Thomas Kingo
Thomas Hansen Kingo (* December 15 1634 in Slangerup (Denmark ); † October 14, 1703 in Odense) was a Danish Lutheran bishop and writer of hymns, the so-called Kingopsalmen.
Life
Thomas Kingo is the son of Karen Sørensdatter and Hans Thomsen Kingo of the weaver, whose ancestors came from Scotland. Although coming from a humble background, she allowed her son to school in Slangerup and later in Frederiksborg, where he learned, among other literary history and in 1654 graduated from high school. 1658 followed the theology exam.
First, he was then tutor in Frederiksborg and from 1659 on the estate Vedbygaard, where he wrote his first poems. In Danish, Biographical Encyclopedia (1887-1905) emphasizes that the humor and life near these poems were unusual for their time - but also for his later secular work.
1661 Thomas Kingo was curate in 1668 and eventually parish priest in his native Slangerup. There he married the daughter of a pastor Sille bar Borg from Norway, who had three daughters from previous marriage. The marriage remained childless, and his wife died already in 1670. Chrysillis your he dedicated the way, you Verdens min Guld ( Chrysillis, you my gold in the world ). About four years later he married the widow of his manager, Johanne Laurdsdatter Lund who was 13 years older than him. This marriage would last 20 years, but is not described as a happy, but this describes the Danish biographer in the 19th century as normal for that time where not so much emphasis was placed on marriages out of love.
In those years, he fell into bitter conflict with the satirical poet Jacob Worm. Both wrote about each other lampoons, which Kingos Kalot is the most famous poem. It then became anonymous. In addition, he created during his time as parish priest a whole series of poems, which can be divided into three categories:
- Love poems
- Homeland poems
- Spiritual poetry
The Danish Biographical Encyclopedia describes his secular poetry as not particularly outstanding, where rarely the fog thins the taste and poetic inspiration is revealed. His patriotic verses are concerned mostly with the glorification of the absolutist ruler, Christian V, which at that time not only in Denmark but was common. These works are under significant influence from Germany.
Kingos Religious Literature ( in Danish they are called psalms ), however, enjoys a much higher profile. Here he broke new ground, which was marked by a certain stagnation after the Reformation (Denmark 1536) for its time. Although he was regarded as a capable pastor, this lively work was probably decisive in that he was appointed bishop of Funen in 1677. 1679 was followed by the recording Kingos to the peerage. In 1682 he became a doctor of theology.
In 1683 he received from the king the task of publishing a new hymnal, as the former by Hans Thomissøn ( 1569 ) as no longer appropriate applied to the taste of the time. After six years of work, the first part ( Vinterparten - Winter part ) appeared of Danmarks og Norges Kirke forordnede Salmebog ( Prescribed Hymns for the Church of Denmark and Norway ). To this end, Kingo had set up at his episcopal own printing. The book includes 267 songs for the church year between the first Advent and Easter, half of them Kingos own works. However, it did not come to the hoped-for delivery to all communities in the UK. Instead, the 1699 appeared the Forordnede Kirkepsalmebog which, after all still contained 85 Kingopsalmen. Many of them still stand today in the hymnals of the Danish and Norwegian People's Church and are as Grundtvig's hymns part of the Nordic spiritual heritage.
Already in 1694 his wife died Johanne. At the age of 60 years Kingo married again. This time a 30 year younger woman, Birgitte Balslev, doctor's daughter from Odense. This marriage is described as happy, but remained childless.
Thomas Kingo suffered in his last years to stones and erysipelas. He died in 1703 at the age of 68 years. Its designed by Thomas Quellinus grave chapel is located in the Fraugde Kirke in Odense.
Aftermath
While Kingos work is regarded as the pinnacle of Danish baroque poetry, his hymns are in Denmark and Norway still part of the song books, and in particular in the Faeroe Islands are a living part of the local cultural heritage - a separate music genre. In Odense and Slangerup monuments and epitaphs remember ( as Thomas Quellinus ) to the poet, but his greatest monument are the Psalms, which today continue to live in Scandinavia.
( Thomas Kingo: Nu solen cattle op af østerlide 1674)
Kingos importance in the Faroe Islands
In the Faroes has Kingos church hymnal of 1699 acquired a significance which is still evident today. On the Kingopsalmen based, a Faroese own genre of music that got along until the 19th century unaccompanied by instruments such as the church organ, which kept slowly feeder until after construction of the Faroese wooden churches developed. The German Faroe travelers Carl Julian of Graba wrote in 1828 in his diary out on a trip to the Faroe Kingoliedern the Faroese:
On the significance of the songs that changes course, any more than had the respect the Graba elsewhere before the high spiritual level of education of the common people.
In 1900 Kingopsalmen lost their dominant position everything in the spiritual life of the Faroes, but were still kept alive locally as the church songs.
In this context is known the town Tjornuvik in the far north of the island Streymoy, where in 1983 an organ was introduced. For almost three centuries, they left here primarily to Kingo. The Kingo choir of the village played a central role in the project of the Nordic House, 1988 to register the Faroese Kingo - singing tradition. In 1984 appeared the suite Kingoløg by Kristian Blak, who had the old songs of various villages to the foundation.
The Kingo group from Tjornuvik occurred not only on the national arts festival in 2001, but was invited to the local celebrations in Kingojahr 2003 from Copenhagen bishop. Eivør Pálsdóttir cared for modern interpretations of Kingopssalmen, called since 2003 as an important part of music teaching in the Faroe Islands. The then National Art Festival Listastevna Føroya was themed Kingos, and it were held Kingo special church services in various village churches.
The original Kingogesangbücher can be found in the archives of the National Library of the Faroe Islands, but are also exhibited in the Historical Museum. In Hymns of the Faroese People's Church there are 31 Kingopsalmen, including one still in old Danish, while all the others were translated into Faroese.