Svend Hersleb Grundtvig (9 September 1824, Copenhagen – 14 July 1883, Frederksberg) was a Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 literary historian and ethnographer. He was one of the first systematic collectors of Danish traditional music

Danish traditional music

thumb|350px|right|Rebild Spillemandslaug, a [[guild]] of traditional musicians founded by [[Evald Thomsen]].Danish traditional music is the music genre that has its roots in pre-modern Denmark. In this period it was common for towns to have one or more town musicians who played at dances,...

, and he was especially interested in Danish folk songs. He began the large project of editing Danish ballads. He also co-edited Icelandic ballads. He was the son of N. F. S. Grundtvig.

Biography

His father arranged his education, employing a series of home tutors to teach him Icelandic, Latin, Danish and Anglo-Saxon while personally instructing him in Nordic mythology, Saxo Grammaticus

Saxo Grammaticus

Saxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus was a Danish historian, thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, foremost advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author of the first full history of Denmark.- Life :The Jutland Chronicle gives...

and folkloric ballads. When he was 14, his father bought him a 1656 manuscript of an old ballad, triggering his interest in further exploring the history of Danish folk music which was to be his life's work.

When 19, after his father accompanied him on a study tour to England, Grundtvig published Danish translations of English and Scottish ballads before devoting his life to the collection and study of Danish folk tales and ballads. In a manifesto in 1944, he encouraged Danish men and women to record national ballads still in popular usage. In 1854, he extended this call to all types of folklore, building up a nationwide network of collaborators, soon resulting in his three volume work Danske Minder (1854-61). In 1876, he published Danske folkeæventure, the first of three volumes of Danish folk tales.

Own works

Grundtvig's published works, all in Danish, include:

• Engelske og skotske folkeviser, 1842-1846
• Gamle danske minder i Folkemunde, 1854-61
• Danske Kæmpeviser, 1867
• Danske Folkeæventyr, 1876-83
• Danmarks Folkeviser i Udvalg, 1882

Literature

• Grundtvig, Sven, Jesse Grant Cramer (translator): Danish Fairy Tales. Boston: The Four Seas Company, 1912, 118 p.
• Grundtvig, Sven, Gustav Hein (translator): Danish Fairy Tales. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1914, 219 p.