INTERVIEW WITH THE DANISH PIONEER: Translating Grundtvig – a labor of love!

During the December 2014 holiday season, Edward and Hanna Broadbridge from England & Denmark presented an afternoon program of the famous Dane N.F.S. Grundtvig’s “Christmas Hymns” in English at The Danish Home of Chicago. The Danish Pioneer’s Editor Linda Steffensen has since interviewed Edward Broadbridge (EB) and Hanna Broadbridge (HB) about their extensive new translation project of Grundtvig, known as the founding father of modern Denmark.

LS: What is the background for your translation project and how did you got involved?

EB: It’s been said before that whether you know it or not, when you cross the Danish border, you meet Grundtvig. In the mid-19^th century he was the pre-eminent founding father of modern Denmark in so many areas – the nation-builder, if you like. Poet, pastor, hymn-writer, philosopher, educator, politician, even an abolitionist – an absolute giant of a man. Three wives, five children, lived till he was 88. I met his hymns in 1965 on my first visit to Denmark. I’m from England, so when Hanna and I married here in 1967, we sang a wonderful Grundtvig hymn called ‘How sweet to travel the road ahead/ for two desiring to be together.’ So I’ve been ‘acquiring’ Grundtvig ever since. That’s actually my translation of the hymn in the new volume Living Wellsprings, the Hymns, Songs, and Poems of N.F.S. Grundtvig.

HB: I grew up with Grundtvig. We sang his hymns in church and I met his educational ideas in school without realising it. Interaction between teacher and student, education for all, education for life – they all come from Grundtvig. He’s best known in Denmark for his hymns – for being a champion of freedom for the people, and for being a ‘happy Dane’! But outside the hymns he’s really difficult to understand in the original, because his prose is tortuous and his references are many – biblical, mythological, historical, poetical. When Edward started translating Grundtvig in the 1980s he needed help from many sides. Nowadays he still asks me about obscure words – like mulkt – which was the fine you had to pay in Grundtvig’s day if you kept your children home from school to work on the farm.

LS: How long has the current project taken? You’re planning five volumes in all.

EB: The Grundtvig Study Center in Aarhus has commissioned me to translate Grundtvig’s educational ideas, his poetic works, his views on history and philosophy, his political thought and activity, and finally his theology and his Christian teachings. Volume 1, The School for Life, N.F.S. Grundtvig on Education for the People was published by Aarhus University Press in 2011. I knew from the start that the new book – his hymns, songs, and poems – would be the hardest of all, and that’s just come out. Now I’m working on volume 3. I hope to finish the five volumes by 2021-22. But in between times we have to travel around to promote the man and his works – we can’t just sit at home!

LS: Where are your tours taking you in 2015 and 2016?

HB:  In 2013 we came to Wisconsin for the West Denmark summer gathering. In 2014 we met with some of the Danes in the Seattle area, and in May 2015 we shall be in Seattle, Tacoma, Des Moines, St. Peter, and Minneapolis. This time we are launching the new translations of Grundtvig’s hymns, songs and poems. In 2016 we have set aside another three weeks for a trip to the States, so we are open to offers!

LS: Is there anywhere in the States where can people buy the books?

EB: There’s an American distributor at the following address. ISD, 70 Enterprise Drive, Bristol, CT 06010.

LS: How do you see the significance of the work being translated?

EB: There are three famous Danes in the 19^th century, Hans Christian Andersen, Soren Kierkegaard, and Grundtvig. The first two are known world-wide, but in Denmark Grundtvig is the most important of the three. In a new book from McGill-Queens called Building the Nation N.F.S. Grundtvig and Danish National Identity, Grundtvig is credited as being one of the founding fathers of modern Denmark, yet his works have not been translated. Now we are remedying that.

HB: One little example was at a wedding we attended this January in South Africa, where I made a speech on the Grundtvig wedding hymn that Edward has just mentioned. A number of people came up to me and asked for both the text and the tune, as they did not have anything that could compare to this much-loved Danish hymn. Hardly a wedding takes place in Denmark without this hymn being sung. Some of Grundtvig’s hymns are in our minds very seasonal. Christmas is not Christmas without ‘We greet you again, God’s angels bright’, ’A child is born in Bethlehem’ or ‘Lovely is the midnight sky’. Nor would Easter be Easter without ‘Hail, our reconciling Saviour’, or ‘Easter flow’r, why are you here’, and summer would not come without the congregation singing on Whitsunday morning ‘The sun now shines in all its splendour’. When autumn comes we sing ‘The forest leaves are fading fast’ and then Advent arrives with ‘Welcome New Year of our Lord’. These hymns are milestones in the year, and the music sets the tone of mind, the expectations and the joy of what is to come. This is what we want to share with people who may not live in Denmark, but for whom the universal experience of nature and the turning of the calendar year is just as important as it is for the Danes.

The Danish Pioneer Newspaper says thank you to Edward and Hanna Broadbridge and wishes them good luck on their remarkable translation project and tours. Readers can learn more about Edward and Hanna Broadbridge at their website www.broadbridge.dk

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