Der er et yndigt land ("There is a lovely country") is the (civil) national anthem of Denmark. On royal occasions, the royal anthem Kong Christian stod ved højen mast is performed together with Der er et yndigt land.
In common use, only the first verse (or stanza) and the last three lines of the fourth verse are sung. The first half of the last verse is rarely heard. The last line of each verse is repeated once.
The lyrics were written in 1819 by Adam Oehlenschläger and bore the motto in Latin: Ille terrarum mihi praeter omnes angulus ridet (Horace: "This corner of the earth smiles for me more than any other"). When first published, the anthem had 12 verses, but this was shortened to the first, third, fifth, and last verse in later editions. The music was composed in 1835 by Hans Ernst Krøyer. Later, Thomas Laub and Carl Nielsen each composed alternative melodies, but neither of them has gained widespread adoption, and today they are mostly unknown to the general population.
Read more about Der Er Et Yndigt Land: Original Lyrics
Famous quotes containing the words der and/or land:
“Under the lindens on the heather,
There was our double resting-place.”
—Walther Von Der Vogelweide (1170?–1230?)
“The great fact was the land itself, which seemed to overwhelm the little beginnings of human society that struggled in its sombre wastes. It was from facing this vast hardness that the boy’s mouth had become so bitter; because he felt that men were too weak to make any mark here, that the land wanted to be let alone, to preserve its own fierce strength, its peculiar, savage kind of beauty, its uninterrupted mournfulness.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)