"Mitt hjerte alltid vanker" ("My Heart Always Wanders") is an old Scandinavian Christmas song, released as a single with

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

singer Sissel in 1995. It is one of several versions of the originally Danish hymn, which has since been translated and set to different melodies in the different Scandinavian countries. Kyrkjebø sings a Norwegian translation set to a Norwegian variant of a Swedish folk melody, which was first written down in 1816 in Västergötland in Sweden. This is the version is the most popular in Norway and Sweden.

Carola Häggkvist Carola Maria Häggkvist (; born 8 September 1966), commonly known simply as Carola, is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She has been among Sweden's most popular performers since the early 1980s and has released albums ranging from pop and disco ...

recorded the song on her 1999 Christmas album '' Jul i Betlehem'' using the same version, as has various other Norwegian and Swedish artists. The original hymn "Mit hierte altid vancker" was written by Danish bishop and hymn writer

Hans Adolph Brorson Hans Adolph Brorson (20 June 1694 – 3 June 1764) was a Danish pietist clergyman, hymn write and translator of German language hymns. He served as Bishop of the Diocese of Ribe. Biography Brorson was born at the vicarage at Randerup in T� ...

. It first came out in print in 1732. In Denmark, the most popular version of this song is set to the melody composed by

Carl Nielsen Carl August Nielsen (; 9 June 1865 – 3 October 1931) was a Danish composer, conductor and violinist, widely recognized as his country's most prominent composer. Brought up by poor yet musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he ...

, with

Thomas Laub Thomas Linnemann Laub (5 December 1852 – 4 February 1927) was a Danish organist and composer. Notable works *1888 ''80 rytmiske Koraler'', en enstemmig samling *1889–1891 ''Kirkemelodier'', tre hæfter med firstemmige udsættelser *1890 ...

's correspondence. Nielsen also had assistance with

Paul Hellmuth Paul Emil Friederich Hellmuth (1 November 1879 – June 1919) was a Danish organist and composer. Hellmuth was a student of Carl Nielsen and collaborated with Nielsen to harmonize the melodies of some of Nielssen's hymns, for example ''Forunderl ...

in making the harmonies for the song. Like the lyrics, Nielsen's melody is meditative and introverted without any drama. It spans only one octave and, for the most part, consists of incremental progressive quarter nodes. The structure of the melody process itself is also quite simple. The first four beats are repeated, after which the melody, in a broken triad, swings up to the highest tune of the melody, so that over the next sixteen beats it moves slowly down to the root in incremental movements. Thus, text and music are both simple, calm and reflective of the story of the gospel.

References

External links

Lyrics for "Mitt hjerte alltid vanker"
Christmas carols 18th-century songs 1995 singles Sissel Kyrkjebø songs Carola Häggkvist songs {{song-stub