Thomas Kingo
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Thomas Hansen Kingo (15 December 1634 – 14 October 1703
Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...
) was a
Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
bishop, poet and hymn-writer born at Slangerup, near
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. His work marked the high point of Danish
baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
poetry. His father was a weaver of modest means; the name ''Kingo'' is a shortening of the Scottish name "Kinghorn". In his youth, Kingo wrote a series of poems picturing humorous scenes in village life and a pastoral love poem, ''Chrysillis''. He studied
theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
at the
University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...
, graduating in 1654, and for some time acted as private tutor. In 1661 he was appointed vicar to the pastor at Kirke Helsinge, and in 1668 he was ordained a minister at his native town, where his poetic activity began. At first he essayed patriotic poems, but later devoted himself almost entirely to writing hymns, and in 1674 the first part of his ''Aandelige Siunge-Koor'' ("Spiritual Song Choir") appeared; followed in 1681 by a second part. This work consists of a collection of beautiful hymns several of which are still popular in the Danish Church. In 1677 Kingo was appointed bishop of
Funen Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...
. Charged by the government with the compilation of a new hymn-book, he edited what became known as Kingo's hymnal (''Kingos Psalmebog'', 1699), which contains eighty-five of his own compositions, and which is still used in various parts of Denmark and
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. Some parts of the Danish rural population were firmly sticking to his hymns during the
pietist Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life, including a social concern for ...
and rationalist period contributing to their survival. The same goes for the
Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...
, where his hymns have been in widespread use through most of the 20th century, often sung to quite complicated folk melodies, which may, however, often be traced back to Kingo’s melody collection, or Gradual,Thomas Kingo (1699): Gradual, Odense. Facsimile edition by Erik Norman Svendsen and Henrik Glahn, with afterword by Henrik Glahn: “Om melodiforholdene i Kingos Graduale”, Copenhagen 1967 from 1699, as described by
Marianne Clausen Marianne Clausen (25 December 1947 – 17 September 2014) was a Danish musicologist and choir conductor. She was the daughter of composer, choir conductor and musicologist Karl Clausen (1904–1972). Her main achievement, begun in collaboration ...
in her magnum opus about Faroese folk singing. Though not the first Danish hymn writer Kingo must be considered the first real important one and also among the Danish poets of the 17th century he is generally a leading figure. His hymns are born by a forceful and often
Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
al wrath and renunciation of the world switching with
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
mildness and confidence. Both elements are thrown in relief by his private thrift and fighting nature. His worldly poems and
patriotic Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...
songs are often long-winded and marked by outer effects but in short version he is unequalled, as in his both plain and worthy
commemorative poem A commemorative is an object made to memorialize something. Commemorative may refer to: * Commemorative coin, coins that issued to commemorate something * Commemorative medal, a medal to commemorate something * Commemorative plaque, a plate typi ...
of the naval hero
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, ...
.


References


External links


Kingo's Passion Hymns, with English translations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingo, Thomas 1634 births 1703 deaths Danish Lutheran bishops Danish male poets University of Copenhagen alumni 17th-century Lutheran bishops Danish Lutheran hymnwriters Hymnal editors 17th-century Danish writers 17th-century Danish clergy 17th-century male writers