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1620s – Music and intrigue come to 17th Century Denmark and to the royal court
Music and Silence
What you need to know before your trail
1629 – Denmark
A young English musician Peter Claire (from Harwich in Essex) arrives at the Danish court excited to be joining King Christian IV’s Royal Orchestra. But it’s not long before he realises just what this orchestra stands for, how it musicians are forced to play in a freezing basement underneath the royal apartments…
Peter is known as the King’s angel due to his good looks and soon attracts the attention of a young woman who is also the companion of the Kings estrange wife. The Kings wife however is also an adulteress and soon Peter is forced to decide which side his loyalties lie – whether he is dealing with orchestra or the people he meets because of it.
Travel Guide
17th century Denmark is a cold and unforgiving place to be. Within its walls, the court of Christian IV, there is a sense of dread and foreboding. Its music may echo through its walls but so to does the doubt and intrigue at play.
Music has the power to reach into a human soul says the king. A life of sleep begins to go badly. We lose the thread of things, This is what I always ask of music to restore the thread to me. Music it seems has the power to heal and do great things…..but also to result in the unexpected.
Four narrators give an even wider picture of vents and a feel for the multitude of feeling and opinion in the rich royal court of intrigue. There is a feel that things are changing and that something in court is not right –
‘In Springtime,’ Christian says suddenly, ‘Copenhagen used to smell of lilacs and of linden. I do not know where this heavenly scent has gone.’ “
With the air as crisp as the both the Danish chill and the suspicion cools the corridors of power, we are transported to its heart: of the private life of its nobility and within an orchestra which they keep hidden beneath them –
“Denmark is full of ghosts. Did no-one tell you?”
At this heart is the inner circle of the court of Christian IV of Denmark who was known as the Sun King for the dazzling ambitions he had for his people. To visit his tomb just outside of Copenhagen is the ultimate climax on reading this story.
So for magical realism in Danish forests to the intrigue of the Royal court and the music of mystery and intrigue, Music and silence – the two things the king loves the most – is a journey to Denmark’s intriguing past.
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