mes of Kingo, Brorson and Grundtvig are known to many, but so far
no biographies of these men except of the sketchiest kind have appeared
in English. It is hoped that the fairly comprehensive presentation of
their life and work in the following pages may fill a timely need.

In selecting the hymns care has been taken to choose those that are most
characteristic of their authors, their times and the movements out of
which they were born. While the translator has sought to produce
faithfully the metre, poetry and sentiment of the originals, he has
attempted no slavishly literal reproduction. Many of the finest Danish
hymns are frankly lyrical, a fact which greatly increases the difficulty
of translation. But while the writer is conscious that his translations
at times fail to reproduce the full beauty of the originals, he still
hopes that they may convey a fair impression of these and constitute a
not unworthy contribution to American hymnody.

An examination of any standard American church hymnal will prove that
American church song has been greatly enriched by transplantations of
hymns from many lands and languages. If the following contribution from a
heretofore meagerly represented branch of hymnody adds even a little to
that enrichment, the writer will feel amply rewarded for the many hours
of concentrated labor he has spent upon it.

Most of the translations are by the writer himself. When translations by
others have been used, credit has been given to them except where only
parts of a hymn have been presented.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, September 21st, 1944.

INDEX

Chapter Page
Table of Contents 7
I Early Danish Hymnody 9
II Reformation Hymnody 11
III Kingo's Childhood and Youth 21
IV Kingo, the Hymnwriter 31
V Kingo's Psalmbook 41
VI Kingo's Church Hymns 44
VII Kingo's Later Years 51
VIII Brorson's Childhood and Youth 59
IX Brorson, the Singer of Pietism 65