Elvira Madigan
Encyclopedia
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
tightrope walker
Tightrope walking
Tightrope walking is the art of walking along a thin wire or rope, usually at a great height. One or more artists performs in front of an audience or as a publicity stunt...
and trick rider, whose illicit affair and dramatic death at the hands of her lover were the subject of the Swedish film of 1967
Elvira Madigan (film)
Elvira Madigan is a 1967 Swedish film directed by Bo Widerberg, based on the tragedy of the Danish tightrope dancer Hedvig Jensen , working under the stage name of Elvira Madigan at her stepfather's travelling circus, who runs away with the deserter Swedish lieutenant Sixten Sparre .-Plot:Elvira...
.
Early life
She was born Hedvig Antoinette Isabella Eleonore Jensen in FlensburgFlensburg
Flensburg is an independent town in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the region of Southern Schleswig...
in northern Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Her mother was a Norwegian circus performer and her father a Danish stablemaster. Her mother later lived with the American circus manager John Madigan.
Tragedy
While performing in SwedenSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
with her stepfather's circus, she met a Swedish cavalry officer, Lieutenant Count Bengt Edvard Sixten Sparre (27 September 1854 – 20 July 1889). Sparre and Madigan fell in love, but their love was impossible, partly due to the fact that Sparre was married and the father of two children. After exchanging love letters for a year, they ran away together to Denmark in June 1889, where they spent about a month. When they ran out of money, they packed a picnic basket, went out to the Nørreskov ("North forest") on the island Tåsinge
Tåsinge
Tåsinge is a Danish island south of Funen, at Svendborg. The island covers an area of 70 km² and has 6,111 inhabitants.Tåsinge was once called Thorsinge or Thorsenge, which in the Danish means "Thor's Bed" or "Thor's Meadow"...
, Denmark, and had a last meal, after which Sparre shot Madigan and himself with his service revolver. Madigan was 21 years old and Sparre 35 years old.
Madigan's and Sparre's grave is situated on the cemetery of Landet on Tåsinge and is still today visited by tourists and lovers from all over the world. Their tragic love story has some resemblance to the Austrian Mayerling drama, where Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria
Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria
Rudolf , archduke of Austria and crown prince of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, was the son and heir of Franz Joseph I, emperor of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia, and his wife and empress, Elisabeth...
and his lover took their lives in January 1889.
The film Elvira Madigan
The story of Elvira Madigan and Sixten Sparre has been the subject of three films. The Swedish film of 1967, directed by Bo Widerberg, is the best known. The soundtrack features the Andante from Piano Concerto No. 21 in C (K 467)Piano Concerto No. 21 (Mozart)
The Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467, was completed on March 9, 1785 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, four weeks after the completion of the previous D minor concerto.- Structure :There are three movements....
by Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, which is sometimes informally referred to as the "Elvira Madigan" Concerto.
Miscellaneous
- The Swedish pop band KomedaKomedaKomeda is a Swedish pop/indie band from Umeå. The group is named in honour of the late jazz musician Krzysztof Komeda. The band started in 1991 as a pit band for a Buster Keaton festival. Forming as a quartet, Komeda consisted of vocalist Lena Karlsson, guitarist Henrik Andersson , bassist Marcus...
recorded an original song "Elvira Madigan" on their third English album KokomemedadaKokomemedadaKokomemedada is the fourth full-length studio album from Swedish band Komeda, and their third album sung in English. Kokomemedada was first released in 2003 on Sonet Records and in 2004 in the United States on the Minty Fresh label...
. - The English folk band Mr. FoxMr. FoxMr Fox were an early 1970s electric folk or folk rock band. They were seen as in the ‘second generation’ of electric folk performers and for a time were compared with Steeleye Span and Sandy Denny’s Fotheringay. Unlike Steeleye Span they mainly wrote their own material in a traditional style and...
recorded their song "Elvira Madigan" on their second album, "The Gipsy". - The Chicago chamber pop duo The Heavy Boxes recorded their own song "Elvira Madigan (Walkin' a Tightrope)" on their second EP, "History Is Made At Night".
- "Elvira Madigan" is also the name of a Swedish symphonic black metalSymphonic black metalSymphonic black metal is a black metal subgenre that emerged in the mid to late 1990s. The genre is known for its symphonic and orchestral elements and is centralized in Europe.-Characteristics:...
band.