Comment on Grundtvig and Copenhagen During Denmark's Golden Age

[Author’s note in the text] On the Copenhagen performance of Masaniello, see Johanne Luise Heiberg, Et Liv, IV, 1944, p. 301, note 122; V. Topsøe-Jensen, “Danske kongeskibe og deres historie” in Tidsskrift for Søvæsen, 1960, especially pp. 409-12, wioth illustration (undated) by H. Schøsler-Pedersen; the description of the king’s return from Slesvig is taken from the following pamphlets: Mindeord i Anledning af vor elskede Landsfaders, Kong Frederik den Sjettes, Hjemkomst, d. 3die August 1833, published in 1834, and Landsfaderens Hjemkomst, eller Mindeblade fra den 3die August 1833, eidted by H.C. Holm, n.d., also J. Jetsmark Alphabetisk Fortegnelse over Subskribenterne paa Skuemønten i Anledning af Hans Majestæt Kongens lykkelige Helbredelse, og Tilbagekomst til Hovedstaden den 3die August, 1833, 1834, cf. Vilhelm Bergsøe, Danske Medailler og Jetons fra 1789-1891, 1893, pp. 22, 18-19; pictures on the commemorative medal have been kindly supplieed by Dr Thorkild Kjærgaard, Det Nationalhistoriske Museum, Frederiksborg. Grundtvig’s poem from 1834 is printed in US VIII, pp. 10-25. Five stanzas of it are included (not word-for-word) in a pamphlet on the Folk High School entitled Det Danske Fiir-Kløver partisk betragtet, 1836, GrSkV II, pp. 44-4, 56. In a miracolous fashion, Kristian Køster in Et Hundrede Danske Sange, 1865 used six stanzas to form an excellent philosophical poem on the subject of (Danish) love without any trace of the original occasion: “Nu skal det aabenbares” (Now it mus be revealed), see Poul Dam, _Grundtvig-tekster i sangbøgerne med særligt henblik på højskolesangen. En bibliografisk oversigt. 1992, p. 129. Here we find the faqmous formulation “Og han har aldrig levet, / som klog paa det er blevet, / Han først ei havde kiær!” (And he has never lived, / Who came to understand / What at first he did not love) (the original stanza 41). “The Golden Year” has been interpreted by Helge Toldberg in Grundtvigs Symbolverden, 1950, pp. 76-79 and 196-97; on the last named page Toldberg asserts incorrectly that the son of pain, Forsete, was born in 1784 (see stanza 30)- Grundtvig would appear to have counted on this Forsete not reaching his majority until the age of 33 (1801-34), but for no known reason – it corresponds to no biblical or Danish Age of majority.

Last updated 20.12.2016