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Fall 1997, Vol. 60, No. 1

A word from one of the authors of "Captive and Free"

By Britt G. Hallqvist

When Egil Hovland planned to write an opera about Hans Nielsen Hauge and asked whether or not I would write the libretto, I deliberated for a long time. I thought the writer should be a Norwegian. But then I began to read about Hauge and found him interesting, indeed, very interesting. His deep faith, his enemies and independence, made him a martyr and got him thrown into prison 10 times. In any case, he was a well rounded man -- a preacher of awakening, working for practical and social improvements, he built mills, and factories and supported poor people as well.

It was the Conventicle Act that first made his religious activities more difficult. Here perhaps one needs to explain what the Conventicle Act was. As the Nordic encyclopedia says, "The Conventicle Act was written by the leadership of the Nordic churches as a way to obstruct the growth of the separatistic movements that could have destroyed the Lutheran unity of the respective countries."

Conventicle means edifying meeting without leadership from the pastor. In Sweden the Conventicle Act of 1726 forbade all revival meetings, which were popular, and were, for the most part, pietistic. In Denmark/Norway private meetings were illegal from 1741. Those who broke the law were fined and sent to prison. The Conventicle Act stood as law until far into the 19th century. In Norway it was overturned in 1842, some time after Hans Nielsen Hauge's death.

I, personally, had a special reason for being interested in the Conventicle Law. My mother's grandfather, a member of Parliament, Lars Wilhelm Henschen (1805-1885) was a believer, a Bible reader and liberal who held prayer meetings in his own home in Uppsala and gave legal help to people who violated the Conventicle Act. He became a member of Parliament in 1853 to the great joy of those in the Swedish free church. His fight against the Conventicle Act continued until it was repealed in Sweden in 1858.

Hans Nielsen Hauge is exactly the type of "little man" who stood unmoved in his fight for the right against the powers and authorities.

The scenes in "Captive and Free" are not chronologically done but are an attempt to show by word and music what Hauge's work and faith was and what he suffered and fought for during his entire life. We have also tried to give a picture of the milieu and the life circumstance he grew up in and what the people of the time were like, both his friends and enemies -- not the least the woman we call Kari, which she might have been called.

- Britt G. Hallqvist