It is now 150 years since the birth of “Ja, vi elsker dette landet”. Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson wrote the words and Rikard Nordraak composed the music for what was to become Norway’s national anthem. Arild Yttri has engraved a fine stamp to commemorate this anniversary.
On the top of the victory podium stands the gold medallist, straight-
backed and blinking away a tear as the Norwegian
national anthem
swells over the loudspeaker system. This stirring scene brings goose pimples to our skin and we join
in the singing,proud
to be Norwegian. However, Norwegians do not sing the national anthem with the same intensity today as they did fifty or sixty
years ago, when feelings for it were linked with experiences during the war. It is said that members of the Resistance who
were sentenced to death sang the anthem in front of the firing squad until the shots were fired and all went quiet. On Liberation
Day, 8 May 1945, the Norwegian prisoners in the Grini internment camp assembled for roll call for the last time. Five thousand
voices rose in unison, singing the national anthem - the voices of women and men who had shown by their actions what the words
of the anthem can mean.
Did someone say goose pimples?
The national anthem has never lost the position it had at the end of the war. It is sung at every national commemoration
and
celebration. That ought to make it Norway's official national anthem, but this is
not so. Its use at all official events
is founded on custom and has never been made statutory by political resolution.
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832-1910) wrote the first draft of the anthem in 1859 and had it printed in Aftenbladet in Bergen.
After some polishing and rewriting, the final version was published in 1868. In the meantime, a previous version had been
performed publicly for the first time on 17 May 1864 in Eidsvoll, on the 50th anniversary of the Constitution. It was set
to music by Rikard Nordraak (1842-66), which he composed in 1863-64 during a stay in
Berlin. Nordraak was very pleased
with the result, shouting exultantly when it was finished that he had written something
that would be heard from the North Cape down to Lindesnes! Nordraak died two years later, only 23 years old. He was never
to know just how right he had been.
After the anthem's initial performance in Eidsvoll in 1864, it was not long before it ousted a previously sung anthem. Down through the years there have been many occasions when this anthem has acted as a strong, collective voice for the Norwegian people. It has been a unifying hymn at important events, whether happy or sad. There are close ties between Constitution Day and national anthem, and this may explain why no-one has ever suggested or ocomposed an alternative melody for Bjørnson's lyrics.
Subject: Words of "Ja, vi elsker dette landet" and children's procession
Design: Arild Yttri
Values: NOK 12.00
Issue: 600,000
No. per sheet: 50
Printing: Offset/recess by Royal Joh. Enschedé, Netherlands
Sales prices: First day cover: NOK 16.00
Presentation pack: NOK 17.00
Collector's set: NOK 38.00
Collector's sheet: NOK 32.00
Gold cover: NOK 95.00