The melodies in this book were written between 2017 and 2020.

As the reader will likely notice, a predominant part of the texts has a rather melancholic character. This is especially true for the poems by Viggo Stuckenberg, Hulda Lükten, and Tove Ditlevsen. These poems primarily deal with loss and unhappy love. In the poems by Ole Sarvig, the focus is more often directed at the world situation of his time, giving many of them a strong tone of doom. André Gide refers to Prometheus, who uttered the paradoxical words: "I do not love humans, I love what devours them." One can rightly say that what devoured these poets was their relationship with both the world, themselves, and their creative force, and this has resulted in these texts, which provide reflection and enrichment for the rest of us.

Another link between all the texts in the book is the poets' deep connection to nature and their joy in life and its moments of happiness despite everything. The justification for setting music to all these texts could hardly be expressed better than in Ludvig Bødtcher's little poem "Ved Et Tab" (At a Loss):

Hvad her vi elske, ejes kun paa Borg, (What here we love, is owned only on the Borg,)

Paa uvis Frist, saa er Naturens Orden, (On an uncertain term, such is Nature's Order,)

Og vil du være fri for Savn og Sorg, (And if you wish to be free from loss and sorrow,)

Da maa du Intet elske her paa Jorden; (Then you must love nothing here on Earth;)

Men Sorgen er en Engels dunkle Haand, (But sorrow is an angel's dark hand,)

Som luttrer, hvad os jordisk kjært er vorden, (Which purifies what is dear to us in this world,)

Og løfter mod det Evige vor Aand - (And lifts our spirit toward the eternal –)

Og derfor skal du - elske her paa Jorden. (And therefore, you must – love here on Earth.)

The original orthography of the poems has mostly been preserved, but younger readers will surely quickly get used to the older spelling. In the poems where deviations in meter occur, I have added dashed connecting bows or notes placed in parentheses.

I wish the users of this book an enjoyable experience!

Jakob Vejslev
Copenhagen, November 12, 2020

DKK 249,00  (Inkl. moms)

The sheet music book can be purchased from

the publisher Olafssongs Musikforlag here:

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