Bournonvilliana

August Bournonville’s family house in Fredensborg, where he spent his summers and time away from the theater. (His composer friends stayed across the street.) The house, which was a hotel before Bournonville acquired it, is now in private hands. (You can see the number 21 from one of the rooms.) The lovely owner let us visit the interior. The two busts are of August, one an original, the other a copy. The view was August’s, and the portrait shows his wife and kids , plus mother-and-sister-in-law, who helped around the house. He and his wife, and also his father, are buried in the local parish cemetery. August wanted only a stone, but hte monument was added later, according to the dance historian Alexander Meinertz, who is writing a biography. The inside of the church, is lovely, plain, harmonious. Two ships hang from the ceiling.