Magnus Brostrup Landstad (7 October 1802 – 8 October 1880) was a Norwegian parish priest and
provost, hymn writer, and poet who published the first collection of authentic Norwegian traditional ballads in 1853.
Biography
Landstad was born in the village of
Måsøy in
Finnmark
Finnmark (; ; ; ; ) is a counties of Norway, county in northern Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland (Finland), Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norweg ...
, Norway. He was one of ten children born to the parish priest Hans Landstad (1771–1838) and Margrethe Elisabeth Schnitler (1768–1850). His father was a minister, who first worked at
Øksnes Church
Øksnes Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Øksnes Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located on the southeastern tip of the island of Skogsøya. It is one of the churches for the Øksnes parish which is part of ...
in 1806, then relocated to
Vinje Church in 1811 and to
Seljord Church
Seljord Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Seljord Municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the village of Seljord (village), Seljord. It is one of the churches for the Seljord parish which is part of the Øv ...
in 1819. His grandfather was
Peter Schnitler (1690–1751). He was a cousin of the priest and local historian Hans Peter Schnitler Krag (1794–1855).
Landstad received a theology degree (''
cand.theol.'') in 1827, and worked after that as the resident chaplain in
Gausdal
Gausdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Segelstad bru. Other villages in Gausdal include Follebu, Forse ...
for six years. After that he worked in various parishes in
Bratsberg and
Smaalenenes counties before he became the minister at
Sandar Church in
Jarlsberg og Larvik county in 1859.
He is well known for introducing popular, contemporary Norwegian language into the hymns he wrote, contributing significantly to the spirit of
Norwegian romantic nationalism, which grew in Norway during this period. Although criticized at the time for the use of unscientific methods, today it is commonly accepted that he contributed significantly to the preservation of traditional ballads.
His single greatest achievement was the Landstad hymnal (''
Landstads kirkesalmebog''). He included about 50 of his own hymns in it and completed the editing in 1861. Later revisions were used in Norwegian (''bokmål'') parishes until 1985. The current official church hymnal contains a number of his hymns as well as his translations of foreign-language hymns.
Personal life
He married Wilhelmine Margrete Marie Lassen (1808–1892) in 1828. They were the parents of twelve children, of whom six died in early childhood. He died in 1880 at
Kristiania
Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022, an ...
(now Oslo) and was buried at
VÃ¥r Frelsers gravlund.
Publications
* 1852: ''Norske Folkeviser''. 3 vols. Christiania: C. Tönsberg,
852–853.
* 1869: ''Kirkesalmebok: efter offentlig Foranstaltning''. Kristiania: J. W. Cappelens Forlag, 1871
References
Further reading
*Amundsen, Arne Bugge. 2012. "The Folk in the Church: Magnus Brostrup Landstad (1812–1880) as a Clerical Folklore Collector." ''Arv: Nordic Yearbook of Folklore'' 67-90.
External links
Utstilling om Landstad Karin Helene Hognestad, UBiT.
1802 births
1880 deaths
19th-century Norwegian poets
Norwegian male poets
Norwegian folk-song collectors
19th-century Norwegian composers
19th-century Norwegian male writers
Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour
19th-century musicologists
{{Norway-poet-stub