Johannes V. Jensens Slagsang for Danske Studenters Roklub

Abstract

This essay is devoted to the genesis of Johannes V. Jensen’s song ‘Slagsang for Danske Studenters Roklub’ (1921; Song for the Danish Students’ Rowing Club). Jensen was involved in efforts resulting in the inauguration in June 1920 of a new boathouse (the very first work by the young architect Poul Henningsen, who would later become a distinguished figure of the so-called ‘kulturradikale’ movement of the late 1920s and 1930s). The song was subsequently written – to an old Scottish tune, according to a note in the table of contents of his Digte. Tredie Udgave, 1921. However, the song was printed as a broadsheet with a melody by composer Peder Gram. It was apparently considered too difficult to sing on festive occasions and was abandoned a few years later. Some of the boats bought by the club at that time were named after characters in Den lange Rejse (six volumes, 1908-22; The Long Journey).