Description
"Ja, vi elsker dette landet" (English: Yes, we love this region) is the national anthem of Norway.
The words of the anthem
wrote Bjornstern Bjornson between 1859 and 1868. In 1864 Rikard Nordraak (1842-1866) wrote music for the anthem.
It was first played publicly on May 17, 1864 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of adoption
Constitution. The first and last two verses are usually sung.
History of the text
The modern version of the anthem differs from the original, because Bjornstern Bjornson wrote
the text in Norwegian, which was common in his time and had much in common with Danish. Since
Bokmal (written Norwegian) has gone through several stages of reform, so the modern version
has some differences.