1634–1703

Introduction

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Born: De­cem­ber 15, 1634, Slan­ger­up, Den­mark.

Died: Oc­to­ber 14, 1703, Oden­se, Den­mark.

Buried: At a small vil­lage church a few miles out­side Oden­se.

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Biography

Nikolai Grundt­vig said of him:

Kingo’s hymns rep­re­sent not on­ly the great­est mi­ra­cle of the 17th cen­tu­ry but such an ex­cep­tion­al phe­no­me­non in the realm of po­et­ry that it is ex­plainable on­ly by the fates who in their wis­dom pre­served the seed of an East­er Li­ly for a thou­sand years, and then re­turned it across the sea that it might flow­er in its orig­in­al soil.

Grundtvig al­so wrote an epi­taph on a mo­nu­ment to Kin­go at Oden­se:

Thomas Kingo is the psalmist
Of the Danish temple choir.
This his people will remember
Long as song their hearts inspire.

Sources

Lyrics