The Theatre Poet and the Composer

 

…The two of us belong to each other
Nothing can take us apart…

 
 Andersen’s and Hartmann’s first opera cooperation was The Raven [Ravnen] in 1832, based on Carlo Gozzi's comedy Il Corvo from 1761. It is a magic opera about King Millo whose brother Jennaro must abduct the woman Armilla in order to free the King from a ban. Her father, the wizard Norando, seeks revenge and threatens to turn Jennaro into a marble statue if he reveals that King Millo is to be murdered. However, the intrigue is solved happily in the end after the strength and love of the parties involved has been tried by Norando.

Hans Christian Andersen portrayed by Fredrika Bremer in Copenhagen 1849.

I.P.E. Hertmann portrayed by Fredrika Bremer in Copenhagen 1849.

The success of The Raven – which was staged again in a new and revised version in 1865 – continued in Andersen’s and Hartmann’s main work Little Kirsten [Liden Kirsten] from 1846. His first version of this romantic ballad opera (from 1865 listed as an opera) goes back to 1835 when Andersen for the first time handed it in to the management of the theatre with music by I.F. Bredal in contemplation.

The plot is based on the folk ballad about Mr Sverkel and gains its strength from the lyric and musical description of the romantic folk ballad atmosphere. The love affair between the main characters Liden Kirsten and Sverkel is threatened by a possible brother-sister relation which is unravelled in the end. 

Soon Little Kirsten became the most performed Danish opera and with its richness of Danish folk ballad atmosphere it gained its position as Danish national opera throughout the entire 19th century. Andersen even succeeded in making Franz Liszt interested in the work, which led to two performances in Weimar in 1856, in a German translation authorized by the poet himself.