Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) – a Danish writer and poet, known especially for his fairy tales. His first collection, Eventyr, fortalte for Børn [Tales told for children] was published in 1835. Further collections were published successively (a total of around 150 tales). From 1864 to 1869, Anderson’s tales were one source of song lyrics for Grieg, whose works from that period include Hjertets melodier [Songs of the heart] for voice and piano, Op. 5, in which we hear his individual musical language for the first time. Andersen encouraged Grieg to combine in his output a national character with folk elements.