical national anthems