Fridays
September 5, 2025
Tickets can be purchased via the link under the concert/event description.
Subject to change without notice
10:00-11:15 am
Jonas Eika on Open Skies
Ribe Cathedral School
Lecture by author Jonas Eika and choir songs.
Jonas Eika talks about Open Heaven, a fantasy about the Christian movement the Beguines, where women joined together in small, autonomous collectives in 13th century Belgium, Germany and France. Here we meet Ida the Beguine, who has visions of the young Virgin Mary, an ambiguous Jesus, and angels working hard to fulfill God's plans. Gradually and reluctantly, Ida emerges as a prophet while trying to give herself to those she loves.
The lecture begins with:
Tekla Gribel Wandall: When the dark elder bush (Oehlenschläger) (1888)
Ludolf Nielsen: At Sunset (Jakob Paulli). Arrangement of 2 Songs with Piano op. 47 (1917/22)
Youth Choir Aarhus U
Students from Ribe Katedralskole 2nd and 3rd year music class
Conductor: Jonas Rasmussen
Free of charge
13.45-14.15
Langgaards Bench
Ribe Old Cemetery By the bell stack and the butterfly gate
From his home in Gravsgade, Rued Langgaard often walked to the cemetery, where he found peace and inspiration to compose on a bench. Now we follow in the footsteps of Rued Langgaard. Sit on a bench or in the grass and listen to the music in the distance, the sounds of nature and the words of Open Sky.
Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard: Rued Langgaard's bench II A
Echoes of Langs Kirkegaarden, Wild Ducks and Echoes from Rued Langgaard's Quartet Ribe, tidlig Morgen BVN 386 (1949) First performed
Jonas Eika reads from Open Heaven, a fantasy about the Christian women's movement the Beguines.
Dybfølt: Kirstine Elise Pedersen, cello and Mathæus Bech, bass
Ensemble with students from Ribe Katedralskole.
Soundbox with recording of Rued Langgaard's bench from Rued Langgaard's grave at Holmens Cemetery in Copenhagen and recordings from Sct. Catharinæ Klostergård.
Duration: 30 min.
Free admission
At 15.00
Langgaard's piano renovated
Café Rued
Sit down concert
Throughout his life, Rued Langgaard owned a Bechstein grand piano from the 1890s. It has now undergone a historically conscious renovation at the Bechstein factory in Germany, restoring the instrument to a condition reminiscent of what Rued Langgaard experienced in his time.
Piano music by Tekla Griebel Wandall, Ludolf Nielsen and Rued Langgaard.
Christian Westergaard, piano.
Free admission
3:30 p.m.
Movie: The Word
Langgaard Hall
With Ordet, an adaptation of Kaj Munk's play Ordet (1925), Carl Th. Dreyer created a unique drama of the soul in which the line between life and death is blurred among ordinary people on the west coast of Jutland. The Word is a masterpiece of European cinema in the post-war period and testifies to the important role mysticism played in Denmark well into the 20th century.
Carl Th. Dreyer The Word (1955) (120 min.)
Film
16:00
Langgaard's afternoon - Sacre versus Antichrist
Ribe Art Museum
Poetic walking concert in the museum garden, on Sct. Nicolaj Gade and in Ribe Art Museum.
Introduction in the museum garden by Ribe Å
The ritual begins
Rituals against the apocalypse - in the museum garden
Free performative interpretation of Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps. Based on the first part of the two-part original work, it explores the tension that anticipates the ritual sacrifice, rather than the dance of death itself. In the midst of a global climate crisis, the work asks whether deprivation and human sacrifice are once again necessary to ensure the survival of the species?
- Astrid Grarup Elbo, solo dancer
- Katrine Grarup Elbo, violinist and composer
The ego's fantasies of grandeur - in the square in front of the museum.
Personal interpretation of Rued Langgaard's Antichrist based on sound recordings from Galgebakken in Ribe, where executions were carried out until the mid-18th century.
- Jakob Kullberg, cello
- Jacob Kirkegaard, sound art
Henrik Schouboe: Spring (1906) - in the museum
In Danish painter Henrik Schouboe's breakthrough painting Spring, a young girl walks in organic harmony with nature. Man and landscape form a synthesis. An example of a bright Danish mysticism.
Based on the painting Spring, Ursula Andkjær Olsen recites a new poetic text.
- Recitation Ursula Andkjær Olsen, author
End of the ritual in the museum garden by Ribe Å
Langgaard Malurt aperitif from Vester Vedsted Vingaard
8:00 p.m.
From the Deep
Ribe Cathedral
Concert for orchestra and choir and soloists
The concert begins with a heartfelt praise of the mystery of the throne by Olivier Messiaen. In the concert piece The Star in the East, Rued Langgaard pays homage to a theosophical order that believed in the imminent return of Christ, and in Symphony No. 6 Det Himmelrivende , the Antichrist haunts in expressive star war music.
Freemason Ludolf Nielsen wrote enchanted music with Skovvandring, connecting supernatural, ancient creatures with the trolls, lantern men and elf girls of Nordic folk mythology.
Fra Fra Dybet, which receives its first concert performance here, contains quotes from the Catholic Mass of the Dead and is inspired by a Breton legend in which the bells of a city sunk in the sea are heard. Fra Dybet is a personal requiem by Rued Langgaard composed late in life in Ribe.
Olivier Messiaen: O Sacrum Convivium! (O Holy Guest Offering) Motet for the Holy Sacrament (1937) (5')
Rued Langgaard: The Star in the East (Rued Langgaard and Lilly Heber) Concert piece for soprano and orchestra BVN 180 (1915/1923/1927) (8')
Rued Langgaard: Symphony No. 6 The Heavenly (1919-20, 1928-30) BVN 165 (22')
- Theme (Version I)
- Theme (Versione II)
- I (Introduction)
- II (Fugue)
- III (Toccata)
- IV (Sonata)
- V (Coda)
Pause
Ludolf Nielsen: Forest Walk op. 40 (1914-22) (30')
- Echo and Narcissus
- Pan moves in the forest
- Death of the Dryads
- At Ellemosen
- Towards dawn
Rued Langgaard: From the Deep (excerpt from the Requiem Mass) for mixed choir, soloists and orchestra (1950/52) BVN 414 (8')
Cast:
- Louise McClelland, soprano
- Our Savior's Church Choir and Academic Choir Aarhus
- South Jutland Symphony Orchestra
- Mikkel Andreassen, Jonas Rasmussen (choir conductors)
- Conductor: Michael Schønwandt
- Visual staging: Lene Juhl
22 o'clock.30
Langgaard Lounge
Café Rued
Meet a number of today's artists who will answer questions from the audience while we enjoy a Rued Langgaard porter from Ribe Bryghus.
Host: Karen Bendix
Free admission
Day program 2025
Rued Langgard Festival in Ribe, September 4-7
Thursday
Fridays
SATURDAY
Sunday
Venues
Cast and crew
What's new
8:00 p.m.
From the Deep
Ribe Cathedral
Orchestra and choir concert: Music by Rued Langgaard, Ludolf Nielsen and Olivier Messiaen.
TBA
The festival is supported by
Generous Foundations, Sponsors and Cultural Institutions
