Literature
The historian Saxo, who produced around 1200 his Latin work “Gesta Danorum” (“The Danes’ farms”, completed before 1222) was inspired by the Valdemartiden’s national renaissance. In order to contribute to the royal family’s consolidation, he put together his work that covered both the Danish myth and legend and the history of the Danish kings until his own time. Saxo’s works have been updated and translated into Danish on several occasions when the fatherland was in distress, e.g. by Nikolai Grundtvig shortly after Denmark’s loss of Norway in 1814.
- Countryaah: Population and demographics of Denmark, including population pyramid, density map, projection, data, and distribution.
Similarly, the significant treasure of medieval Danish ballad poetry has been collected and published in both national and scientific interest, primarily by Svend Grundtvig, who initiated the publication of the monumental edition “Denmark’s Old Folkeviser” (1-12, 1853-1976). Folklore was the name of romance for ballad. Even today it is discussed both in what century these ballads actually came into being and to what extent it was a popular or a noble tradition that created them. Their narrative joy and poetic design, their densified drama and magic have made the poster world very interested in them.
The Renaissance and the Reformation period mainly created texts for the big company to convert the Danes to Lutheranism and to educate and educate the people. Bishop Peder Palladius’ “Visits Book” (written circa 1543) is a living source of knowledge about this meeting between people and the authorities.
From this time it was especially the poem poetry that gained importance as popular poetry. The hymn books were published in large editions and since then some of the most accomplished works in Danish literature have been created within the psalm poetry. This is true of Baroque Thomas Kingo, a master of verse who linked a number of popular folk tunes of the time to his passionate and exalted work (especially “Spiritual Siunge-Koor I- II”, 1674–81). The 17 Passion Psalms from the so-called “Winter Part” of his hymn book (1689) are the strongest working passion meditation in Danish literature. Perfected musical psalm art, but more brittle and inward, created the pietist HA Brorson with “Rare Treasure of the Faith” (“Rare Treasure of the Faith”) of 1739. The music of the home and the quiet association of the house form the framework of a visionary death and eternity desire in his “Swan song” (1765). Romantic Christian faith characterizes BS Ingemann’s poems “Morning and Evening Songs” (1837–38) to CEF Weyse’s music. In Nikolai Grundtvig’s “Sangværk til the Danish Church”, the whole Christianity’s wealth of tones from ancient, medieval and reformation with the Lutheran thought world is combined into an inspired power discharge. It meant a new hymn song, created after the pervasive church criticism of the Enlightenment.
Of the Danish Renaissance poem, mention is made of Anders Arrebo’s great, at his death unfinished creation epo “Hexaëmeron”. From Kingo’s contemporary, King’s daughter Leonora Christina’s “Jammers Memde”, a piece of living prose from her 22-year stay in prison, was first published in 1869. Aristocratic intelligence, faith, revenge and “Dutch” realism cause this book to sparkle with talent and female temperament..
“Jammers Minde” is the most significant Danish memorial work before Ludvig Holberg’s classic cool self-portrait in “1. Letter of Life ”(1728). He is a European with basic self-esteem that makes up the bill. Behind him he already had rows of comedies, works in natural and international law, satires and, above all, the comic hero epic “Peder Paars” (1719), a parody of Vergilius “Aeneiden” and the classical schooling, which was based on this work authority. With a sense that was both chilly and passionate, Holberg’s work became the forerunner of modern Danish literature with a series of fictional works (eg, the utopian novel “Niels Klim’s Underground Journey”, 1741), a long series of historical works (e.g. a church history and a history of Denmark) and essays (“Epistles” 1-5, 1748-54); Holberg had a good dissemination of subject matter and great orientation in the European contemporary world. Bourgeois self-insight and self-education are the main theme of “Moral Thoughts” (1744), a book that is much more cheerful and more imaginative than the title suggests.
During Holberg’s time and largely thanks to his extensive authorship, modern bourgeois Denmark emerged. Although Holberg himself was a royalist, he gave rise to the critical political thinking which would, a hundred years later, lead to the end of the monarchy through the June constitution of 1849. “Father Holberg” he came to be called, and like all great fathers he has left much to himself and in the internal sense stood in the way of its heirs. Most enduring tracks have his comic-critical way of thinking set in the Danish mentality, especially through his dramas.
Johannes Ewald is a foreground figure from the latter part of the 18th century. His posthumously published self-portrait “Levnet and Meeninger” (published in its entirety in 1855) shows with his wealth of diverse moods a modern, multi-faceted and contradictory person. It is the new soul’s prose, sonorous, humorous, playfully moving and outspoken. As a lyricist, Ewald is one of the foremost in Denmark, with an intensely tense, car-rich and passionate expression.
What was created in Europe by creative people like Laurence Sterne, Goethe, Rousseau and Herder in the early 19th century penetrated Denmark under the name of romance. This somewhat well-spoken term has then obscured the fact that the romantic movement was a revolutionary reinterpretation of all values in European societies. It was a child of the French Revolution and became the origin of the new man of consciousness. The enlightenment movement that had set the tone in the 18th century emphasized the gifts of human understanding at the expense of imagination and soulfulness. The reinterpretation of the tradition that the Romans conveyed recaptured and stimulated a number of the symbolic, religious and mythical forms of expression which, among other things, the medieval church and folk art had lived with it for centuries. It was clear during the 19th century that fairy tales, myths, stories and much more could be conceived as images of man’s unconscious life.
Henrik Steffens, with his lectures in 1802, conveyed the romantic philosophy to the Danes. Adam Oehlenschläger adopted it quickly and in his youth created a series of poems with great sensual power and a certain depth of mind, for example. the romantic fairytale game “Aladdin” (1805). His utilization of themes from Nordic mythology and earlier Danish history (“Nordiske Digte”, 1807) provided, among other things. the young Nikolai Grundtvig impulses that led to the interest in mythology. The Oehlenschläger was hailed by the bourgeois bourgeoisie as the entire Nordic dictator. Through his great authorship, Nikolai Grundtvig showed a deep insight into the forces of mythology and Christianity, thereby becoming the originator of the strong popular revival of basic twigism, which led to a wide-ranging development in the school system (folk high school),
With his historical novels (1824–36), BS Ingemann depicted the heroic election era, thereby creating folklore. The less ardent Steen Steensen Blicher instead described Welsh folk life, the great tragedies of small people. The masterpieces among his form-fitting short stories (“Samlede Noveller”, 1824–44) are the most refined storytelling art Denmark can exhibit, a schoolbook classic that is still alive.
Towards the middle of the 19th century, the breadth of Danish culture is impressive. Against revival and basic Twigianism, a dominant Copenhagen culture with the husbands Heiberg as a signifier is distinguished. The center is The Royal Theater in Copenhagen, for which Johan Ludvig Heiberg wrote a number of plays – best known for his vaudeviller – and where for a generation Johanne Louise Heiberg was the great and celebrated romantic actress. Her memories “A Life Relived in Remembrance” (1891–92), together with the pastor’s wife Eline Boisen’s memories of the basic twig environment (“but greatest is love”, first published in 1985 by A. Bojsen-Møller) are the most important sources of knowledge about cultural life by the middle of the century.
HC Andersen and Søren Kierkegaard have also left in their style large diaries and memoirs. The former, Denmark’s most famous author, first found quite late the form of the saga that would correspond to his linguistic championship. Under the enchanting surface, the fairy tales contain a world of both pain, horror and illusion-free vision. With these stories, HC Andersen created a norm of highest linguistic vitality, poetic feeling and humor that established a demanding level for Danish style art in the future. A completely different, yet equally smooth and beautifully sounding prose, Søren Kierkegaard wrote, lightning fast and clear in thought with an inwardly pondering being. He also possessed great talent for perceiving contemporary ideas and he contributed to it himself. In him, the stories of demon and religion were illuminated with a modern sense of the psychological. While Nikolai Grundtvig gave rise to a broad popular movement, Kierkegaard sharpened the paradoxical aspect of alienation to an absolute demand for “the individual”.
The great novels of the time, often called educational novels, were written by HC Andersen, Frederik Paludan-Müller and Meïr Aron Goldschmidt. The lyrical tradition of romance from Oehlenschläger and his competitor Schack-Staffeldt was continued by Christian Winther and the erotic short poet master Emil Aarestrup.
Romance’s preoccupation with the themes of demonism and eroticism continued with JP Jacobsen, both in his Poe-inspired lyric and in his two novels “Mrs. Marie Grubbe” (1876) and “Niels Lyhne” (1880). Although Jacobsen became the first great poet during the modern breakthrough initiated by Georg Brandes with his lectures on the main currents of nineteenth-century literature (1871), he never became the one who seriously fulfilled Brande’s demand for a modern, realistic and problem-debating poem. In addition to the crucial tracks Georg Brandes set at e.g. Ibsen and Strindberg first became the prose poetry of the 1880’s and 1890’s with Henrik Pontoppidan at the forefront, who met the demands of a psychologically and socially conscious novel form. Pontoppidan’s great novels, “The Promised Land” (1892), “Lykke-Per” (1898-1904) and “The Realm of the Dead” (1912-16) have created a tradition for the complex and skeptical way of life that Danish novel art has since developed in many ways. A misanthropic, bitter comedian, Gustav Wied developed in his novels about the small-cut beauty of Danish small town life.
At the turn of the century, it was Martin Andersen Nexø in particular who continued the novel’s socially critical tradition in masterpieces such as “Ditte Menneskebarn” (1-5, 1917-21) and, above all, “Pelle the Conqueror” (1-4, 1906-10), who developed into a myth about the proletarian child who wins on behalf of the entire working class. Andersen Nexø linked his poetry to the communist revolution and did so with great international impact. In-depth investigations into the relationship between basic Twigianism and modern-day naturalism were performed in a series of novels by Jakob Knudsen. More lyrically and with an energetic linguistic power similar to Hans Christian Andersen, Herman Bang wrote a series of impressionistic novels and short stories, studies of “still life”, mournful everyday life in both moving and sarcastic lighting. Bang was a great observer, who could reveal the hectic superficiality of time and intercept a replica and perceive a gesture with a new era’s detailed psychology. From Pontoppidan, Andersen Nexø and Bang there is a richly varied tradition of realistic-psychological storytelling throughout the 20th century. A main form could be called the factual, prose facing the outside world where a relatively anonymous narrative voice powerfully portrays people in society. At the communist Hans Kirk a real collective novel emerged, most beautifully in his West Jutland fine tuned “The Fisherman” (1928). Under the hands of William Heinesen, this collective form developed and led to scenic, wild and humorous images from his small community in the North Atlantic. At the communist Hans Kirk a real collective novel emerged, most beautiful in his West Jutland fine tuned “The Fisherman” (1928). Under the hands of William Heinesen, this collective form developed and led to scenic, wild and humorous images from his small community in the North Atlantic.
During the interwar period, Jacob Paludan was the great conservative critic of an increasingly Americanized and superficial society (“The Thunder in the South. Jørgen Stein og his Kreds”, 1932), while writers such as Erik Aalbæk Jensen, Anders Bodelsen, Christian Kampmann and Kirsten Thorup contributed to the post-war period again and again received romances that attracted the interest of great stories with many human fates of a wide readership. Although a number of these novels in one way or another make use of the author’s growing up environment and their own life experiences, they still differ from the type of novels in which a central storyteller becomes more visible and colors the whole work with its particular memory form and characteristic style. The lost world of the past, especially of childhood, is being re-imagined – the world,
An early representative of this way of telling is HC Branner. In both short story and novel form he developed a simple prose with great (partly Freudian-inspired) psychological experience and with style influences from the Irish James Joyce’s stream-of-consciousness. Tage Skou-Hansen, in a romance series about the figure Holger Mikkelsen, has examined central national and personal trauma from the time of occupation and its transition into the welfare society. Klaus Rifbjerg’s novels with protagonists of many ages together constitute a varied panorama of Denmark, seen through a temperament with an accurate observation ability and highly developed memory ability, especially with regard to the child’s way of perceiving. Tove Ditlevsen and Dea Trier Mørch include women writers with this highly developed memory.
Among the many forms of prose should also be mentioned the more lyrical novel, which has roots in the 1890’s, mainly with Johannes Jørgensen and Nobel Laureate Johannes V. Jensen. The latter’s “historical” novel “The Fall of the King” (1900–01) captures the fin-de siècle desperation in a nihilistic authorship which he shortly after interrupts to imaginatively apply the Darwinian evolutionary doctrine in the novel “The Long Journey” (1908–21).. From the young Johannes V. Jensen comes a drastic and experimental prose, which led to a large self-discharge in Tom Kristensen’s “Hærværk” (1930; “Holocaust”). The same desperate self-exploration is found in a series of novels from the 1970’s and 1980’s by Henrik Stangerup, several of which are designed as fictional biographies.
Modernism’s whimsical experimentation reached an early climax in Martin A. Hansen’s novels and novels, e.g. “Happy Kristoffer” (1945) and “The Lie” (1950). The great classic storytelling art received a surprising flowering of proud, clarified character in Karen Blixen’s internationally renowned works, eg. “Seven Fantastic Tales” (1934) and “Winter-Adventure” (1942). Underneath the moving, motley surface of her work lies a bold, illusory knowledge of the shape and direction of human destiny. She is in her very own way an epoch-making figure in the 20th century women’s literature.
With two such great masters as HC Andersen and Karen Blixen, it is no wonder that the free, sometimes fantastic story takes a prominent place in contemporary Danish poetry. Most striking is that of the young Villy Sørensen, e.g. “Strange Stories” (‘Sällsamma Stories’, 1953). But with “Custodian Storytelling” (1–2, 1964), Sørensen connects the narrative art with its own main problem as the leading philosopher and social critic of the time: How can art and philosophy gain influence over political rulers?
Peter Seeberg has created his own form, rather a sub-realism with refined studies in everyday life’s thousand peculiarities and small movements, in “About fourteen days” (1981). A refined depth in the small inner dramas of the soul has made Peer Hultberg his specialty in the novel “Requiem” (1985), which is made up of 537 mini portraits, while Svend Holm and Dorrit Willumsen each combine realism with fairytale fiction. Experimental style art and great fantasy are combined with ecological and global responsibility consciousness in the works of Vagn Lundbye and Ib Michael. One of JL Borges inspired play with the fictional form is found at Per Højholt in the form he created himself “blind alley”, the dead end. As a lyricist and proseist, he is one of the most influential writers. Svend Åge Madsen is responsible for the most original and fascinating prose authorship of the early 1990’s. He is a dangerous and humorous storyteller, a parodic who, through the subtle art of repentance, has achieved new forms of storytelling and over the years built up a vastly fictional world, populated by large families, e.g. in the novel “Telling the People” (1989).
Danish crime literature has no long tradition behind it. The detective novel’s ability to create suspense has been used by various authors, e.g. Ole Sarvig and Vagn Lundbye. More purely detective novels have been written by Anders Bodelsen, Else Fischer, Helle Stangerup and Torben Nielsen. Poul Ørum has used the genre to highlight real crime cases and has revealed the brutality of the evening press and judicial system in Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö’s spirit. A hard-boiled and illusionally entertaining style characterizes Dan Turèll’s popular detective novels.
Tom Kristensen, Peter Seeberg and Bo Green are adult writers who also write children’s and youth books and Cecil Bødker’s series on “Silas” has made her more famous in the younger reading circle. Ole Lund Kirkegaard has written entertaining and gripping about young but inventive young people. Lars-Henrik Olsen’s novels are often based on historical material such as Nordic mythology and stories.
The boundary between fiction, facts and autobiography has fostered some of the most read authors over the past twenty years. This applies to Thorkild Hansen’s large monographs and historical reconstructions, eg. about Danish colonial politics and slave trade, it concerns Ebbe Reich’s inspired stories from the past of Denmark by Nikolai Grundtvig, presented as an educational mirror of the present, and that of Suzanne Brøger’s insistence on thinking the present with her own person as an effort, not least in the survival of “The Roads of Love & the Roads” (1975).
The centrist tradition of Staffeldt, Aarestrup and Jacobsen is extended through the great linguist, Holger Drachmann, to the so-called “nineties-lyricists” (the ‘nineties’), of which Sophus Claussen later gained an absolute peculiarity as an important symbolist lyricist in Europe as well. His mind-set and yet cosmic erosion, his free, floating rhythms, his tragically experienced cheerfulness make him the “grandfather” of 20th century Danish lyric.
The natural lyric, which has been sung in the Danish people through the folk high school movement, originates from Jeppe Aakjær and Thøger Larsen. The strong position of such singable lyric in Denmark, which remained an agricultural country until the end of the Second World War, meant that the more form-conscious and radical modernist lyric broke through late. Despite Sophus Clausen’s great example and Johannes V. Jensen’s famous prose poems (“Digte”, 1906), it was all to the group around the magazine Heretica (1948-53) before truly modernist lyricists such as Ole Sarvig, Thorkild Bjørnvig, Ole Wivel and Frank Jæger won recognition.
During the interwar period Tom Kristensen wrote a colorful, highly talented poetry with expressionist inspiration, while Jens August Schade in his poetry collections annoyed the bourgeoisie with his erotic confidence. Fine densified poetry can be found at both Schade and the “young dead” Gustaf Munch-Petersen. Paul La Cour, himself a prolific lyricist, broke through with the poetic manifesto “Fragments of a Diary” (1948), from which a Danish tradition of lyrical reflection goes on to Per Højholt, Inger Christensen and Søren Ulrik Thomsen. Thorkild Bjørnvig’s cosmic and traditionally conscious poetry (eg “Figur og Ild”, 1959) has later made him a foreground figure in the fight for environmental protection, while Ivan Malinowski in his form-safe art combined an energetic nihilism with a strong leftist social criticism. With the poetry collection “it” (1969), Inger Christensen became both an important figure in the youth rebellion in the late sixties and pioneering the so-called systemic poetry, which has since developed into important works both by herself and e.g. Klaus Hoeck. In the latter, the systems are in a very refined way embedded in an ancient tradition of the great creation bag, known from e.g. Milton. The metropolitan life of the big city and the contradictory life is characterized in the 1960’s in the so-called confrontational poetry of, among other things. Klaus Rifbjerg and Jess Ørnsbo. In the 1970’s, in agreement with the modernist tradition’s lack of publicity, the so-called “cracking prose” was created, a lyrical and autobiographically open-minded poem, which, especially in Vita Andersen’s “Security Narcotics” (1977), reached an otherwise non-lyric-reading audience. Henrik Nordbrandt’s personal and condensed style sets a standard for lyrical intensity as the young 1980’s generation, including Søren Ulrik Thomsen, got stuck. With the prematurely departed Michael Strunge, there was an unbridled expressionism close to the explosiveness of rock music.
An extremely abstract and highly distilled word art is created by Per Højholt, who, however, later surprised with his humorous masterpieces “Gitte’s Monologues” (1981). A number of younger writers are inspired by the concentration master Højholt. Among the female lyricists is especially noted Pia Tafdrup, whose highly erotic poems in an independent and encouraging way for a line from Inger Christensen further.
In 2006, a Danish “culture cannon” was presented, which collected 96 works in eight areas. The purpose was to point to works that represent the Danish cultural heritage. The charts, where Klaus Rifbjerg and Inger Christensen represented the literature during the latter half of the 20th century, demonstrated the difficulties in distinguishing the existing in the current.
However, certain trends in Danish literature during the last thirty years can be discerned. The interest in short texts is striking among minimalists such as Helle Helle, Peter Adolphsen, Simon Fruelund, Pia Juul and Christina Hesselholdt. Lush fabulous writers with a taste for exoticism have also been successful internationally, including Peter Høeg, Carsten Jensen, Jens Chr. Grøndahl and Jacob Ejersbo. Ida Jessen’s existential and Peer Hultberg’s collectivist novels are among the highlights of Danish prose. Among literary critics, Lars Bukdahl in particular has noticed. Recent debutants have largely learned the craft of university writing schools.
Literary awards still play a major role in the Danish book market, as well as the publication of classics. In addition, literary history writing is vital, among other things. in “History of Danish Literature” 1–5 (2006–09), published by Klaus P. Mortensen and May Schack, and “Where literature takes place” 1-3 (2011) by Anne-Marie Mai, where the concluding pages discuss what the internet may come to mean for the survival of Danish literature.
Children’s and youth literature
As early as 1568, Niels Bredal’s “Children’s Mirror” was published. HC Andersen’s first collection “Eventyr told for Børn” came in 1835, and was followed by close to 150 unique art stories, inspired by folk motifs but with its own fairy tale world, own language and structure. A low-price investment in quality books for children was the Børnenes Bogsamling (from 1896), in great role model for the Swedish Children’s Library Saga (from 1899). The school’s and teachers’ strong influence on children’s literature in Denmark has had an impact in educational and traditional direction, especially with regard to girls’ and boys’ books.
The picture book also has a long history in Denmark; early representatives are Johan Krohn and Pietro Krohn and Lorenz Frølich. Later, a naivistic style was established, with “Palle alone in the World” (1942; “Palle is alone in the world”) by Arne Ungermann and Jens Sigsgaard (text) as one of the prime examples. Influential names in recent decades include Ib Spang Olsen and Svend Otto Sørensen. New interesting picture book creators include Dorte Karrebæk and Lilian Brøgger. In 1967, Cecil Bødker debuted with the first Silas book and humorist Ole Lund Kirkegaard. As in Sweden, problem realism dominated the 1970’s, while the 1980’s saw a return to fantasy and historical stories, for example. Gerd Rindel’s series about a Jewish family at the turn of the century. The Second World War, of course, has an important place in the youth books. Modern Danish youth books have been considered outspoken and controversial, for example. Bent Haller’s “The Catamaran” (1976) about homosexuality. Bjarne Reuter is today one of the most read and translated Danish writers for young people and has published in many genres.
Drama and theater
The theater – if it refers to the organized institutional drama performance – in Denmark can be traced back to the Middle Ages and the Catholic Church’s performance of, among other things. saint game with moral action. At the Latin schools, drama was a part of teaching. Originally, the games were performed in Latin, but later also in Danish.
During the 1600’s, Denmark was visited by wandering actor groups, especially German. They emphasized the so-called main play (Haupt- und Staatsaktion), which often included adaptations of Shakespeare and Spanish drama. In the comic aftermath, commedia dell’arte elements were popular. At the court, it was during the one-day special Italian opera and French ballet that characterized the theater. In 1703 an opera house was erected in Copenhagen where the French court troop gave performances. The growing power of the bourgeoisie led to the emergence of a Danish theater, and in 1722, the Grønnegade Theater was opened with Danish drama and Danish actors. The opening performance was Molières “The Greedy”, but already three days later, the premiere was held at Holberg’s “The Political Kandestøber” presented by Danish students and some actors from the French court group. In 1720 Holberg had published “Peder Paars”, a large-scale parody of ancient epics and had been asked to write for the theater against this background. It resulted in 28 comedies in six years, including “Den Vægelsindede” (“The unfortunate”), “Jeppe on the mountain” and “Masked”. However, a lack of audience support and a failing economy meant that the theater had to be closed as early as 1728.
By Fredrik V’s accession to the throne in 1746, the influence of pietism had weakened, and the Danish theater could re-emerge with Holberg as one of the initiators. Danish actors played from December 1747 to May the following year in the “Tjærehus” which lay on the plot that the king bestowed on them, and on December 18, 1748, the Comedy House – later the Royal Theater – was inaugurated. It was located on Kongens Nytorv and was designed by the court’s architect Nicolai Eigtved. This little rococo theater alternately played Holberg’s comedies and translations of Molières and Jean-François Regnard’s plays. The stage was set up according to the custom of the day with side scenes, fundraisers and soffits. The lighting was concentrated to the ramp, where the actors acted directly towards the audience. Because the actors were divided into roles (one was always the lover, one the servant, etc.).) only a few repetitions were needed. This way of working continued throughout the 19th century.
At Holberg’s death in 1754, most sentimental dramas were played by a.k.a. Dorothea Biehl and Ole Johan Samsøe. However, they continued to play Holberg’s comedies – thanks in large part to the playwright Knud Lyhne Rahbek – but the popular atrocities were excluded.
The Comedy House was the capital’s bourgeois theater, but around the country, the German wanderings continued to perform, and at the Kristian VII ‘s Court Theater of 1766 (now the Theater Museum), the song play from France was introduced. This genre took on a huge importance for the Comedy House and influenced Johannes Ewald who laid the foundation for the Danish song game. In 1778 his song play “Balders Død” was performed with themes taken from the Nordic mythology, and the following year “Fiskerne”.
The French vocals were released towards the end of the century by August von Kotzebue’s and AW Iffland’s dramas, sentimental German pieces that promoted a new style of play. The leading actor of the time, Michael Rosing, added the style of Sturm-und-Drang to the upcoming romantic period.
The romance broke through with Adam Oehlenschläger’s “Hakon Jarl”, which premiered at the Royal Theater in 1808. Later, Oehlenschläger provided the theater with several national tragedies and helped to introduce the foreign romance. During this time, Shakespeare was played for the first time in correct translation through the performance of “Hamlet” (1813).
The Danish national romance only became short-lived as French lust games and vaudevilles filled the bourgeoisie’s need for entertainment. Influenced by Eugène Scribe, Johan Ludvig Heiberg introduced the Danish vaudeville, which gave impetus to a Danish listening game tradition. Heiberg became an extremely successful writer; inter alia he wrote “Elverhøj”, which was composed by Friedrich Kuhlau and which since the premiere in 1828 has been performed over 300 times at the Royal Theater. Henrik Hertz, Thomas Overskou and JC Hostrup were some of the many Danish pleasure play writers who were interpreted by prominent actors as the theater’s leading love couple, Johanne Luise Heiberg and Michael Wiehe.
When the monarchy was abolished and a new democratic constitution was adopted in Denmark in 1849, the theater with Heiberg became a bourgeois leader. At the same time, realism began to become noticeable. With Frederik Høedt, who represented the new school, heiterated the ideal of the Heibert period. The Royal Theater also had competition because the theater monopoly was eventually abolished, and the capital had three professional theaters by the end of the 19th century. At the new private theaters the audience influx was great for the modern realistic repertoire.
In the late 1800’s, naturalism was introduced at the Royal Theater. William Bloch was one of the new, modern directors who demanded ensemble plays and the right stage environment. He directed the new Nordic drama, and through him Holberg’s plays received a renaissance and played with stylish décor. Naturalism spread to the city’s other theaters, including the Dagmarteatret with its artistic repertoire (Ibsen, Bjørnson, Strindberg) and its prominent actors, among others. Bodil Ipsen and Poul Reumert, offered sublime theater.
Naturalism continued to dominate well into the 20th century, although Johannes Poulsen’s Reinhardt-influenced directing of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s “The Old Game of Anyone” tried to break with the previous illusion theater. Likewise, Betty Nansen performed at the Betty Nansen Theater “Hopla, we live!” (1928) by Ernst Toller. The modern Danish playwrights had a hard time breaking through with their “re-theater” theater. Kaj Munk first achieved success in 1938 with “An Idealist” and Kjeld Abell’s breakthrough performance became “The Melody That Gone Away”, directed by Per Knutzon in 1935.
After the war, modern drama was introduced by Steinbeck, Maxwell Anderson and Jean Giraudoux at the same time as new directors (including Holger Gabrielsen and Sam Besekow) and actors broke with the old naturalism. In the 1950’s, three important trends came to contribute to the development of the modern theater: the absurd theater (Beckett), the epic (Brecht) and the new English wave (Osborne). This was due to, among other things, on decentralized theater life; the scenes in Odense, Aarhus and Aalborg greatly promoted the pictorial, modernist theater.
In 1963 Denmark got its first real theater team and thus prepared space for Danish drama, small experimental scenes and workshop theaters at the big theaters. Inspired by American groups, a non-professional theater form – group theaters – emerged that tried new forms of work and new socially critical drama. The Danish drama developed explosively, among other things. by Ernst Bruun Olsen, Erik Knudsen and Klaus Rifbjerg. This development continues, and Svend Åge Madsen, Sten Kaalø, Ulla Ryum and Leif Petersen contribute with innovative theater. Characteristic of contemporary Danish theater is the interest in domestic drama and a variety of different forms of theater.
The Copenhagen National Theater, The Royal Theater, has expanded its operations with several smaller scenes. In recent years, a new opera house (2005) and a completely new house for the speech theater, inaugurated in 2008, have been added. A classic institution nowadays is the one started by Eugenio Barba in 1966, Odin Theater in Holstebro, the representative of the European avant-garde on Danish soil. With its experimental basic attitude and alternative working methods, the group has had a strong inspirational role. A younger group that also sought alternative forms of work in the same tradition is the Mammutteatern in Copenhagen.
New dramatists in recent years include Astrid Saalbach and Line Knutzon. Saalbach has worked with Christian Lollike as a house playwright at Aarhus Theater. Leading directors are Peter Langdal, who also served as director of the prestigious Betty Nansen Theater, and the experimentally vital Katrine Wiedemann. Both have also been active abroad.
Revue
Danish Revue is sprung from the 19th-century song game and the genuinely popular visual art that can still be listened to by the “singer” on the Bakken amusement park. The local summer reviews have a foundation wall in Danish reviews, but historically, the reviews are mainly a Copenhagen affair. Frede Skaarup’s luxurious Scalar views in the 1920’s represent the golden age of the genre with names such as Carl Alstrup and Liva Weel. Here also the popular Osvald Helmuth and Marguerite Viby began their careers. With the Co-optimists, Ludvig Brandstrup (1892–1949) from 1925 created an intimate and more satirical revue form which, together with Poul Henningsen’s lyrics on the Nørrebroreviews and the ubiquitous Kai Normann Andersen’s tunes, significantly raised the level of the genre.
Danish auditing was subject to censorship 1892–1954, especially during the occupation years 1940–45, when the audits came to play a not insignificant role as inspiration for the will to resist. Stig Lommer’s reviews were based on the musically playful style represented by Svend Asmussen and Ulrik Neumann. Pockets also provided room for the brilliant comedian Dirch Passer. Since the 1980’s, revelers such as Per Pallesen (born 1942) and Jesper Klein (1944–2011) have been prominent. The circus revue at Bakken has been dominant since its inception in 1935 and is still (2010) Denmark’s largest.
The pianist and comedian Victor Borge takes a special position in the Danish entertainment world. He debuted as a classically trained pianist and entertainer in revues in the 1930’s, but then made an international career and was an American citizen from 1945.
Film
Already in 1896, moving pictures were shown at Tivoli in Copenhagen. The same year, hoof photographer Peter Elfelt recorded the first Danish film: a miniature report on the royal house. The first cinema, Kosmorama (1904), was quickly followed by others, first with a French repertoire, which soon gave way to an increasingly well-made domestic. The period from 1906 (when Ole Olsen founded Nordisk Films Kompagni, the world’s oldest still existing film company) to 1916 is usually called the golden age of Danish film, and Danish feature film became a major export product during this time. It was praised in the US and UK for its advanced camera technology and lighting. It also achieved success through its film stars such as Valdemar Psilander and the hugely popular Asta Nielsen in Germany. Certain genres characterized the offering: crime series by French design,
During the 1920’s, the Danish film lost ground in competition from, among other things. Swedish and German film. Nordisk Films Kompagni focused on an economic crisis almost exclusively in the Nordic market. At the beginning of the 1920’s, however, AW Sandberg made an atmospheric and lavish suite of Dickens filmizations. One of the great directors of the time, Benjamin Christensen, who already succeeded in 1913 with “The Secret X”, recorded the record-breaking, Swedish-produced “The Witch” in 1922 before moving to Hollywood the same year, where he spent the decade as a screenwriter and director of a series of terrifying crime movies. Next to Christensen, Carl Th. Dreyer’s artistry with films such as “Leaf from Satan’s Book” (1919) and “Priest Think” (1920). Like Christensen, Dreyer moved abroad and made in France in 1927 one of the silent film’s classics, “A woman’s martyrdom” (also called “Jeanne d’Arc”). Until the mid-1940’s he was also active in Germany and Sweden. However, it was the 1920’s comedic couple Carl Schenstrøm and Harald Madsen – The Lighthouse and the Trailer, most often directed by Lau Lauritzen – who remained the face of Danish film for a long time.
The first Danish sound film came in 1931 with “The Priest in Vejlby” by George Schnéevoigt, the latter typical of the 1930’s professional storyteller of Hollywood model. In addition to the wide selection, listening games and music films, during the 1930’s and 1940’s a documentary tradition developed, especially prominent during the German occupation. The resistance struggle was carried out, for example. through information on insect control such as in the short film about the insect’s damage to barley weasel (ie the Germans), “The grain is in danger” (1944). The experimental documentary reached a climax in Theodor Christensen’s “It concerns your freedom” (1946). The pursuit of a new realism also became noticeable in 1940’s and 1950’s feature films under the impression of Italian and British social portrayal. Here, the documentary merged with a national narrative heritage with directors such as Astrid and Bjarne Henning-Jensen, eg. in their “Ditte human child” (1946), or in “Café Paradis” (1950) by Bodil Ipsen and Lau Lauritzen jr. When Dreyer returned to Denmark, he consolidated his position as Denmark’s leading film artist with “The Day of Wrath” (1943) and “The Word” (1955) after Kaj Monk’s drama.
During the 1960’s, a new tone came in Danish film, influenced by the French new wave. Only with this poetic realism was writer Klaus Rifbjerg and director Palle Kjærulff-Schmidt with films such as “Weekend” (1962) and “It was once a war” (1966). Henning Carlsen also appeared within the same flow with his documentary and feature films, of which “Svält” (1966) has been most successful. For many, however, the modern breakthrough was Sven and Lene Grønlykke’s “The Ballad of Carl-Henning” (1969) with amateur actors and improvisation as a style medium. The upswing was the result of what has been called the “best film team in the world” (from 1964), which provided a large financial contribution as well as support for education, short and children’s films. It was revised in 1972 when the Danish Film Institute was formed and took on a central role in film production, which gave many new young directors a chance.
As a result of the abolition of pornography censorship in 1967 (literature) and 1969 (film), above all, a combination of popular games and pornography, so-called happy porn, became a major export commodity. The most well-known series were the eight Bed Edge films, from “Mazurka on the Bed Edge” (1970) to “Seamen on the Bed Edge” (1976), and the six Cartoons, from “I Virgo’s Character” (1973) to “I Sagittarius Character” (1978). The star of the genre was Ole Søltoft (1941–99), who played the lead role in all but one of the above titles.
Several female names such as Lise Roos and Li Vilstrup appeared in the 1970’s wave of interest in women’s issues. The greatest success, however, was the veteran Astrid Henning-Jensen with “Winter children” (1978) and “The moment” (1980). The foundation was also added to an animation tradition with Jannik Hastrup’s films about the Trelars and “Samson & Sally” (1984). During the 1970’s and 1980’s, Danish film became known internationally, mainly for its brilliant portrayals of children and young people by directors such as Morten Arnfred, Søren Kragh-Jacobsen, Nils Malmros and Bille August. Malmros specializes in penetrating psychological works of great beauty, such as “Lars Ole, 5 C” (1973) and “Århus by Night” (1990), while August has a fall for a greater dramatic nerve and blackness in eg. “Zappa” (1983) and Danish-Swedish “Pelle the Conqueror” (1987). The latter was awarded an Oscar in 1988; The year before, the compatriot and veteran Gabriel Axel had been awarded the Oscars for “Babette’s guest ban” (1987). August has also been internationally active with a high commercial profile in a number of large English-language productions such as “The Spirit of the House” (1993), “Miss Smilla’s sense of snow” (1995) and “Goodbye Bafana” (2007). In Sweden he has, among other things, made the TV series “The Good Will” (1991) and “A Song for Martin” (2001).
The 1990’s saw Denmark’s great return as an internationally renowned and recognized film country. Leading the line was the original and productive Lars von Trier, who with mostly English-language productions such as “The Element of Crime” (1984), “Breaking the Waves” (1996), “Antichrist (2009)” and “Melancholia” (2011) both a festival favorite and a commercially successful export product. Together with producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen, he created in 1992 the film company Zentropa, which quickly became one of Scandinavia’s most successful in its investment in both international low-budget productions guided by the ascetic, cinematic manifesto Dogma 95 as well as artistically ambitious pornographic film under brands.
Other directors who broke through the decade include Ole Bornedal (born 1959; “The Night Watch”, 1994; “I’m Yours”, 2002), Susanne Bier (“Freud moves away from home”, 1991; “Brothers”, 2004, “The Revenge”, 2010), Thomas Vinterberg (“The Fest”, 1998; “Submarino”, 2010) and Nicolas Winding Refn (“Pusher”, 1996; sequels 2004 and 2005; “Drive”, 2011). In 2010, Janus Metz Pedersen’s (born 1974) documentary “Armadillo” attracted international attention. It depicts some Danish soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
Denmark has successfully produced a number of TV series that have attracted international attention and have also been shown in Sweden. Foremost among these is the long runner “Matador” (1978–82) about the history of Denmark during the interwar period until the years after the war ended. Lars von Trier’s “Reich” (1994 and 1997) was also of international interest. Otherwise, it is mainly crime series that have become popular, such as “The Murder Commission” (2000–03), “The Eagle” (2004–06), “Anna Pihl” (2006–08), “The Crime” (2007; in American version “The Killing ”),“ Life Guards ”(2009–10) and the Swedish-Danish production“ Bron ”(2011–).
Denmark produces about 20 feature films a year.
Art
THE MIDDLE AGES
Of the original ornamentation in the oldest wooden churches, only one fragment is preserved, the Hørningplank from the 11th century. During the violent construction activity of the 12th century, when a large number of stone churches were erected, sculpture was created in Romanesque style with the cathedrals in Lund, Viborg and Ribe as power centers. In the monasteries illuminated manuscripts were executed, e.g. Dalbyevangeliariet. The Jylland and Skåne churches received notable, ornamental baptisms in stone. Gilded altar carvings have been preserved from the Jutland churches in Lisbjerg, Sahl and Stadil and in Lyngsjö in Skåne. Probably from 1100–25, the chalk paintings in Jelling originated in 1875, which were replaced by copies, while the church of Vä in Skåne preserves strange pictures of, among other things. a royal founding couple (1121 – c. 1185). During the Gothic, large wood carvings were created, e.g. Holy altar kings altar, Schleswig (c. 1300). The lime paintings are often popularly told. Royal tombs with portrait sculptures can be found in Sorø (KristofferII) and Roskilde (Duke Kristoffer and Queen Margaret I). Carved cross chairs with biblical motifs were performed for the churches in Lund, Roskilde and Ringsted. Aarhus Cathedral’s altarpiece (dated to 1479), performed by Bernt Notke from Lübeck, shows the image of the founder, Bishop Jens Iversen Lange, while Claus Berg’s richly carved and painted altar (c. 1507-22) is now found in Sankt Knud’s church in Odense. Adam van Düren worked at Copenhagen Castle and in Lund Cathedral and Hans Brüggemann created the 1521 Bordesholmer altar (now in Schleswig) to Duke Fredrik I.
Renaissance and Baroque
After the Reformation in 1536, the lime painting ceased almost entirely, and some of the interiors of the churches were destroyed. Instead, the art of portraiture became increasingly important. Kristian II was portrayed by Michel Sittow, Albrecht Dürer, Quentin Massys, Barent van Orley, Lucas Cranach and Jan Gossaert. Cornelis Floris in Antwerp performed monumental tomb sculptures on Fredrik I in Schleswig and Kristian III in Roskilde, while the painter Jacob Binck worked for both the Danish and the Swedish royal houses. Under Frederick IIseveral prominent artists were joined to the Danish court. The sculptor Johan Gregor van der Schardt performed the king’s and queen Sophie’s portrait busts, and Hans Knieper created a series of woven wallpapers with pictures of 100 Danish kings. In his workshop in Helsingør also came the throne heaven of the famous Fredrik II, which is now on display at the National Museum in Stockholm. Knieper also painted the portrait of the king and the young prince Kristian. He was associated with the small group of artists that astronomer Tycho Brahe gathered around Ven, which also included portrait painter Tobias Gemperle and architect Hans van Steenwinckel d.a. Born in Flensburg, the painter and graphic artist Melchior Lorck was educated in Germany and sent around 1555 by Emperor Ferdinand I with an embassy to Constantinople.
At Kristian IV ‘s accession to the throne in 1569, there were both economic conditions and intellectual ambitions for large-scale artistic projects. Portrait painter Jacob van Doordt and painters Pieter Isaacsz and Franz Clein were joined to the court. Significant purchases of art from the Netherlands were also made. After the Kalmar War, Kristian IV wanted to manifest his victory pride with great embellishments. To Frederiksborg were ordered woven wallpaper with Karel van Mander with motifs from the king’s life and war train, and to the bed room of the castle, Dutch artists performed religious scenes, which, like the mentioned wallpaper, were destroyed by the fire in 1859. Adriaen de Vries, Rudolf II’s court sculptor in Prague, was commissioned in 1616 to carry the Neptune Fountain to Frederiksborg Palace, a work that in symbolic images highlights Kristian IV as the sea’s conqueror and the Danish kingdom as a superior sea power. The then newly erected Rosenborg was decorated with Dutch paintings (Winterhouse). Human life ages and the influence of the planets. In addition to Clein and Isaacsz, the Danish painters were also the Danish painters Søren Kiær and Reinhold Timm. It is likely that the practicing Christian IVwanted to form a Danish painting school, a cultural equivalent to the manufactures that would supply Danish goods abroad. The throne of Prince Kristian’s wedding in 1634 became an expensive manifestation of Denmark’s great cultural ambitions. To Kronborg, decorations were ordered from Gerrit van Honthorst after Heliodoro’s Aethiopica, and at the end of the 1630’s van Honthorst and several Dutch painters from the Utrecht School received orders for paintings with motifs from Denmark’s history, intended for the knight’s hall at the castle. At the same time, the portrait painters Karel van Mander (III, born about 1609) and Abraham Wuchters both debuted at the court but also hired by the nobility and the bourgeoisie. At this time it was no longer uncommon for religious as well as secular paintings in bourgeoisie; entire art collections are documented from the first part of the 17th century in Helsingør and Køge. Both Isaacsz and van Mander also worked as art dealers, and the latter’s collections of art and ethnography were available to those interested.
The 17th century was a time of prosperity for the sacred carving art. There were large workshops both in the duchies (Hans Gudewerth dy in Eckernförde) and in the Danish rural towns (Peder Jensen Kolding in Horsens, Abel Schrøder dy in Næstved). Equestrian statues of Kristian IV and Fredrik IIIwas contemplated but never came to fruition. It was not until 1688 that Abraham César Lamoureux’s “Christian V to Horse” was erected in Copenhagen. From Oldenburg came the deaf-mute painter Wolfgang Heimbach, whose specialty was genre scenes with refined lighting effects. In 1666 he carried out his man-painting painting “The Heritage in Copenhagen 1660”. The period 1650–1700 was characterized by foreign artists such as the painters Heinrich Dittmer, Bénoit Le Coffre and Jacob d’Agar. The sculptor Thomas Quellinus performed pompous graves for prominent families. From France, whose art had a completely dominant influence from 1700 to 1770, the idea was also given to a Danish Academy of Art, where the principles of painting and sculpture could be spread. The craftsmanship was acquired in the master’s studio. In 1738, painter JS Wahl founded the first Danish art school, the origin of the academy established in 1754 in Charlottenborg. The professors were drawn from: the Swedish CG Pilo, the French sculptors Louis-Augustin Le Clerc and Jacques François-Joseph Saly, and the architect Nicolas Henri Jardin, who succeeded the Danish Nicolai Eigtved. In a short time, a viable Danish artist generation emerged: Nicolai Abildgaard, Jens Juel and Erik Pauelsen. Johannes Wiedewelt was educated in France and Rome. the German art theorist JJ Winckelmann. The art of antiquity and the High Renaissance made a strong impression on Abildgaard during his years of study in Rome, and he shared the pre-romantic worship of the passionate with friends of Rome, Swiss JH Füssli and Sergel. Abildgaard’s scenes from the history of the Danish kings performed for the Knights Hall at Christiansborg were destroyed by the fire in 1794. For his own professor’s home in Charlottenborg he painted Four scenes of Terent’s comedies (1801–04). Erik Pauelsen was one of the first representatives of the national landscape painting. nature scenes performed during a trip to Norway in 1788. Jens Juel was the great Danish portrait painter of the 18th century. As a portrait of royalty and nobles, he represented the new realistic image in the spirit of Gainsborough and Goya. Juel’s depictions of the Danish landscape are harmonious and idyllic, even as he experiments with dramatic lighting effects, for example. in “A Sjællandsk Bondegaard during an emerging storm”.
Realism and romance
Shortly after the turn of the 1800’s, a new generation of Danish artists chose to study in Paris: the most prominent painters of the Napoleonic era François Gérard, Antoine Jean Gros, Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson and especially JL David were their role models. CG Kratzenstein Stub was inspired by the Romans, JL Lund joined in Rome to the German Nazarene, while CW Eckersbergat David found the classic ideals that in his art broke out in full bloom after his stay in Rome and which he would later pass on as a professor in Copenhagen to his own students. As a teacher, Eckersberg was given a fundamental importance for the nature studies of the following artist generation. His theoretical studies resulted in the “Linear Perspective”, printed in 1841. Eckersberg’s portraits are realistic but often contain a classic core with features from antique sculpture and Renaissance art, and his somewhat idealized landscape paintings are based on direct natural observations.
Nordic myths and sayings had been perceived as a worthy subject for painting since the 1770’s. Abildgaard and Pauelsen. For the Academy of Fine Arts, Lund, Kratzenstein Stub and Eckersberg performed paintings with Nordic subjects, while Constantin Hansen and Lorenz Frølich intensively took subjects from Nordic god stories and Danish ancient history.
Until 1900 Danish art was decisively characterized by the artists’ often long-term residence in Italy. Bertel Thorvaldsen had his studio in Rome from 1797 to 1838, and he supported his countrymen morally and sometimes financially. His reputation in Europe is unparalleled among Danish artists and through Thorvaldsen’s Museum has served as an incentive in his home country long after his death. At the same time, the sculptor Hermann Ernst Freund, who was Thorvaldsen’s co-worker in Rome, was ordered to decorate the Castle Church.
The royal house still ordered paintings and sculptures. Kristian VIIIwas both crown prince and king very involved in the visual arts. Otherwise, the buyers were single collectors in the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Only with regard to portraits was there a constant demand. The establishment of the “Kunstforeningen” in 1825 wanted to create opportunities to order historical paintings, architectural, landscape and genre images of a more non-profit nature: Constantin Hansen’s “Danske Kunstners i Rome” in 1837 was painted on order by the Kunstforeningen. Denmark’s first art historian, NL Høyen, gained importance as an inspiration for the national romantic landscapes and public life sculptors Johan Thomas Lundbye, PC Skovgaard, Jørgen Sonne and Christen Dalsgaard. The talented Freund came to work in the shadow of the great Thorvaldsen but became a tutor to the young artists of the 1830’s. He had his Pompeian-style home decorated and had antiquated furniture. Later, the interior of the Thorvaldsens Museum was decorated in the same style. Jørgen Sonne decorated the exterior of Gottlieb Bindesbøll’s museum building with “The reception of Thorvaldsen and his pigs in Copenhagen”, a huge fresco that runs around the building. Constantin Hansen adorned the University’s vestibule with frescoes on ancient subjects, while the large sculpture works in Christiansborg, HW Bissen’s Ceres and Bacchus frieze and Freund’s “Ragnarok frieze” were destroyed by the castle fire in 1884. A great gift of nature was the painter Christen Kjøke, whose short life work of portraits, portrait – and cityscapes are highlights of nineteenth-century Danish art. Jørgen Sonne decorated the exterior of Gottlieb Bindesbøll’s museum building with “The reception of Thorvaldsen and his pigs in Copenhagen”, a huge fresco that runs around the building. Constantin Hansen adorned the University’s vestibule with frescoes on ancient subjects while the large sculpture works in Christiansborg, HW Bissen’s Ceres and Bacchus frieze and Freund’s “Ragnarok frieze” were destroyed by the fire of 1884. – and cityscapes are highlights of nineteenth-century Danish art. Jørgen Sonne decorated the exterior of Gottlieb Bindesbøll’s museum building with “The reception of Thorvaldsen and his pigs in Copenhagen”, a huge fresco that runs around the building. Constantin Hansen adorned the University’s vestibule with frescoes on ancient subjects, while the large sculpture works in Christiansborg, HW Bissen’s Ceres and Bacchus frieze and Freund’s “Ragnarok frieze” were destroyed by the castle fire in 1884. A great gift of nature was the painter Christen Kjøke, whose short life work of portraits, portrait – and cityscapes are highlights of nineteenth-century Danish art.
The period from Eckersberg to 1850, with an expression from Danish literary history, has been called the Danish golden age. The Norwegian landscape painter and professor Johan Christian Dahl in Dresden had a close and inspiring relationship with the Danish painters. Some of them, e.g. Sonne and Wilhelm Bendz, took an impression of contemporary art in Munich. The Düsseldorf School, which is important for both Swedish and Norwegian art, on the other hand, had less importance for the Danes. After the war of 1848–50, national sentiment came to the fore, for example. in HW Bissen’s “The Danish Soldier” (1850–51). The defeat of 1864 and the loss of land further sharpened national self-consciousness, and the history of the motherland became a bargain for the Danish painters. Examples of this are Wilhelm Marstrand’s Kristian IV- embellishments in Roskilde Cathedral and Carl Bloch’s and Otto Bache’s paintings for Frederiksborg, which after the fire was rebuilt as a national history museum.
Through influences from France, a new orientation took place in the 1870’s. The realism of Courbet ooh Spanish painters seemed inspiring, among other things. PS Crows in e.g. “Italian Village Hat Makers” (1880). Outdoor painting was taken up and in Skagen an artist colony was formed around Michael Ancher and Anna Ancher. Nordic artists (Oskar Björck, Christian Krohg, Holger Drachmann and others) depicted in genre pictures and portraits life in the northern Jutland fishing village. Krøyer’s beach pictures with bathing or walking people became internationally famous, eg. “Summer Day at Skagens Sønderstrand” (1884). Increased awareness of social injustice, poverty and distress in the 1880’s was expressed in agitatory portrayals such as Harald Sloth-Møller’s “Poor People” and “Death’s Vent Room” (1888), and Erik Henningsen’s “An Injured Worker”. The Bond son LA Ring portrayed the rare rural population, Ejnar Nielsen, the residents of the Jutland village of Gjern: (“The Sick Girl” in 1896 and “The Blind”, 1896-98). Landscape painter Theodor Philipsen took a strong impression of Impressionism. At the group Fynboernethe public life painting gained new significance through Fritz Syberg, Jens Birkholm, Peter Hansen, and through Johannes Larsen a renewal of the animal painting took place. With Joakim Skovgaard as the most inspiring, the sacred painting experienced a flourishing period after 1890 with eg. decorations in Viborg Cathedral (1901–06) and absidious mosaics in Lund Cathedral (1921–27). Niels Larsen Stevns, who was Skovgaard’s co-worker in Viborg, used the fresco technique in HC Andersen’s Memorial Hall in Odense (1929–32) and in the “Bondeopstanden” for the library in Hjørring. Three great individualists were Kristian Zahrtmann with “crass” color and dramatic motifs, Vilhelm Hammershøi with his quiet rooms and his restrained grayscale scale in portraiture and landscape and JF Willumsen, which was strongly influenced by French art and El Greco and which placed great importance on the content of the artwork’s idea. Willumsen’s “Great Relief” (1893-1908) was intended as a summary of his thoughts on human life.
Modernism
Berlin and Paris were the important centers where Danish artists before the First World War encountered Cubism, Fauvism and Expressionism: Harald Giersing, Vilhelm Lundstrøm, who in 1918 displayed sculpted collage based on patterns from Picasso, and Edvard Weie, who created a synthesis of modernism and his studies of the older art (Delacroix) in a personal, mythological world. In the years after 1870, dissatisfaction with the Academy of Fine Arts and its monopoly as a teaching institution and exhibition organizer was fermented. Around 1882 several free art schools were added, and in 1891 for the first time The Free Exhibition was organized, which was to be followed by many artist associations in the 20th century.
The women had their own art school in 1888, but they only gained access to the Academy of Fine Arts in 1908. The sculptor Anne Marie Carl Nielsen (1863–1945; married to the composer Carl Nielsen) performed animal sculptures, portraits and “Rider Monument for Christian IX ”. Franciska Clausen trained in Germany, where in 1922 she made non-figurative collage. Later she worked with Fernand Léger in Paris and in 1930 she showed her works with the group Cercle et Carré. Vilhelm Bjerke Petersen studied at the Bauhaus in Dessau and founded the group Linien, which became a center for abstract art and surrealism in Denmark. The other members were Ejler Bille, Richard Mortensen,Henry Heerup, Sonja Ferlov and Egill Jacobsen. Many scandals surrounded Wilhelm Freddie’s exhibitions because his works were often perceived as provocative, blasphemous and pornographic. Like Bjerke Petersen, he spent several years in Sweden.
The isolation during the Second World War led to studies of Nordic medieval art and Eskimoic masks and ethnography, which was dealt with in the journal Helhesten (1941–44), where one of the contributors was Asger Jorn. Myths and magic were keywords and the language of spontaneity – expressive. When the borders were reopened, contacts were made with like-minded artists in different parts of Europe. The COBRA group was formed in 1948 with, among others, Asger Jorn, Carl-Henning Pedersen and Else Alfelt.
In addition to COBRA’s abstract and expressionist expressions, the art around 1950 was dominated by various concrete groups. The sculptors Robert Jacobsen and Richard Mortensen joined a group of artists around Galerie Denise René in Paris. The Linde II group was not, from the start, purely concrete, but developed shortly after its formation in 1947 in that direction; this included Albert Mertz (1920–90) and Ib Geertsen (1919–2009). An artist who, in the 1950’s, began to move away from the form-based towards a more idea-based art and which greatly influenced later generations was Sven Dalsgaard (1914-99).
In 1958, the German-born artist Arthur Köpcke opened a gallery in Copenhagen that became the starting point for a new experimental art scene. The gallery was a guest of the international avant-garde of the time, and in 1962 Köpcke was involved in organizing one of Fluxus’s first international events in Nikolaj Church, which created great scandal. The flux artists did not have a direct expression in common, but rather, it was about opening up different artistic genres. In Denmark, Fluxus is primarily associated with Köpcke, Eric Andersen and Henning Christiansen.
1961 The Experimental Art School (Eksskolen) was founded on the initiative of art historian Troels Andersen (born 1940) and artist Poul Gernes; later joined, among others, Per Kirkeby and Bjørn Nørgaard. At the Eksskolen, impulses from the US were mainly cultivated with pop art, minimalism and happenings. Former COBRA artist Asger Jorn was an important figure in the politically revolutionary art movement Situationists, founded in 1957 in Italy. In Copenhagen, Asger Jorn’s brother Jørgen Nash and Jens Jørgen Thorsen also joined, which formed the Nordic branch of the Bauhaus Situationiste branch. In Aarhus, too, a significant experimental scene emerged during the 1960’s that attracted many from the Nordic avant-garde of the time. Two key players here were the conceptual letter painter Poul Pedersen (born 1933) and the intermedial artist William Louis Sørensen (1942–2005). In the more traditional painting scene there were a number of neo-expressionist painters such as Svend Wiig Hansen and Niels Reumert.
Contemporary
In the 1970’s, women began to take a seat on the avant-garde art scene and were also the ones who largely pushed the art forward, for example Kristina Justesen (born 1943) with her political photographs and image and filmmaker Jytte Rex (born 1942). A number of collective artistic activities were also important, such as the tableau installation Women’s Pictures 1970 and the Women’s Exhibition XX in 1975. An artist couple that has made a great mark on Danish art since the 1970’s is Lene Adler Petersen (born 1944) and Bjørn Nørgaard, who broke through with a series of provocative installations, performance performances and films. Later they mainly worked separately, Adler with painting and collage, Nørgaard as sculptor who created monumental embellishments. The great celebrity of Danish art after Asger Jorn is Per Kirkeby. In the 1960’s, he belonged to the avant-garde, but he has continued to pay attention to his color-expressive large canvases as well as his monumental brick sculptures.
Expressionist painting continued to grow strongly in Denmark as well as in the rest of Europe during the 1980’s with the artist movement The Young Wanted as a model, partly in response to international minimalism and concept art. Within this generation of painters it was primarily Peter Bonde (born 1954) who distinguished himself, although his expression later took a different direction.
Another prominent name from the 1980’s generation is Michael Kvium (born 1955) with his grotesque figure compositions. The painting has been stronger in Danish contemporary art than in, for example, Sweden, which is often explained as a legacy after Asger Jorn. Around the turn of the millennium came up a number of painters in the naive style, in which the main proponent is Tal R. A completely different expression is found in Julie Nord’s (born 1970) sago-mystical drawings and graphics or in Kirstine Roepstorff’s (born 1972) civilization-critical collage.
In the 1990’s, Copenhagen ended up in the international searchlight with a generation of artists who turned away from traditionally heavy artist material and expression. Olafur Eliasson has had the greatest international success with his installations that appeal to all the viewer’s senses. The clearest uprising in the 1990’s came from Henrik Plenge Jakobsen (born 1967) and Jes Brinch (born 1966), who created a number of joint works which built on the burning, blasting and smashing symbols such as cars, a playground and the national monument a pølsevagn. Peter Land (born 1966) had a strong international breakthrough with his videos that ironized with the role of men. The artist groupSuperflex has attracted a great deal of attention with its international projects involving both business and development assistance, an illustrative example of how art can work in today’s globalized society.
A political and artistic collaboration that left a big impression on Copenhagen’s art scene during the years 2001–07 was Det Free University. Jens Haaning (born 1965) also deals with social issues, often with themes of national identity. Artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset is also interested in social issues in almost unambiguous symbolic installations. Much of the art of this 90’s generation had a clear and easily decoded expression, while artists who move more in the world of mysticism are Joachim Koester (born 1962) and Ann Lislegaard. Claus Beck-Nielsen (born 1963)) is not straightforward to sort into art but not into any other artistic discipline, but is a cultural institution of his own, where he alternates between literature, drama and music in a work of life where you never know what is reality and what is fiction and where he constantly enters new roles.
In the 2010’s, performance and video artist Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen made an impression in Danish art life, as did Jeppe Hein (born 1974) with his interactive installations and video artist Jesper Just. Danh Vō (born 1975) has had the greatest international success in this generation with his performance performances and monumental installations.
Crafts
In the arts, Denmark has achieved great success in the fields of furniture art and ceramics, during the 20th century also in the silversmiths and lighting fixtures.
Like the painting, the art of furniture during the first half of the 19th century experienced a national golden age, when in connection with British 18th-century furniture with the Biedermeier created its own furniture culture, characterized by bright interiors and bourgeois intimacy. A bit into the 20th century, a new era began, also inspired by 18th-century British furniture art as well as by its Chinese role models. The foreground figure was Kaare Klint, whose objectively simple, artfully worked furniture opened the way for a number of furniture architects, including Finn Juhl, Mogens Koch, Ole Wanscher, Arne Jacobsen and Hans Wegner. Crucial to the development and artistic quality of the Danish furniture art have been the competitions in combination with exhibitions organized annually by the Copenhagen Snedkerlaug from the late 1920’s.
The Danish pottery, through the Royal Porcelain factory, already asserted itself well at other European manufactures at the end of the 18th century. The factory, however, only got its own profile in the 1880’s, when Arnold Krog became its artistic leader. Krog introduced a new type of polychrome underglaze painting, muted in color and with a Japanese refined simplicity of decoration. The technology as well as the naturalistic motif circle with landscapes, birds etc. has also been taken up by Bing & Grøndahls Porcelænsfabrik.
The appearance of Georg Jensen and his employees in the early 1900’s meant a renewal of the silversmith, both for Denmark and internationally. The shapes of objects that go back to classical tradition are clean and clear, often with effective contrasting details in exquisite Baroque style. In lighting art the theorist and designer Poul Henningsen is the foremost name.
Central to exhibitions and research on Danish crafts and Danish furniture design is the Design Museum Denmark (until 2011 The Danish Art Industry Museum) in Copenhagen, founded in 1890.
Architecture
Prehistoric times
The open Danish landscape’s stone boxes and burial mounds are today the only visible traces of a prehistoric construction in Denmark. Through archaeological finds, the housing condition can be partially reconstructed; tall rectangular buildings with walls of turf or with clay-filled post structures were ancient homes. Horizontal planks between upright wall posts or pole-constructed walls of tightly placed vertical planks, palisades, were also known. Unlike in Scandinavia, Denmark’s early forest-poor landscapes have given rise to timber-low light wood structures that have lived well into historical times: timber and timber structures. A special Danish house type, the row length, was developed during 400–800 AD. and consisted of three extensions built by each other: first a firehouse with fireplace and dwelling, then a livestock stall and lastly a barn for animal feed. During the Viking era, several large embankment defense facilities were built in Denmark, circularly designed according to a strict geometric pattern and built with square blocks formed by each of four rectangular wooden buildings, for example. Trelleborg on Zealand and Aggersborg on the Limfjord.
THE MIDDLE AGES
The first churches in Denmark were rectangular wooden churches, built as poles with vertically placed planks. The ceilings were carried either directly on the walls or on freestanding posts. Stone churches began to be built around the middle of the 11th century, but it was not until the beginning of the 12th century that they started on a larger scale. Up to about 1250, nearly 1,800 stone churches were built in the then Danish kingdom of which the majority, in more or less converted or expanded condition, still remain today and constitute a significant cultural and architectural heritage.
The stone building had its prerequisites partly in the newly acquired knowledge of lime burning and brickwork with lime mills and partly in the country’s access to natural stone. Most of the churches were erected in gray; on Jutland carved into square blocks of squares, on Zealand unprocessed or only rough cut. In most churches, more easily worked limestone and sandstone from Skåne was also used. In exceptional cases, stones were imported from the same as in the poor Poor Rib region. In parallel with the stone church building, the construction of wooden churches in Denmark continued until about 1300.
Both the technical and the architectural impulses in church construction came from immigrant or summoned builders and craftsmen from Germany, England, France and Italy. The Romanesque Basilica became the model of the great monumental church buildings, and the three cathedrals in Lund, Viborg and Ribe started around 1100 as three-tiered churches with large cross-arms and twin towers in the west as well as arcade-decorated absences to the east. The smaller rural churches got their architectural expression in the long church form with long ships and narrower cows, with or without abside in the east. The concept was usually based on simple speech conditions, and the ship was usually composed of two squares. The country churches were rarely provided with towers; one exception is Tveje Merløse church in Zealand. Completely different other rural churches are the round churches with special distribution on Bornholm but also known from other parts of the country. These multi-storey central churches with Byzantine features are among Denmark’s strangest medieval building monuments.
Brick became a common building material for larger buildings and facilities already during the last decades of the 12th century. The clay-burning technology from Lombardy and Denmark’s good access to clay soil provided the conditions for a domestic brick production, which was a great advance for the building’s decorative as well as constructive possibilities. Already during the Romanesque period two large brick churches were started: the Benedictine monastery church in Ringsted and the Cistercian church in Sorø, both three-tiered basilica with transverse vessels.
Stylistic and architectural changes took place during the church’s usually long construction times, and many were fulfilled at a time when Gothic ideals prevailed. The Romanesque arch and the Gothic point arch were used at the same time for many years, but as the constructive advantages were revealed, the point arch and the rib arching structure gained greater expansion from the 13th century. The Danish gothic followed the style’s development in the rest of Europe. Through the fixed dimensions of the brick, however, it gained its own character, where, in particular, the ornamentation developed from simple Romanesque round arches to late Gothic façade compositions with ample blinding and pattern brickwork and with elements of profiled and glazed brick. During Gothic times, only a few new churches were built, whereas conversions and extensions of existing Romanesque churches were extensive. Most of the rural churches then got their present appearance with, among other things. pillars against the exterior walls, large gothic pointed arch windows and west towers decorated with blinds and staircases.
Throughout the Middle Ages, castles were built around Denmark, first in wood and natural stone, later in brick. The nobility and the bishops built castles primarily for their own safety, e.g. Glimmingehus in Skåne, Spøttrup in Jutland, Gjorslev in Stevns.
The medieval Danish cities arose at natural ports or where roads intersected. Centrally located church and market place, later built as a square with town hall. In the oldest cities, the dwelling houses were simple detached half-timbered houses, in the larger cities with the long sides of the street line or (after German influence) with the houseboats facing the street. Cross-timber technology was continuously improved. At the beginning of the 16th century, the first half-timbered houses were built on two floors and it became common for the trays to be brick-built, while the roofs were mostly thatched. Houses completely erected in brick were extremely rare in medieval Danish cities.
The Renaissance and Kristian IV style
With the Reformation in 1536, the church lost its power, and the king and nobility became the foremost builders. Mansions were built in large numbers all over Denmark, but the Renaissance form ideal appeared mainly in details and decorations, eg. the richly decorated three-part round arched gables at Hesselagergaard on Funen, built in 1538. The Dutch Renaissance was developed in Kristian IV’s diligent construction activities, including the architect family of van Steenwinckel and the architect Antonius van Opbergen played prominent roles. It was a distinctive style with red brick walls, sandstone decorations around windows and portals as well as powerful, ornamentally curved gables. Buildings such as Kronborgs, Frederiksborgs and Rosenborgs palaces (commenced in 1574, 1602 and 1606 respectively), the Exchange (1619-25) and Holmen’s church (1640–42) in Copenhagen and the Trinity Church in Kristianstad (1617-28) are all exquisite examples of Christian IV-stilen. Several of these have served as role models for much of today’s other buildings in Denmark, not least bourgeois houses in the larger cities, for example. Jens Bang’s house in Aalborg (1624–25). However, the urban development was still dominated at that time by half-timbered houses, often with carved decorations in the timber; beautiful preserved examples can be found in Ribe and Køge. As a city planner, Kristian IV was pioneering, and following the renaissance planning pattern, he built, among other things. the cities of Kristiania (now Oslo) and Kristianstad in Skåne and the Christianshavn district in Copenhagen.
Baroque and Rococo
It was only through Kristian IV ‘s construction of monumental buildings that Copenhagen gained the character of the nation’s capital, and around the middle of the 17th century the fortifications of the city were strengthened. After the introduction of the one-world government in 1660, a significant part of Denmark’s construction was concentrated in Copenhagen, which subsequently played a major role in the country’s architectural history. Significant was the construction of Charlottenborg Castle (1672–83), which, with its pilaster-divided dark red brick facades with controlled sandstone ornamentation and its chosen roof, is influenced mainly by the Dutch Baroque. Even in the church building, the Dutch elements were evident, e.g. in Our Savior’s Church in Copenhagen (1682–96) by Lambert van Haven. A greater influence of the Italian Baroque characterized the construction of the early 18th century in Denmark. Fredrik IVThe Italian travels provided models for the castle of Frederiksberg (1708–09) and Fredensborg (begun in 1719), with their plastered and horizontally divided facades. Leading architects were Wilhelm Frederik von Platen, Johan Conrad Ernst, Johan Cornelius Krieger and Christoph Marselis.
Kristian IV and Fredrik V studied architecture planks and sent their architects not only to Italy and France, but also to the latest castle buildings in Austria and southern Germany. Elias David Häusser was commissioned to project the magnificent Baroque castle Christiansborg at Slotsholmen in Copenhagen. In addition to Häusser, the internationally significant plant, started in 1730, was also responsible for Laurids de Thurah and Nicolai Eigtved. The latter was responsible for the planning of Copenhagen’s new Frederiksstaden district (founded in 1749), which, with the centrally located Amalienborg Square and the surrounding four noble palaces, is counted among Europe’s most beautiful rococo plants.
Classicism
Classicism came to Denmark with the French architect Nicolas Henri Jardin. He succeeded Eigtved as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1754, and his ideas were passed on by his students in the well-proportioned buildings with bounded classical details that characterize Danish classicism. Significant was Caspar Frederik Harsdorff, who, with Fredrik V’s domed burial chapel at Roskilde Cathedral, consistently performed the design language of classicism. The chapel was completed by Christian Frederik Hansen.
Influenced by mainly Claude Nicolas Ledoux and Roman-antique models, CF Hansen created, in the reconstruction of the cathedral Vor Frue Kirke (1811–29) in Copenhagen, a heavy and serious neo-anthology that gained great influence over Danish architecture. Copenhagen’s rebuilt neighborhoods after the wildfires of 1795 and 1807 followed Harsdorff’s and Hansen’s classic ideals with well-proportioned and sparsely ornate plaster facades that still leave their mark on the capital. As builders and craftsmen also received their education at the Academy of Fine Arts, the new design language spread throughout the country, and in several Danish cities today there are well-preserved classicist-style buildings from the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. In its final stage, Danish classicism derived its influences from classical Greek architecture and from Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The foreground was Gustav Friedrich Hetsch, who succeeded CF Hansen as an academy professor and in his teaching strongly advocated Greek and Pompeian ornamentation. Among his students were the brothers Christian and Theophilus Hansen, who later came to erect a number of classicist buildings in Athens. Contemporary with Hetsch was Peder Malling, who with the University of Copenhagen’s main building (1831-36) introduced a free style mix in Danish architecture; inter alia a restrained neo-Gothic was introduced in the facades of the building. At Gottlieb Bindesbøll all the currents of the time were gathered, and in his foremost work, Thorvaldsen’s Museum, he combined new antique forms with Egyptian decorative motifs.
Free and academic historicism
New building materials, including cast iron, introduced around the middle of the 19th century, and interest was again aroused for the walled, unpainted wall. In a free historicalism, Johan Daniel Herholdt created the University Library in Copenhagen (1856–61) but also a number of individual English-inspired villas outside the city. In the latter half of the 19th century, interest in style historical studies increased, and a more academic historicism claiming correct style imitations in architecture became evident. Depending on the nature of the task, the architects worked in different historical styles, for example. classicism was considered compatible with monumental buildings and the neo-Gothic was best suited for churches. Dominant was Ferdinand Meldahl, who mainly worked in the Italian Renaissance, which also characterizes his Frederikskirke (Marble Church) in Copenhagen (1876–94).
At the same time, Herholdt’s ideas of greater freedom towards the historical styles were passed on by architects such as Ludvig Fenger, Hermann Baagøe Storck and Hans Jørgen Holm. The latter gained the most importance as an academy professor, as he pleaded for greater understanding and love for older Danish building art. This took place, among other things. expressions in the preservation of old national building monuments, and during the latter part of the 19th century a number of restorations were made, as well as careful, e.g. HB Storck’s restoration of Tveje Merløse church, as a hard-hand, e.g. Niels Siegfred Nebelong’s restoration of Viborg Cathedral.
1900’s
The breakthrough for a new architectural vision in Denmark around 1900 became the Copenhagen City Hall (1892-1905) by Martin Nyrop. Instead of the academic style correctness, the expression of materials and crafts was mainly used here, while the style associations were mixed. The City Hall gained great importance in Nordic architecture, not least for Stockholm City Hall. The connection to a pre-industrial tradition varied nicely in the works of Ulrik Plesner and Thorvald Bindesbøll at Skagen as well as with the emphasized ethico-religious attitude in the works of PV Jensen Klint, mainly the Grundtvig Church in Copenhagen (1920–40). Associations with English Arts and Crafts can be found in Kay Fiskers and Aage RafnsExquisite small station house at Gudhjemsbanan on Bornholm (1916). A broad focus on the country’s building culture was expressed in the 1915 association Bedre Byggeskik. International modernism (Art Nouveau) is less prominent in Denmark and is represented primarily by Anton Rosen (Savoy Hotel, Copenhagen 1906) and in a softer form by Bindesbøll.
From a first often rustic touch, the material and mold character was refined more and more in line with a growing interest in architecture from around 1800. Art historian Vilhelm Wanscher was a strong inventor. The first mature work was Carl Petersen’s Art Museum in Fåborg (1912–15), a small building with refined rooms. A group of young architects, including Fisher and mainly Rafn, in 1918 published the survey of the 1790’s castle Liselund on Møn, which seemed very inspiring, also at Gunnar Asplund in Sweden.
The housing crisis during the First World War met with state and municipal support measures. In Copenhagen, the metropolitan district became a new type of settlement, designed by architects such as Povl Baumann, Fisker and Henning Hansen, and the townhouse building was popularized by Bakkehusene by Ivar Bentsen and Thorkild Henningsen (1922). Landscape architects such as GN Brandt began to be involved in the planted farms in the planted farms. At the same time, the monumental classicism in Copenhagen reached its peak in the police house of Hack Kampmann and others. (1918-24).
The ideas of new modernism were introduced in Danish architecture by the radical magazine Critical Revy (1926-28), edited by Poul Henningsen. In practice, the ideas were realized in two different directions. International functionalism was taken up by a minority of architects such as Edvard Heiberg and Mogens Lassen, but above all by Arne Jacobsen with his personal form skills (Klampenborg in the 1930’s) and Vilhelm Lauritzen(Radio House 1937-45, Kastrup Airport from 1936 to the post-war period). Against this is a strong “functional tradition” that develops the informal planning ideas, especially within the framework of brick architecture. A major work is Aarhus University’s long-term development on the basis of a competition project from 1931 by Fisker, CF Møller and Povl Stegmann. Fisker, Møller and Baumann also maintained a clear line of high quality in the Copenhagen residential architecture. The fact that a strong base of craftsmanship has been able to survive in Danish construction has meant a great deal to the overall safety of the material handling, which has also benefited construction care.
The high-rise buildings were introduced in housing construction at Bellahøj in Copenhagen by Eske Kristensen and others. in the early 1950’s. However, during this decade, residential areas of the type houses in the park were regarded as more typical Danish by architects such as Hoff & Windinge or Eva and Nils Koppel. School building was an area of strong development where new types were adapted to the children’s conditions, and where several of the mentioned architects were noticed. At the same time, a new take on international ideas with cool elegance took place, as in Tårnby City Hall (1960) by Gunnlögsson & Nielsen. An easily accessible and striking impression of how modern Danish architecture stood in the force field between landscape and art was given in the Louisiana Museum of Art in Humlebæk by Jørgen Bo and Vilhelm Wohlert (first stage inaugurated in 1958).
The contrast between modernism and tradition was sharpened during the 1960’s. In the first large residential area with high record houses, Høje Gladsaxe (completed 1966) by Hoff & Windinge and others, the industrial touch is consistently implemented. Architects such as Jørn Utzon and Henning Larsen performed on the international stage with assignments in distant countries. The confrontation between different views led to the idea of a dense and low housing development in new forms during the 1970’s. Among the architectural offices that have worked with this can be mentioned Tegnestuen Vandkunsten, with Jens Arnfred and others. The same architects have also worked with architecture for mainly lighter industry, where they sought to integrate expressions of corporate identity with a good working environment on a moderate scale.
2000’s
Danish architecture after the turn of the millennium is characterized by several parallel currents, where both new functionalism and postmodernism prevail. The extension to the Royal Library in Copenhagen, called The Black Diamond, inaugurated in 1999 and designed by the architectural firm Schmidt, Hammer & Lassen, signaled the beginning of a new period of large-scale public construction. It has been followed by the same architects’ building for the ARoS Art Museum in Aarhus (2004) and the new Copenhagen Opera House (2005), designed by Henning Larsen.
Today, as in many other countries, urban planning is characterized by the development and exploitation of former industrial areas and undeveloped land in the outskirts of big cities. One of the largest projects is Ørestaden on eastern Amager in Copenhagen, which began to develop in the 1990’s in connection with the creation of the Öresund connection. In the 00’s, the expansion gained momentum with housing and offices, among other things. Danish Radio’s new main building, DR Byen (2002–06), with an overall plan by Vilhelm Lauritzen A / S and a concert hall designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel. One landmark is the hotel Bella Sky (2011) with its leaning twin buildings, designed by the architectural office 3XN, which also designed the new main building for Denmark’s aquarium, The Blue Planet, inaugurated in 2013.
One of the most internationally recognized Danish architects in recent years is Bjarke Ingels (born 1974), with the architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), started in 2006, which has been responsible for, among other things. a number of large-scale residential buildings in Ørestaden.
LANDSCAPE-GARDENING
Garden art and landscape architecture in Denmark clearly take their mark on the country’s geography; essentially an agricultural landscape with soft rolling, open fields and wide views. In Danish garden art you can see a recurring theme of fencing and shelter, often accomplished with rich plantings. A skill in composing rooms with a base in the gardener’s plant knowledge and the craftsman’s mind for details gives Danish garden art its special quality. This characteristic has since been incorporated into the international trends, which Danish garden art largely follows, albeit with some time delays. The first gardens we know were in the medieval monastery gardens. These had a simple plan with a crusade that divided the garden into four squares, which in turn could be subdivided. In the monastery gardens a number of southern medicinal plants were introduced via the mouth ordinances, but also kitchen plants and fruit trees. After the Reformation in 1539, many monastic gardens were transferred to other holdings, and garden knowledge also spread to goods and farms. Among other things, There is a reconstructed monastery garden at Sankt Knud’s Church in Odense.
The Renaissance reached Denmark in the middle of the 16th century from Italy. The Renaissance Garden was developed from the medieval garden’s square system, as a planar, hedge-covered garden divided into blocks for various herbs and useful plants. Christian III ‘s wife, Queen Dorotea, is considered to be the Renaissance gardener in Denmark, namely at Koldingshus in 1562. Dorotea’s son, Frederik II, built several smaller gardens, including at Skanderborg and Frederiksborg Castle. Astronomer Tycho Brahe commissioned a remarkable Renaissance plant on the island of Ven 1580–97 called Uraniborg. The garden is today partially restored. The gardener Hans Raszmusson Block published 1647 Denmark’s first garden book, Horticultura Danica. Denmark’s earliest known garden drawing is the one above Rosenborg’s palace garden in Copenhagen from 1649. It shows the garden as a rational division of a flat surface into larger and smaller squares. There were 1,400 different species away. The Baroque meant that the gardens became larger on the surface and less useful in their content. The garden compositions got a direction, namely the one pointed out by the main axis, and a framing, usually of avenues. The interaction with the building became clearer. The central figure was Johan Cornelius Krieger (1683-1755), who is usually called Denmark’s first garden architect. Frederiksborg Castle Garden (1721-28) and Fredensborg Castle Garden (1720’s) are two examples of Krieger’s ability to work with independence within the framework of the principles that André Le Notre, the great forerunner of the style, had formulated. The baroque was granted a mere 100-year duration in Denmark. Marienlyst Castle Garden (1759–63) shows a lighter hand and a freer composition of the various parts of the garden, designed by Nicolas-Henri Jardin (1720–99). Towards the end of the 18th century, the ideas of the English landscape park made their entrance into Denmark, often as well as in the home country by skilled dilettants. The Liselund Lust Castle on Møn, an idealized country estate, the so-called tenneornée, with grassy areas, hedges and tree groves, is an example of this, designed by Mayor Antoine de Bosc de la Calmette. often as well as in the home country by skilled dilettants. The Liselund Lustslottet on Møn, an idealized country estate, the so-called tenneornée, with grass areas, hedges and tree groves, is an example of this, designed by the councilor Antoine de Bosc de la Calmette. often as well as in the home country by skilled dilettants. The Liselund Lust Castle on Møn, an idealized country estate, the so-called tenneornée, with grassy areas, hedges and tree groves, is an example of this, designed by Mayor Antoine de Bosc de la Calmette.
During the 19th century, many of Denmark’s city parks were built in the typical style with winding walkways and often strongly emphasized level differences. Henrik August Flindt (1822–1901) called himself a landscape gardenerand thereby emphasized the gardener’s new powers. Flindt had extensive operations all over Denmark, but also in southern Sweden. Examples of his work include Ørstedparken in Copenhagen (1876–79); Ronneby Brunnspark in Blekinge and restoration of several royal Danish castle parks. GN Brandt (1878–1945) had a decisive influence on the development of the garden art through his authorship, his teaching and his work. Mariebjerg cemetery (1926–36) and Brandt’s own garden at Ordrup’s cemetery somewhat earlier show both in different scales the Danish character of joined room spaces in different forms, surrounded by vegetation. When functionalism expanded in Denmark, the social side of the landscape architecture was emphasized and its urban construction aspect. C.Th. Sørensen became Denmark’s first professor on the subject and perhaps the most influential professional figure of the century. His book “Parkpolitik i Sogn og Koopstad” (1931) presented thoughts onthe rubbish playground ‘the construction playground’, and such became a reality in Emdrup 1940. It represented a new way of looking at children’s play.
The participation of the landscape architects in the urban planning process influenced Copenhagen’s famous finger plan from 1947, where green areas crowd down as corridors towards the city center. C.Th. Sørensen excelled in the Danish tradition of geometrically shaped green spaces, as in the colonial garden area in Nærum (1948) and Vitus Bering’s park in Horsens (1954–56). Two important subject areas during the 1960’s were housing, with examples such as Albertslund, by Edith and Ole Nørgaard, as well as highway construction, where the landscape architects introduced a new geometric approach, followed by the landscape, for example. C.Th. Sørensen’s work on the motorway across Lolland. In the 1960’s, Sven-Ingvar Andersson also came from Sweden to Denmark and succeeded Sørensen both as a professor and as a central figure in the profession.
Music
The oldest foundations of music culture in Denmark are archaeological, mainly the finds of bronze slaves, which are thought to date from the period 1100-500 BC. and which is believed to have been used culturally. The two are the so-called Guldhornene, probably from about 400 BC.
When the Christian era began around 1000, liturgical music was introduced according to English or Northern German models. The oldest preserved sources of Gregorian singing are from the 12th century. Profan music from the Middle Ages is represented by folk songs, ballads, which reflect a high-culture culture with a continental role model. There is a few evidence from the Late Middle Ages (for example in Codex Runicus), but most (of the texts) are recorded in textbooks from the 16th and 16th centuries, and an early edition was Anders Sørensen Vedel’s “It Hundrede vduaalde Danske Viser” (1591). The systematic gathering of orally trained folk songs took off in the 19th century. In the 1853 edition of Svend Grundtvig, which for its time started the pattern-like edition “Denmark’s old Folkeviser”, the material is published.
The cultivation of music at the royal court of the 16th century stood at an international level, as is evident in the royal office’s notebooks from the 1550’s. The highlight was Kristian IV ‘s reign (1588–1648). A number of significant foreign guests were joined to Denmark during the era: John Dowland, Heinrich Schütz and others. At the same time, Danish music talents, e.g. Mogens Pedersøn, study abroad abroad, mainly to Venice.
As milestones in the Reformation’s church music are erected Hans Thomissøns ‘The Danish Psalm Book’ from 1569 and Niels Jesperssøns ‘Graduale’ from 1573, which still linked to Gregorian tradition. Dieterich Buxtehude, who with equal rights can be said to be Danish or German, is otherwise one of the great composers of the time in the context of Protestant church music.
French influenced became the music culture during the reign of Fredrik III (1648-70): The King’s “Hof-Violoner” played orchestral music and ballet spectacle was given. The first opera experienced Copenhagen in 1689. French, German and later Italian troops displayed contemporary opera art during the 18th century.
In 1722 a national theater was founded, in 1748 moved to Kongens Nytorv (the present building was added in 1874); This is where the Royal Chapel dates back to the 15th century. Singing games, songs etc. were composed at the turn of the 1800’s by JAP Schulz (1747-1800) and CEF Weyse, but musically, no “golden age” entered until the middle of the century. Frederik Kuhlau’s music for “Elverhøj”, Holger Simon Paulli’s and Herman Løvenskiold’s score for Bournonville’s ballets and Peter Heise’s opera “Drot og Marsk” belong to the 19th century repertoire still being cherished. Most popular, however, has “Champagne-Galopens” HC Lumbye, Tivoli’s music king, has remained. Important personalities within the romantic, bourgeois music culture and its public concert life were JPE Hartmann and Niels W. Gade, conductor, composer, director of conservatories and leader of the Music Society, trained in Leipzig.
National romance did not reach the same distinctive character as in Norway and Sweden. Instead, Carl Nielsen, Gade’s student, built the road to modernism. The six symphonies have gradually conquered the world. His popular songs have also found their place in the depths of the Danish heart. The two composers who were selected as the most important after Carl Nielsen are Vagn Holmboe and Per Nørgård. Other important names from different generations are Herman D. Koppel, Niels Viggo Bentzon, Ib Nørholm, Hans Abrahamsen, Bent Sørensen, John Frandsen (born 1956) and Karsten Fundal (born 1966).
During the 20th century, new institutions and schemes were added in line with widening public influence over cultural life and its funding. Danmarks Radio was created in the 1920’s; within its framework, Denmark’s Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Entertainment Orchestra, the Radio Choir, etc. operates at higher level music education has been decentralized; Odense, Esbjerg, Aalborg and Århus have received conservatories. During the 20th century, professional symphony orchestras were also added in these cities as well as in Randers and Sønderborg. Regional investments in new concert halls, the Jutland Opera and festivals such as the Århus Festuge have to some extent broken the capital’s claimed dominance. The Music Council of 1935 was renamed the Advisory Body of the State Ministries, in 1971, to the State Music Council, which prepared the ground for the Music Act 1976.
In 1995, Den Anden Opera opened in Copenhagen as an experimental stage for chamber opera, which resulted in a number of new Danish music dramatic works, such as Lars Klits (born 1965) “Anatomical opera” (1998), Eva Noer Kondrups (born 1964) “No” (2000) and Peter Bruuns (born 1968) “Miki Alone” (2008). The latter was awarded the Nordic Council Music Prize. In 2006, the Anden Opera changed its name to Plex to later be named only Copenhagen’s Musical Theater.
In 2005, the Royal Theater’s Opera House, inaugurated by Henning Larsen, was inaugurated. In addition to the traditional opera repertoire, the new Danish National Opera has also had Danish operas, eg. Poul Ruder’s “Dancer in the Dark” (2010; after Lars von Trier’s film).
Jazz and rock
Jazz reached Denmark around 1920 and was already linked from the beginning to entertainment and dance. Visits by American musicians and imports of records contributed to increased interest and knowledge and the definitive breakthrough came in the 1930’s. As in the US, big bands that combined jazz and drummer dominated, but Svend Asmussen’s group broke the brunt of small band jazz.
After the Second World War a periodic decline came for the jazz, but from 1950 the styles broke bebop and cool, and more and more domestic musicians established themselves. In the 1960’s, the jazz climate in Denmark was positively influenced by a number of influential American musicians, for example. Dexter Gordon and Ben Webster. The radio jazz group was started in 1961 and the Danish Radio’s Big Band in 1964.
During the 1970’s, among other things, double bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen’s world reputation. The electrified jazz coat was the dominant new trend. During the 1980’s, Denmark strengthened its position as a prominent jazz nation. Internationally noted were New Jungle Orchestra and trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg, saxophonist John Tchicai (1936–2012) and drummer Marilyn Mazur (born 1955).
The jazz clubs Montmartre (started in 1959) and Copenhagen Jazzhouse (started in 1991) in Copenhagen have been of great importance for international and Danish jazz life.
During the 1990’s, Danish jazz developed in many cross-genre directions with influences from rock, funk, folk music, world music and early jazz. During the 2000’s, the Danish jazz scene was dominated by a.k.a. saxophonists Fredrik Lundin (born 1963), Lars Møller (born 1966) and Thomas Agergaard (born 1962), trumpeter and composer Jens Winther (1960–2011), pianists Nikolaj Bentzon (born 1964) and Carsten Dahl (born 1967) and drummer Osgood (born 1976).
Rock and pop music in Denmark during the 1950’s and 1960’s was modeled on American and British models. Towards the end of the 1960’s, rock music with Danish-language lyrics emerged with groups such as Steppeulvene and Savage Rose. Prominent in the 1970’s was the jazz rock band Burnin ‘Red Ivanhoe and the Gasolin group with singer Kim Larsen (later solo artist), which gave Danish rock music a typical, folk-based character.
During the 1980’s and 1990’s, a number of female artists and composers heard, e.g. Trille (Bodil Nielsen, born 1945), Anne Linnet, Sanne Salomonsen, Lis Sørensen (born 1955), Hanne Boel (born 1957) and Søs Fenger (born 1961), to the main profiles. The pop discussion group Aqua, the rock group DAD, grunge-inspired Dizzy Mizz Lizzy and the soft-pop group Michael Learns to Rock reached international success during the 1990’s.
From the alternative music scene came from the 1990’s several artists who reaped great success both in Denmark and internationally. Progressive rock groups such as Kashmir and Mew as well as experimental electronic artists such as Under Byen, Efterklang and Trentemøller (actually Anders Trentemøller, born 1972) helped to increase the interest in Danish music in the 2000’s. Other Danish groups that were influential and successful during the 2000’s include the hip-hop group Malk de Koijn and the hard rock band Volbeat.
Dance
The head ballet reached Denmark in the late 16th century. In connection with the wedding of Prince Kristian (later Kristian V), the first real court ballet was given in 1634, with music by Heinrich Schütz and decor by Karel van Mander dy. From the mid-17th century numerous court ballets were given, and during Fredrik III ‘s reign (1648– 70) The court ballet had its heyday – Queen Sofie Amalie was a great ballet enthusiast and danced herself in court ballets.
The extensive dance element of the Latin school comedy is of great historical significance. An example is some “Moorish dances” from about 1500, written by Morten Børup, which were still erected in 1577, inserted in “Goliat og David”. Professional ballet was introduced at the Grønnegade Theater in 1722, when the French ballet master Jean Baptiste Landé’s ensemble performed some ballets.
When Den Danske Skueplads in 1748 got its own building at Kongens Nytorv, the ballet was started in earnest, and thus the Royal Ballet is the only state ballet with its roots in acting instead of opera. In 1771 a ballet school was established in the theater that still exists today. In 1775 Vincenzo Galeotti was involved, who for the next ten years created a national ensemble, in terms of both dancers and repertoire. The only ballet by Galeotti that is still being performed is “Amors og Ballet Master’s whims” from 1786. In 1792 Galeotti engaged the Frenchman Antoine Bournonville, whose son August Bournonville came to dominate Danish ballet well into the 20th century. Her most important successor was Hans Beck (1861–1952), who during his time as ballet manager 1894–1915 came to characterize the Danish ballet style for a long time to come.
Important ballet managers at the Royal Ballet were also Harald Lander and Flemming Flindt; they attracted international attention and were the foremost Danish choreographers of the 20th century. In 1979, the centenary of Bournonville’s death was honored with a Bournonville festival, which became a highlight for the ensemble. New Bournonville festivals were organized in 1992 and 2005 were arranged with Frank Andersen as head of ballet (1985-94 and 2002-08). In 2008, Nikolaj Hübbe was named head of ballet.
In recent decades, especially modern dance has developed strongly. In 1985, Dansens Hus was opened in Copenhagen, a center for modern dance with, among other things. The DanseInformation Center, started in 2002. In 1989, an education was started at the University of Copenhagen under the leadership of Erik Aschengreen. In 2007, the department was named Dance Science. In Holstebro Peter Schaufuss Ballet was started in 1997. The repertoire consists of new full evening works in modern ballet style.
In 1981, the ensemble Nyt Dansk Dance Theater, Denmark’s largest modern dance ensemble, was started. In 2001 Tim Rushton (born 1963) became artistic director and in 2005 the ensemble changed its name to the Danish Dance Theater. In 2009, the modern dance was given a new center in the Dansehallerne in Copenhagen, which houses Dansens Hus, the Danish Dance Theater and several scenes.
Source material with descriptions of social dances can be found from the 18th century, when the main forms were Polish dance, menu and English dance, ie. versus dance. The most common dance form of the 19th century was the drum. Other popular forms were polka, kadril, from 1860, especially Lanziärkrilil, and cotillion – much like in other western Europe.
Around the turn of the century, new salon dances, especially from the United States, became popular. As a counter-force to such, in 1901 was formed the Association of Folk Dance’s Promise, which for many years collected folk dances in the country and published them in booklets with descriptions and music. In 1929 the National Association of Danish Folk Dancers was started.
Folk culture
The traditional culture in the Danish countryside can be divided geographically into a larger eastern and a less western area. The eastern part, largely characterized by fertile moraine soils, includes East Jutland, the Danish islands and (until 1660) the Skane plain. It is part of the Northern European Plains region, which is characterized by a mainly grain-producing agriculture with auxiliary plows and three-shift farms, large densely populated villages and a developed social organization. The western area encompasses the remainder of Jutland, and here less fertile heathland dominates with a nutritional pattern found with variations within the North Sea region. It is a livestock-producing farm with a small, cultivated grazing land, a larger, extensively utilized land,
These ecological-economic differences are matched by an old difference in the direction of cultural relations. Through the trade links across the Baltic Sea, the eastern parts are part of a central and eastern European context, while Jutland has to a greater extent received Western European impulses via Hamburg and the Netherlands. In northern Jutland, different cultural features point to an old connection with southern and western Norway.
One of the ethnological characteristics of pre-industrial Denmark is that the long stretches of coast and the many islands formed the basis for a culture where fishing and / or shipping were included in nutritional combinations with agriculture. In some of these shipping environments (Læsø, Fanø), a distinctive women’s costume survived in the 19th century, as in the Hedebobygden area near Copenhagen, but otherwise the regional cost differences were largely limited to women’s headgear.
Almost all Danish farmhouses were erected in lumber. In eastern Jutland, however, paraphernalia and in western Jutland, early brick building occurred due to Frisian influence. The farm form is almost four-sided almost everywhere, with the exception of Sønderjylland, where the farm facility is irregularly built around a main length with housing and stables.
Parties in connection with the festivities of the year were first and foremost linked to the cooperative organizations (byagillena) in the unchanged villages. Not least the special youths played a role as party organizers. Some such party is still alive, e.g. barreling (“Knocking the cat out of the barrel”) at the fixed law on Amager and ring riding in Southern Jutland. The ignition of outdoor fires showed earlier regional differences with regard to the time, but is now everywhere connected to the Sankt Hans celebration (the equivalent of the Swedish midsummer celebration).
From the latter half of the 18th century the Danish rural society underwent a series of radical changes. In the western area, the starting point was the so-called “carcasses” with accompanying purchases of self-routes, while in the eastern area it was the replacement of the common land ownership, the relocation and ultimately the transition from a lifetime lease to self-determination that laid the basis for restructuring of the culture of the people. With the religious revivals as a driving force and with the public colleges and parish houses as the leading institutions, during the 19th century a new popular culture was created in the countryside. was the prerequisite for a reorganization of agriculture on a cooperative basis.
In tandem with these changes, the very concept of folk culture and the interest in its different expressions were created. By the middle of the century, folk songs and fairy tales were collected, from the 1870’s also furniture, utensils and other examples of folk art. The most important cultural heritage-preserving institutions are the Danish Folklore Collection and the National Museum.
Danish folkloreconnection with the Nordic neighboring countries is particularly evident when it comes to beliefs and sayings – eg. troll beliefs and the notion of the plot (farmyard, acacia) are of a general Scandinavian character while, for example, the stories about mara, werewolf and church grime have their closest counterparts in southern Swedish folk poetry. When it comes to folk songs, the Danish ballad tradition is particularly rich and to a large extent early documented. In the case of folk tales, the Saxo Grammaticus “Gesta Danorum” fairytale can distinguish an older layer of probable indigenous origin, to which also belong several sagas or subtypes with mainly internal Nordic distribution (eg “The princess in the sphere”, which may also be of Danish origin), but early in the Danish tradition, foreign motifs were raised as in the well-known story of “King Lindorm”, an import from the Mediterranean countries. From the 16th century, the Danish storytelling tradition was greatly influenced by mainly folk books originating in Germany and similar printed matter, which to a large extent penetrated the older fairy tale.
The Danish folk monuments were largely documented in the 19th century thanks to the efforts of collectors such as Svend Grundtvig and Evald Tang Kristensen, whose records form the backbone of the Danish folk memorial collection.
Sports
Sports in Denmark is organized by the Danish Sports Association (DIF), founded in 1896, with some sixty special associations. Since 1993, the country’s Olympic committee has also been included in the DIF.
Football is one of national sports and is also the biggest sport by far with about 340,000 athletes in 1,600 associations. The greatest success of Danish football is the men’s gold medal in 1992.
Handball is one of the most popular sports and also originates in Denmark. The first rules were written by the gymnastics educator Holger Nielsen (1866–1955) at Ordrup gymnasium and the sport was first shown publicly at a school sporting event in Randers in 1904. Denmark has achieved great success internationally, mainly on the women’s side where it includes. became three Olympic golds 1996–2004.
Other popular sports are badminton, cycling, sailing and swimming.
In connection with DIF’s 100th anniversary in 1996, sailor Paul Elvstrøm was named the country’s foremost male athlete of all time. Elvstrøm took among other things. four Olympic golds 1948-60 and 15 World Cup golds and eight European Championships gold in a number of different sailing classes. Ragnhild Hveger, the best female athlete, was named swimmer, who set 42 individual world records during the years around 1940.
Other prominent profiles include football player Michael Laudrup (born 1964), athlete Wilson Kipketer (three World Cup golds and three world records at 800 m), tennis player Caroline Wozniacki (born 1990; ranked world 2010-11) and speedway driver Hans Nielsen (born 1959); four World Cup golds individually).