Little Gunver (Danish: Liden Gunver) is a song and fictional character in Johannes Ewald and Johann Hartmann's singspiel The Fishermen (Danish: Fiskerne) which premiered at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen in 1780. It is also the name of a bronze sculpture by Theobald Stein in Rosenborg Castle Garden.
The Fishermen was partly inspired by true events which had taken place a few years earlier. A group of fishermen from Hornbæk saved the crew from a wrecked British ship and later refused to receive the customary reward. Instead a nobleman granted them an annual amount for the rest of their lives.
The song about Little Gunver is about a young girl who is drawn to the bottom of the sea by an alluring but deceitful merman. The song is song by one of the eponymous fishermen to show their superstition. The song is a pastiche written in the style of a traditional medieval ballade (folkevise). It is based on Nøkkens svig which is included in Peder Syv's collection of songs from 1695. Ewald's song gained great popularity, also outside the theatre.
Danish sculptor Theobald Stein created a sculpture of Little Gunver in 1899. The song had recently experienced a revival after being included in the first volume of Danmarks Melodibog. A bronze cast was installed on a temporary basis in Rosenborg Castle Garden in Copenhagen in 1909 but was made permanent through a donation from Carl Jacobsen in 1911. It depicts Little Gunver walking about with a dreamy and somewhat melancholic expression. It illustrates the lines: [1]
Liden Gunver vandrer som helst i Qvel,
Saa tankefuld.
Hendes Hjerte var Vox, hendes unge Siel
var prøvet Guld.
O vogt dig, mit Barn, for de falske Mandfolk!
Rosenborg Castle is a renaissance castle located in Copenhagen, Denmark. The castle was originally built as a country summerhouse in 1606 and is an example of Christian IV's many architectural projects. It was built in the Dutch Renaissance style, typical of Danish buildings during this period, and has been expanded several times, finally evolving into its present condition by the year 1624. Architects Bertel Lange and Hans van Steenwinckel the Younger are associated with the structural planning of the castle.
Rosenborg Castle Gardens is the oldest and most visited park in central Copenhagen, Denmark. Established in the early 17th century as the private gardens of King Christian IV's Rosenborg Castle, the park also contains several other historical buildings, including Rosenborg Barracks, home to the Royal Guards, as well as a high number of statues and monuments. The park also holds art exhibitions and other events such as concerts in the summer.
Johann Ernst Hartmann was a Danish classical composer and violinist. He is remembered in particular for his two operas on texts by Johannes Ewald in which he helped creating a national musical style. The first of these, Balders død, builds on the old Nordic mythology and uses dark colours when depicting the old Gods and Valkyries. The second, Fiskerne, describes contemporary fishermen’s lives, and uses melodies inspired by the Scandinavian folk style.
Events from the year 1901 in Denmark.
Christian Gottlieb Vilhelm Bissen was a Danish sculptor. He was also a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts with great influence on the next generation of Danish sculptors and for a while served as its director. Bissen was trained in the Neoclassical tradition from Bertel Thorvaldsen but after a stay in Paris around 1880, he was influenced by Naturalism. With the equestrian statue of Absalon he turned to Neo-romanticism.
August Vilhelm Saabye, also known as August Wilhelm Saabye, was a Danish sculptor.
Gothersgade is a major street in the City Centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. It extends from Kongens Nytorv to Sortedam Lake, passing Rosenborg Castle and Gardens, Nørreport Station and Copenhagen Botanic Gardens on the way.
Øster Voldgade, together with Vester Voldgade and Nørre Voldgade, forms a succession of large streets which arches around the central and oldest part of the Zealand side of Copenhagen, Denmark. It runs north-east from Gothersgade at Nørreport Station to Georg Brandes Plads, between the Copenhagen Botanical Gardens and Rosenborg Castle Gardens, and continues straight to a large junction at the southern end of Oslo Plads, near Østerport Station, where it turns into Folke Bernadotte Allé.
Theobald Stein was a Danish sculptor. He was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and served as its director from 1883 to 1886.
Carl Johan Bonnesen was a Danish sculptor. He specialised in depictions of animals and exotic, "primitive" subjects as seen in the first sculpture he ever exhibited, A Victorious Group of Huns from 1889. It was soon followed by A Barbarian (1891), The Period of the Huns (1893), A Bedouin (1897) and A Mounted Chinese Warrior (1900).
Dronningens Tværgade is a street in central Copenhagen, Denmark, which runs from Bredgade to Rosenborg Castle Garden. The street originally formed a link between the King's Garden and the Queen's Garden. With the Odd Fellows Mansion on Bredgade and the central pavilions of the east fringe of the castle garden located at each their end, the street has axial qualities. These are accentuated by the Dronningegården Estate, a Functionalist housing complex from the 1940s, which forms an urban space around the intersection with Adelgade.
Danish sculpture as a nationally recognized art form can be traced back to 1752 when Jacques Saly was commissioned to execute a statue of King Frederick V of Denmark on horseback. While Bertel Thorvaldsen was undoubtedly the country's most prominent contributor, many other players have produced fine work, especially in the areas of Neoclassicism, Realism, and in Historicism, the latter resulting from growing consciousness of a national identity. More recently, Danish sculpture has been inspired by European trends, especially those from Paris, including Surrealism and Modernism.
Frederiksberg Allé is a tree-lined avenue which runs through the southernmost part of the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It connects Vesterbrogade at Værnedamsvej to Frederiksberg Runddel in front of the main entrance to Frederiksberg Gardens. It was originally constructed in 1704 as the king's private road leading to his new summer residence, Frederiksberg Palace. It developed into the backbone of an entertainment district in the mid 18th century, and has continued to be associated with theatres until the present day. The avenue is lined with two double rows of linden trees and bisects Sankt Thomas Plads, a small round plaza, shortly after its departure from Vesterbrogade.
Sølvgade is a street in central Copenhagen, Denmark, extending north-west from Borgergade to The Lakes where Fredens Bro connects it to Fredensgade. The section from Kronprinsessegade to Øster Voldgade follows the walled north-eastern margin of Rosenborg Castle Garden and the next section, from Øster Voldgade to the intersection with Farimagsgade, named Sølvtorvet although it is little more than a busy street junction, separates Copenhagen Botanical Garden from Østre Anlæg.
The Statue of Hans Christian Andersen in Rosenborg Castle Gardens, Copenhagen, Denmark, is a bronze statue of the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen. This is one of many statues to the author.
The Statue of Frederick VI greets visitors just inside the main entrance to Frederiksberg Park at Frederiksberg Runddel in the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen, Denmark. Unveiled on 10 September 1858, the bronze statue was created by Herman Wilhelm Bissen and is considered one of his best works. It is the first public depiction of a Danish monarch in everyday, contemporary attire, rather than that of antiquity, or galla uniform, popular in earlier sculpture.
Liden Kirsten, Op. 44, is an opera in two acts by Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann with a Danish libretto by Hans Christian Andersen. It premiered on 12 May 1846 at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen but was only a success after being reworked from one to two acts for the 1858–59 season.
The Statue of Asmus Jacob Carstens is a statue of German-Danish painter Asmus Jacob Carstens situated in the garden of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, facing Niels Brocks Gade, in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was created by Theobald Stein in 1878–1879 and moved to its current location in 1894. It is complemented by a statue of Georg Zoëga facing Tietgensgade on the other side of the museum. The monument is flanked by two other bronze statues, Jules Dalou's Field Worker (1893) and Constantin Meunier's The Hammerman.
The statue of Ludvig Holberg by Theobald Stein, together with Herman Wilhelm Bissen's statue of Adam Oehlenschläger, flanks the main entrance to the Royal Danish Theatre on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was created by Stein in conjunction with the inauguration of Vilhelm Dahlerup's new theatre building in 1875. Bissen's statue of Oehlenschläger is from 1861 and was originally located on Sankt Annæ Plads.