Hans Christian Andersen
Born in a slum and struggling through his youth to break through Denmark's class structure, Hans Christian Andersen always considered himself an outsider. And so his plays, novels, and especially his fairy tales are populated by outsiders, some of whom do not live happily ever after. The young Andersen initially hoped to rise from his impoverishment as an actor, but a theater director instead raised money to send him to school. In 1829, he gained his first success not as an actor but as a writer, with "A Walk From Holmen's Canal to the East Point of the Island of Amager in the Years 1828 and 1829." Despite its unwieldy travelogue title, this was a tale of fantasy inspired by the work of E.T.A. Hoffmann. Still attached to the theater, Andersen went on to write several plays, few of which were particularly successful. He made his name more as a novelist, with such works as The Improviser (1835) and Only a Fiddler (1837). It was during this early phase of novel writing that Andersen also began turning out original little tales in folk style. The first of what would amount to 156 stories was published in 1835 as Eventyr, or Tales Told for Children. Eventyr was expanded in 1837 and a second volume came out in 1842. Related collections of stories were regularly issued through 1852, with a last publication, New Fairy Tales and Stories, finally arriving in 1872. One key to Andersen's popularity was his style, which was colloquial rather than literary. Yet he refused to write down to children; he introduced dark feelings and sinister turns of events and expressed special sympathy for outcasts, not just heroes and princesses. Some of his tales celebrated the triumph of goodness and were, indeed, overtly Christian, but others were pessimistic in the tradition of German Romanticism. Andersen was also a poet, and his verse has been set to music by such composers as Grieg, Nielsen, and Schumann (notably Der Spielmann). But his fairy tales have made the strongest impression on composers. Among musical adaptations, sometimes quite loose, of Andersen's tales are Prokofiev's song The Ugly Duckling, Mary Rodgers' musical Once Upon a Mattress (based on "The Princess and the Pea"), and Disney's animated feature The Little Mermaid.
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H. C. Andersen: Sämtliche Märchen und Geschichten: Die Störche
Children - Released by BUCHFUNK Verlag on 20 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Märchen von Hans Christian Andersen 3 (Ungekürzt)
Miscellaneous - Released by Bookstream Hörbücher on 13 Sep 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
H. C. Andersen: Sämtliche Märchen und Geschichten: Das Liebespaar
Children - Released by BUCHFUNK Verlag on 20 Mar 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In der Kinderstube (Ungekürzt)
Miscellaneous - Released by Bookstream Hörbücher on 1 Sep 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Les plus belles fables pour enfants (Les plus beaux contes pour enfants)
Hans Christian Andersen, Frères Grimm, Charles Perrault
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by SAGA Egmont on 1 Jan 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
H. C. Andersen: Sämtliche Märchen und Geschichten: Holger Danske
Children - Released by BUCHFUNK Verlag on 20 Mar 2019
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H. C. Andersen: Sämtliche Märchen und Geschichten: Schlammkönigs Tochter
Children - Released by BUCHFUNK Verlag on 20 Mar 2019
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Andersens Märchen (Die Prinzessin auf der Erbse, Däumelinchen und andere Erzählungen)
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Schwager & Steinlein Verlag on 1 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
H. C. Andersen: Sämtliche Märchen und Geschichten: Das alte Haus
Children - Released by BUCHFUNK Verlag on 20 Mar 2019
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Le rossignol (Les plus beaux contes pour enfants)
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by SAGA Egmont on 1 Jan 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
10 contes pour les tout petits (Les plus beaux contes pour enfants)
Hans Christian Andersen, Frères Grimm, Charles Perrault
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by SAGA Egmont on 1 Jan 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Das hässliche Entlein / Der standhafte Zinnsoldat / Das Feuerzeug
Hans Christian Andersen, Manfred Steffen
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Deutsche Grammophon Literatur on 4 Oct 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Andersen's Fairy Tales (Unabridged)
Miscellaneous - Released by Bookstream Audiobooks on 23 Dec 2022
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Märchen von Hans Christian Andersen 5 (Ungekürzt)
Miscellaneous - Released by Bookstream Hörbücher on 15 Sep 2020
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Der Stein des Weisen (Ungekürzt)
Miscellaneous - Released by Bookstream Hörbücher on 23 Aug 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Die schönsten Märchen von Hans Christian Andersen ( Die schönsten Märchen von Hans Christian Andersen)
Children - Released by Audio Media Digital on 15 Aug 2023
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The Snow Queen - Story Time, Episode 78 (Unabridged)
Miscellaneous - Released by Bookstream Audiobooks on 17 Nov 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Complete Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Parolita Libro on 1 Feb 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Märchen aus aller Welt (Ungekürzt)
Hans Christian Andersen, Ludwig Bechstein, Wilhelm Grimm
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Steinbach Sprechende Bücher on 21 Jan 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Des Kaisers neue Kleider / Der Schweinehirt / Das Wichtelmännchen / Der kleine und große Klaus
Hans Christian Andersen, Manfred Steffen
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Deutsche Grammophon Literatur on 4 Oct 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Swineherd (Unabridged)
Miscellaneous - Released by Bookstream Audiobooks on 25 Aug 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo