Johannes Ewald (1743-1781)

Johannes Ewald was the son of a clergyman employed at the Royal Orphanage in Copenhagen. On the death of his father, Ewald was sent to the grammar school in Schleswig, where between 1754 and 1758 he lived at the home of the headmaster, Johan Friedrich Licht, and had access to his extensive library.

 

After completing his schooling, Ewald moved to the home of his mother’s landlord and later husband, the grocer Peder Huulegaard in Copenhagen, falling deeply in love with Huulegaard’s niece Arendse Huulegaard. He broke off his theological studies and went off to earn some money quickly in the Prussian Seven Years War in order to be able to marry. This was not a successful move, as he ended on the losing side. He returned to Copenhagen in 1760 minus honour and minus money. In 1762, he qualified in theology and was given free lodgings in the hall of residence known as Valkendorfs Kollegium, where he wrote disputations and a small number of literary texts. At the same time he spent much time in the German circles in Copenhagen, a central figure in which was the poet Friedrich Klopstock (1724-1803).

 

For many years, Ewald’s health was undermined as a result of serious rheumatism and a demanding bohemian life. He lived by writing occasional songs and also worked on various novels and stories, though he did not always manage to finish them. From 1773 to 1775 he lived in Rungsted Inn, where he wrote the ballad opera The Death of Baldur and started on his main work, Life and Opinions.

 

Back in Copenhagen he had recently met with great success, partly on account of the play The Fisherfolk. On his death in 1781, he was given a state funeral and buried in the cemetery of Trinitatis Church. Ewald’s literary production ranges over a wide area, from heroic dramas in the classical style to sentimental ballad operas, traditional occasional poetry and odes in the neo-classical style.

 

Knud Lyne Rahbek was a great admirer of Johannes Ewald. As a child, he was introduced to his works through his tutor, the theologian Adzer, who was a good friend of Ewald. As a young literary figure, Rahbek also had the opportunity of making the acquaintance of the then much weakened poet. His interest in Ewald led Rahbek to join a group of young intellectuals who were eager to support the poet and who helped to have his plays performed. After Ewald’s death, Rahbek continued to ensure that his reputation lived on, partly by publishing his autobiography Life and Opinions, which was later published in Rahbek’s periodicals.

 

So although Ewald died before Bakkehuset’s greatest period, it is Rahbek’s interest in him that explains why a memorial room has been arranged for the poet displaying objects bequeathed by the Ewald collector Andreas Dolleris.