''Elves' Hill'' ( da, Elverhøj) is a

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

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 Dani ...

(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 ...

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 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 ...

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 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 ...

is cast as a sort of detective, who unravels the mystery.

Music

The two ballads used were ''

Elvehøj ''Elvehøj'' (''Elf Hill'') is the Danish name of a Scandinavian ballad (''Danmarks gamle folkeviser'' no. 46), known in Swedish as ''Älvefärd'' (''Sveriges medeltida ballader'' no. 31), type A 65 ('knight released from elves at dawn') in '' ...

'' (

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", 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 Johannes Ewald (18 November 174317 March 1781) was a Danish national dramatist, psalm writer and poet. The lyrics of a song from one of his plays are used for one of the Danish national anthems, ''Kong Christian stod ved højen mast'' which ...

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 The ''Olsen Gang'' ( da, Olsen-banden, no, Olsenbanden, german: Die Olsenbande) is a Danish comedy film series created by Danish director Erik Balling and special effects expert Henning Bahs about the eponymous fictional criminal gang. The gang ...

'' 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''.

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