{{Short description|Norwegian poet, novelist, playwright and newspaper editor}} {{Use dmy dates |date=December 2023}} thumb|Portrait of Munch'''Andreas Munch''' (19 October 1811 – 27 June 1884) was a Norwegian poet, novelist, playwright and newspaper editor. He was the first person to be granted a poet's pension by the Parliament of Norway.
==Personal life== Munch was born in Christiania, as son of poet, priest and later Lutheran Bishop Johan Storm Munch and his wife Else Petronelle Hofgaard. He was married to Charlotte Amalie Juul from 1844 until her death in 1850. One of his sons also died in 1850, and a second son died a few years later. In 1865 he married Danish citizen Anna Marie Amalie Raben.<ref name="nbl">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Andreas Munch |encyclopedia=Norsk biografisk leksikon|first=Sigurd Aa |last=Aarnes |editor=Helle, Knut |editor-link=Knut Helle |publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget|location=Oslo|url=http://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Andreas_Munch/utdypning |language=no|access-date=3 September 2011}}</ref> He died in Vedbæk in Denmark in 1884.<ref name="stolav" />
==Career== Munch made his literary debut in 1836 with the poetry collection ''Ephemerer'' (''Ephemera'').<ref name="snl">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Andreas Munch |encyclopedia=Store norske leksikon |publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget |location=Oslo |url=http://www.snl.no/Andreas_Munch |language=no | access-date=3 September 2011 }}</ref> His first play was ''Kong Sverres Ungdom'' from 1837, written for the opening of Christiania Theatre´s new building.<ref name="nbl" /> In 1840 he published the one-act play ''Donna Clara'', set in Spain.<ref name="nlh">{{cite book |chapter=Poetisk realisme og nasjonalromantikk |title=Norges Litteraturhistorie |volume=2 |first=Ingard |last=Hauge |language=no |editor=Beyer, Edvard |editor-link=Edvard Beyer |pages=318–325 |year=1975 |publisher=Cappelen |location=Oslo }}</ref> He edited the newspaper ''Den Constitutionelle'' from 1841 to 1846.<ref name="snl" /> His story ''Den Ensomme. En Sjælehistorie'' was first printed in ''Den Constitutionelle'' in 1846.<ref name="nlh" /> From 1846 to 1848 he made an educational European tour together with his family, and visited France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.<ref name="nbl" /> He published the poetry collection ¨''Digte, gamle og nye'' in 1848, and ''Nye Digte'' in 1850.<ref name="nlh" /> His poetry collection ''Sorg og Trøst'' from 1852 was written after the death of his wife and son.<ref name="snl" /> In 1866 Edvard Grieg composed music to the poem "Vuggesang" from this collection, published as Opus 9 together with three other songs with text by Munch. In "Vuggesang" the father sings for his newborn son after the mother's death.<ref name="griegbio">{{cite book |first1=Finn |last1=Benestad |author-link1=Finn Benestad |first2=Dag |last2=Schjelderup-Ebbe |author-link2=Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe |title=Edvard Grieg – mennesket og kunstneren |edition=2 |year=1990 |orig-year=1980 |language=no |publisher=Aschehoug |location=Oslo|isbn=82-03-16373-4 |pages=99–100 }}</ref> In the 1850s he wrote three historic plays in verse, ''Salomon de Caus'' (1854), ''En Aften paa Giske'' (1855), and ''Lord William Russell'' (1857).<ref name="nlh" />
Munch was granted a poet's pension by the Parliament of Norway from 1860, the first as such in Norway, and was titled professor from 1866.<ref name="nlh" />
He was decorated Commander, First Class of the Order of St. Olav for literary merits in 1880, and was also a Commander of the Danish Order of the Dannebrog, and a Knight of the Swedish Order of the Polar Star.<ref name="stolav">{{cite book |title=Den kongelige norske Sankt Olavs Orden |first=O. Delphin |last=Amundsen |author-link=Otto Delphin Amundsen|page=46 |language=no |publisher=Grøndahl |location=Oslo |year=1947}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.nb.no/nbsok/search?action=search&mediatype=bøker&format=Digitalt%20tilgjengelig&searchString=creator:%22munch,a.%22 Digitized books by Munch] in the National Library of Norway * [http://andreasmunch.blogspot.no/ Homepage of the Andreas Munch Society]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Munch, Andreas}} Category:1811 births Category:1884 deaths Category:Writers from Oslo Category:19th-century Norwegian poets Category:Norwegian male poets Category:Commanders of the Order of the Dannebrog Category:Knights of the Order of the Polar Star Category:19th-century journalists Category:19th-century male journalists Category:Norwegian male journalists Category:Norwegian male novelists Category:Norwegian male dramatists and playwrights Category:19th-century Norwegian novelists Category:19th-century Norwegian dramatists and playwrights Category:19th-century Norwegian male writers Category:19th-century Norwegian newspaper editors