Violin book of the Bast brothers. c. 1770.
Music and Theatre Department, C.II.5

Fol. 15r: This and the next page show examples from the violin book of popular dances of the day, e.g. angloises (English dances) and minuets	Fol. 33r

Fol. 43v: On this page Christian Frederik Bast experimented with different forms of his signature	Fol. 50r: The “trio” is often part of the other dances, e.g. a minuet or an angloise	Fol. 79r: The page with the “King Christian” tune. It is notated as an aria written for violin with various ornaments. The title may have been added later

In 1778 the Danish poet and dramatist Johannes Ewald (1743-1781) wrote the national singspiel Fiskerne (The Fishermen) which premiered at the Royal Theatre in January 1780. It includes the poem, which later became the royal anthem, “Kong Christian stod ved højen mast” (King Christian Stood by the Lofty Mast) which in the play is described as a romance. For the performance at the theatre the composer Johann Hartmann (1726-1793) wrote the music, but only the 4th stanza was included as a so-called cavatina and Hartmann’s music was quite different from the tune known today.
However, the oldest known source of the music for the royal anthem is the handwritten violin book of the brothers Bast from c. 1770. Christian Frederik and Povel Danchel Bast were students of theology and good friends of the author of the poem, Johannes Ewald. The brothers have notated the music as an aria written for violin with ornaments. The tune was not printed until 1785 – with all of Ewald’s four stanzas.
There has been a lively debate on the subject of who composed the popular tune for “King Christian”. At first it was thought that Johann Hartmann himself was the composer, and later the judge Ditlev Ludvig Rogert – a close friend of Ewald’s – was suggested. Now, the most accepted theory is that it is a European wandering tune.
Up until c. 1830 the song was first and foremost connected with the Navy, but when it appeared in Johan Ludvig Heiberg’s and Fr. Kuhlau’s festival play for a royal wedding Elverhøj (The Hill of the Elves) in 1828 it became the royal anthem.

16.5 x 21 cm.

See the entire violin book (NB! pdf file 24.4 MB).
See also the lyrics of “King Christian” in Ewald’s handwriting on the website of the Archive of Danish Literature Johannes Ewald (only in Danish) and read more about the royal anthem on the website of the Music and Theatre Department National anthems of Denmark (only in Danish).

© Det Kongelige Bibliotek 2004