1972 Hobbitten (Ove Sprogøe)

Release Date: 1972
Readers: Ove Sprogøe
Language: Danish (Funen)
Translator: Ida Nyrop Ludvigsen
Copyright: Danmarks Radio
ISBN: n/a
Duration: 7 hours 13 minutes
Unabridged: Yes
Country: Denmark
Licenced: Yes
Formats: n/a

Broadcast on Danmarks Radio in the late 1970s and rebroadcast some time in the 1980s this was produced and arranged by Jørgen Kanstrup, Søren Kragh-Jacobsen and Jørgen Melgård with music by Bo Hansson and Mike Oldfield.

This was the first Danish production of the Hobbit and was an unabridged reading which unfortunately was too long to be commercially viable to release on vinyl and so it has never been available to buy. Off-air recordings are available however.

Sprogøe gives a spirited production and speaks in the Funen dialect, which has a particular pronunciation of it’s own. An obvious example, encountered almost immediately, is the silent ‘d’ in Gandalf, which then becomes Gan-alf.

Music is used at many points in the narration to add to the atmosphere – a notable example is the opening music from Tubular Bells (memorably also used in The Exorcist) to add an eerie sense to the elves appearing and disappearing in Mirkwood.