Royal Danish Theatre tickets 17 October 2024 - A Folk Tale | GoComGo.com

A Folk Tale

Royal Danish Theatre, The Opera House - Main Stage, Copenhagen, Denmark
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8 PM
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US$ 82

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Important Info
Type: Ballet
City: Copenhagen, Denmark
Starts at: 20:00
Intervals: 2
Duration: 2h 30min

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Cast
Performers
Conductor: Robert Houssart
Ballet company: The Royal Danish Ballet
Orchestra: The Royal Danish Orchestra
Creators
Composer: Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann
Composer: Niels W. Gade
Choreographer: Nikolaj Hübbe
Choreography: August Bournonville
Director: Sorella Englund
Overview

A true fairytale ballet by August Bournonville, Sorella Englund and Nikolaj Hübbe.

Harmony and peace are quintessential to Bournonville's ballets, but beneath the idyll of A Folk Tale, there lurks an undercurrent that simmers, bubbles and vibrates with life.

When the great cholera epidemic struck Copenhagen in 1853, August Bournonville fled the capital. Overwhelmed by his escape from death, he created A Folk Tale. Consequently, this ballet, born out of grim circumstances, is perhaps infused with vitality and joy as a reflection of his relief.

In the best tradition of the Danish Golden Age, Bournonville presents us with the tensions between our world and the enticing, demonic underworld. Junker Ove is engaged to the capricious and wild Birthe from the grand manor but falls in love with the gentle Hilda, who lives in the troll hill. As it happens, the two girls were exchanged at birth, compelling Junker Ove to battle courageously for his beloved Hilda. Only after the elf maidens have all but danced him to the brink of insanity can the two be united in the bright summer night to the famous bridal waltz.

Nikolaj Hübbe and Sorella Englund, along with set designer Mia Stensgaard, have lovingly reimagined Bournonville's classic, creating a performance that ranges from the serene beauty of Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi to the wildest rave party with troll bugs, swamp children, vampire witches and headless giants.

History
Premiere of this production: 20 March 1854, Royal Danish Theatre

A Folk Tale (Danish: Et Folkesagn) is a ballet in three acts, created in 1854 for the Royal Danish Ballet by the Danish ballet master and choreographer August Bournonville to the music of Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann and Niels W. Gade. The first performance took place on 20 March 1854. Set in the Middle Ages, the ballet tells the story of a changeling living among the trolls and elves. Bournonville declared the ballet "The most complete and best of all my choreographic works."

Synopsis

Act I

The wealthy but fickle Birthe enjoys a forest outing with friends. She flirts with Sir Mogens though her bethrothed, the handsome Junker Ove is present. When the party leaves for home, Ove remains behind. An elf-hill nearby opens. Hilda, an elf-girl, tries to lure Ove into the hill with a magic drink in a gold cup but he refuses it and she returns to the elf-hill. The sorceress Muri conjures up a bevy of elf-girls who dance with Ove and leave him deranged.

Act II

In the elf-hill, troll brothers Diderik and Viderik both woo Hilda. Diderik, the elder, has the right of priority. Viderik protests, but his mother scolds him. In a dream, Hilda sees trolls take a human child from a cradle and steal a gold cup. Hilda recognizes the dream cup as the one she offered Ove. She suspects she is the human child in the dream and becomes uneasy. The wedding of Hilda and Diderik is celebrated with a feast. The trolls become drunk and Hilda flees.

Act III

In scene 1, Hilda dances near a holy spring as harvesters pass by and Mogens notices her. Junker Ove walks by, completely elf-struck after his nocturnal dances with the elf-girls. Hilda leads him to the healing spring where he regains his senses. When Ove tries to defend Hilda against Mogens, he is overpowered by the harvesters. Hilda flees. In scene 2, Birthe bullies her servants. She rages and admits that Hilda is the true heir to the estate while she is an elf. In the last scene of the ballet, Mogens marries Birthe after Muri offers him gold. Hilda is united with Junker Ove. Hilda and Ove celebrate their wedding with a waltz.

Venue Info

Royal Danish Theatre - Copenhagen
Location   August Bournonvilles Passage 2-8

The Royal Danish Theatre is the major opera house in Denmark. It has been located at Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen since 1748, originally designated as the king's theatre but with public access. The theatre presents opera, the Royal Danish Ballet, classical music concerts (by the Royal Danish Orchestra, which dates back to 1448), and drama in several locations.

The Royal Danish Theatre organization is under the control of the Danish Ministry of Culture, and its objectives are to ensure the staging of outstanding performances that do justice to the various stages that it controls.

The first edifice on the site was designed by court architect Nicolai Eigtved, who also masterminded Amalienborg Palace. In 1774, the old theatre seating 800 theatergoers were reconstructed by architect C.F. Harsdorff to accommodate a larger audience.

During the theatre's first seasons the staffing was modest. Originally, the ensemble consisted of eight actors, four actresses, two male dancers, and one female dancer. Gradually over the following decades, the Royal Danish Theatre established itself as the kind of multi-theatre we know today, home to drama, opera, ballet, and concerts – all under the same roof and management.

An important prerequisite for the theatre's artistic development is its schools. The oldest is the ballet school, established at the theatre in 1771. Two years later, a vocal academy was established as a forerunner for the opera academy. A number of initiatives were considered regarding a drama school, which was established much later.

King Frederik VI, who ascended the throne in 1808, is probably the monarch who most actively took part in the management of the Royal Danish Theatre, not as an arbiter of taste but as its supreme executive chef.

The theatre's bookkeeping accounts of these years show numerous endorsements where the king took personal decisions on everything from wage increases and bonuses to the purchase of shoelaces for the ballerinas. Indeed, the Royal Danish Theatre became the preoccupation of an introverted nation, following the English Wars had suffered a state bankruptcy. "In Denmark, there is only one city and one theatre," as philosopher Søren Kierkegaard put it.

This was the theatre to which the 14-year-old fairytale storyteller Hans Christian Andersen devoted his early ambition. This was also the theatre that became the social and artistic focal point of the many brilliant artists of Denmark's Golden Age.

After the abolition of absolute monarchy in 1849, the Royal Danish Theatre's status as "the city's theatre" fell into decline. No longer enjoying a monopoly within the performing arts, the Royal Danish Theatre was now required by its new owner, the state, to serve the entire nation. The dilapidated building at Kongens Nytorv also found it hard to compete with the splendor of the new popular stage that was rapidly emerging across town. The solution was to construct a brand new theatre building. It was designed in the Historicist style of the times by architects William Dahlerup and Ove Pedersen and situated alongside the old theatre, which was subsequently demolished.

The inauguration of what we today call the Old Stage took place on 15 October 1874. Here opera and ballet were given ample scope. But due to the scale of the building, the auditorium was less suited for spoken drama, which is why a new playhouse was required.

The Royal Danish Theatre has over the past decade undergone the most extensive transformation ever in its over 250-year history. The Opera House in Copenhagen was inaugurated in January 2005, donated by the AP Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation, and designed by architect Henning Larsen. And the Royal Danish Playhouse was completed in 2008. Located by Nyhavn Canal across from the Opera House, the playhouse is designed by architects Boje Lundgaard and Lene Tranberg.

Today, the Royal Danish Theatre comprises the Old Stage, located by Kongens Nytorv, the Opera House, and the Royal Danish Playhouse. 

Important Info
Type: Ballet
City: Copenhagen, Denmark
Starts at: 20:00
Intervals: 2
Duration: 2h 30min
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