Elves' Hill is a comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 by Johan Ludvig Heiberg

Johan Ludvig Heiberg (poet)

Johan Ludvig Heiberg , Danish poet and critic, son of the political writer Peter Andreas Heiberg , and of the novelist, afterwards the Baroness Gyllembourg-Ehrensvärd, was born in Copenhagen....

, with overture and incidental music by Friedrich Kuhlau

Friedrich Kuhlau

Friedrich Daniel Rudolf Kuhlau was a German-Danish composer during the Classical and Romantic periods. He was a central figure of the Danish Golden Age....

 (Op. 100), which is considered the first Danish national play.

Elves' Hill was written in 1828 for the wedding of Frederik Carl Christian (later Frederik VII) and Vilhelmine Marie, and premiered 5 days later. Since the premiere, the play has been performed more than 1,000 times at the Royal Danish Theatre

Royal Danish Theatre

The Royal Danish Theatre is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first serving as the theatre of the king, and then as the theatre of the...

.

The play utilizes a combination of the folklore

Folklore

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

 of the Elven king of Stevns

Stevns

Stevns is a municipality in Region Sjælland on the southeast coast of the island of Zealand in south Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 247 km², and has a total population of 21,892 . Its mayor is Paul Arne Sørensen, a member of the Venstre political party...

 and a story of swapped children; King Christian IV

Christian IV of Denmark

Christian IV was the king of Denmark-Norway from 1588 until his death. With a reign of more than 59 years, he is the longest-reigning monarch of Denmark, and he is frequently remembered as one of the most popular, ambitious and proactive Danish kings, having initiated many reforms and projects...

 is cast as a sort of detective, who unravels the mystery.

Besides the work by Kulau the overture also contains "Kong Christian stod ved højen mast" one of the two Danish anthems, and while the anthem has its origin in a different play, Elves' Hill is considered central to the romantic popularity of the anthem.

In popular culture

In the eighth Olsen Gang

Olsen Gang

The Olsen Gang is a fictional Danish criminal gang in the movies of the same name. The gang's leader is the criminal genius and habitual offender Egon Olsen. The other members of the gang are Benny and Kjeld . The gang members are harmless and never use violence...

movie (Olsen-banden ser rødt), the Olsen gang bombs, drills, and hammers its way through the opera house's basement in synchronicity with the music of the Elverhøj Overture.