Editing Carl Nielsen (section)

=== Songs and hymns ===
{{See also|List of songs composed by Carl Nielsen}}
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Forunderligt at sige, Carl Nielsen, Erik Damskier.ogg|title=''Forunderligt at sige'' ("How wonderful to ponder")|description=Christmas hymn played on piano, lyrics by [[N. F. S. Grundtvig]] omitted (0:44)|filename2=Grøn er vårens hæk CN.ogg|title2=''Grøn er Vaarens Hæk'' ("Green in the Hedge in Spring")|description2=Played on piano, lyrics by [[Poul Martin Møller]] omitted (0:25)|filename3=Se dig ud en sommerdag.ogg|title3=''Se dig ud en Sommerdag'' ("Look about one summer day")|description3=Played on piano, lyrics by [[Jeppe Aakjær]] omitted (0:27)}}
Over the years, Nielsen wrote the music for over 290 [[List of songs composed by Carl Nielsen|songs and hymns]], most of them for verses and poems by well-known Danish authors such as N. F. S. Grundtvig, [[Bernhard Severin Ingemann|Ingemann]], Poul Martin Møller, Adam Oehlenschläger and Jeppe Aakjær.{{sfn|''Carl Nielsen Edition: Songs''|pp=528–531}} In Denmark, many of them are still popular today both with adults and children.{{sfn|''Carl Nielsen Edition: Songs''|pp=21–22}} They are regarded as "the most representative part of the country's most representative composer's output".<ref>Krabbe, Niels. "Preface". In {{harvnb|Reynolds|2010|p=8<!--unnumbered on the page, clear from contents list-->}}.</ref> In 1906, Nielsen had explained the significance of such songs to his countrymen:<blockquote>With certain melodic inflections we Danes unavoidably think of the poems of, for example, Ingemann, [[Christian Winther]] or [[Holger Drachmann|Drachmann]], and we often seem to perceive the smell of Danish landscapes and rural images in our songs and music. But it is also clear that a foreigner, who knows neither our countryside, nor our painters, our poets, or our history in the same intimate way as we do ourselves, will be completely unable to grasp what it is that brings us to hear and tremble with sympathetic understanding.{{sfn|Vestergård|Vorre|2008|p=85}}</blockquote>

Of great significance was Nielsen's contribution to the 1922 publication, '' Folkehøjskolens Melodibog (The Folk High School Songbook)'', of which he was one of the editors together with [[Thomas Laub]], [[Oluf Ring]] and [[Thorvald Aagaard]]. The book contained about 600 melodies, of which about 200 were composed by the editors, and was intended to provide a repertoire for [[Sing-along|communal singing]], an integral part of Danish folk culture. The collection was extremely popular and became embedded in the Danish educational system. During the [[Denmark in World War II|German occupation of Denmark]] in World War II, mass song gatherings, using these melodies, were part of Denmark's "spiritual re-armament", and after the war in 1945 Nielsen's contributions were characterised by one writer as "shining jewels in our treasure-chest of patriotic songs". This remains a significant factor in Danish assessment of the composer.{{sfn|Vestergård|Vorre|2008|pp=83–84}}