The Little Match Girl: Difference between revisions

"The Little Match Girl"
"The Little Match Girl"
Short story by {{{author}}}
Original title	Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne
Country	Denmark
Language	Danish
Genre(s)	Short story
Publication
Published in	Dansk Folkekalender for 1846
Media type	Print
Publication date	December 1845

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The Little Match Girl (Danish: Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne, meaning "The little girl with the matchsticks") is a short story by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. The story is about a dying child's dreams and hope, and was first published in 1845. It has been adapted to various media including animated film, and a television musical.

Plot summary

On a cold New Year's Eve, a poor girl tries to sell matches in the street. She is freezing badly, but she is afraid to go home because her father will beat her for not selling any matches. She takes shelter in a nook and lights the matches to warm herself.

In their glow, she sees several lovely visions including a Christmas tree and a holiday feast. All four visions can be seen as hallucinations due to hypothermia but Anerson meant the last vision at least to be real. ^[1]^[2] The girl looks skyward and sees a shooting star, then she remembers her dead grandmother saying that such a falling star means someone is dying and is going to Heaven. As she lights the next match, she sees a vision of her grandmother, the only person to have treated her with love and kindness. She strikes one match after another to keep the vision of her grandmother alive for as long as she can.

Running out of matches, the child dies and her grandmother carries her soul to Heaven. The next morning, passers-by find the child dead in the nook and take pity on her. They do not know about the visions she saw, or that she will not be cold or hungry any more in Heaven.

Sources

The source for the story was a widely popular woodcut illustration by the Danish artist Johan Thomas Lundbye depicting a poor child selling matches printed in a calendar for 1843; several illustrations had been sent to Andersen by the editor of an almanac requesting him to write a story around one.^[3]

Another known inspiration for the story is the well-known fairy tale The Star Money previously recorded by the Brothers Grimm.^{[citation needed]} It is a story of an impoverished young girl who gives away everything that she has to the needy and ends up with nothing but her love for God. Her selflessness is later rewarded by stars falling from the sky towards the earth, proven to be silver coins. The Grimms' variation differs, ending with the girl remaining alive and receiving divine gifts (money that falls from the stars) for her charity.

Publication

"The Little Match Girl" was first published December 1845 in Dansk Folkekalender for 1846. The work was re-published 4 March 1848 as a part of New Fairy Tales. Second Volume. Second Collection. 1848. (Nye Eventyr. Andet Bind. Anden Samling. 1848.), and again 18 December 1849 as a part of Fairy Tales. 1850. (Eventyr. 1850.). The work was also published 30 March 1863 as a part of Fairy Tales and Stories. Second Volume. 1863. (Eventyr og Historier. Andet Bind. 1863.)^[4]

Adaptations

Live-action film

In 1902 a short silent film called "The Little Match Seller", directed by James Williamson
In 1928, La Petite Marchande d'Allumettes (The Little Match Girl), a forty-minute silent film by Jean Renoir, was released.
La vendedora de rosas directed by Víctor Gaviria, was partially based on the story. The film earned a nomination for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2013, "Matches," a twelve minute short film based on "The Little Match Girl" was released. The film takes place in a modern day small town and tells the tale of a young red-haired homeless girl named "Matches" who is ignored by the world around her. After a particularly cold night on the street, Matches meets a mysterious figure named "Gabe" who takes her to a house where she encounters a series of events that parallel the visions the little girl experienced in Anderson's original tale.^[5]

Animated

The Charles Mintz studio adapted "The Little Match Girl", including its grim ending, into a 1937 Color Rhapsodies animated short film, considered among the studio's best films. It was nominated for the 1937 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons), losing to Disney's short The Old Mill. This version of the story is also slightly different from the story, specifically near the end.
In 1971, Toei Animation released an animated film based on Andersen's works, entitled Hans Christian Andersen no Sekai (The World of Hans Christian Andersen).
In 2003, "The Little Match Girl" was made into an animated short film by Junho Chung for Fine Cut: KCET's Festival of Student Film.
In 2005, an adaptation of "The Little Match Girl" was released by ADV Films in Hello Kitty Animation Theater Vol. 3.
In 2006, Walt Disney Feature Animation finished production work on a new adaptation of "The Little Match Girl". The short was originally intended to be a part of a Fantasia film, but this project was canceled. The Little Matchgirl is last of the four shorts from the aborted compilation to be developed as a stand alone film. This short was nominated for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Animated Short, losing to The Danish Poet. This short was subsequently released as a special feature on the 2006 Platinum Edition DVD of The Little Mermaid.
In the 2005 anime series The Snow Queen, based on another H.C. Andersen story, there is an episode entitled "The Little Match Girl".

Music

In 1994, Frederik Magle released the album "The song is a Fairytale" with songs based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales with Thomas Eje and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen amongst others. The Little Match Girl is one of the songs.^[6]
In 1988–96, the German avant-garde composer Helmut Lachenmann wrote an opera based on the story called Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern, also including a text by Red Army Faction founder Gudrun Ensslin.
In 1973, The American Opera composer William Byron Webster,wrote a tragic opera for minimal orchestration. The opera was recorded in 1990.
In 1995, German singer Meret Becker included the song "Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern" in her album Noctambule.
In 2001, guitarist Loren Mazzacane Connors released the album The Little Match Girl based on the story.
In 2001 the Hungarian band Tormentor wrote the song "The Little Match Girl," with lyrics based on the story.
In 2002 GrooveLily released Striking 12, a musical based on "The Little Match Girl".
The story was also used as a basis for the band GrooveLily's 2004 off-Broadway musical Striking 12.
Xiong Tian Ping the song 'Match Heaven' (Chinese: 火柴天堂) was performed by the Taiwanese pop artist Xiong Tian Ping in his debut album.
In 2005, Erasure made a music video of their song "Breathe", based on a modern adaptation of the story.
In 2006, the English band The Tiger Lillies and a string trio released the album "The Little Match Girl" based on the story.
American composer David Lang completed his own rendition of the original story in 2007. The Little Match Girl Passion is scored for four solo voices, soprano, alto, tenor and bass, with percussion, and was written for Paul Hillier and his ensemble Theater of Voices. The work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in music in 2008. It presents Hans Christian Andersen's tale in Lang's characteristic post-minimalist style with thematic influence from Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John and St. Matthew Passions.
In 2010, the Oxford based band Stornoway mentions 'The Story of the Match Stick Girl' in their song 'Here comes the Blackout'.
Akuno-P/Mothy created "The Flames of the Yellow Phosphorus", an adaptation of the tale with vocals provided by the vocaloid Rin Kagamine.
Appearing in the popular Japanese idol game, THE iDOLM@STER, 'Little Match Girl' first appeared as a reservation privilege DLC only song for THE iDOLM@STER 2.
In 2012 The Crüxshadows recorded the song "The Matchstick girl" on their album, As The Dark Against My Halo. According to front-man for the band, Rogue, the song "Matchstick Girl" refers to Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Little Match Girl.[4]
In 2013, the Paris world premiere of The Little Match Girl Opera^[7] by composer William Byron Webster (words and music 1973–75) and produced by Adrian Harrington Brown was performed in the Salle des Mariages, Mairie du 7 Arrondissement, as part of the 7 En Musique festival.^[8] Scored for two voices with Anne-Chantal Carrière (soprano) as the little match girl and Véronique Bauer (mezzo) as the grandmother and accompanied by pianist Gilles Nicolas.
In 2013, the world premiere of The Little Match Girl Opera by composer Claudio Vaira was performed in the Nuovo Teatro delle Commedie in Livorno - Italy. Scored for 3 solo voices, children choir, mixed choir, 2 percussion and piano. Valentina Vitolo, soprano, Arianna Rondina, soprano, Giorgio Marcello, bass, Matteo Lenzi and Fabio Machiavelli, percussion, Angela Panieri, piano.

16mm short subject

In 1954, Castle Films released a 16 mm English language version of a 1952 b&w French short live-action film. Instead of her grandmother, the Virgin Mary, whom the match girl believes is her own long-lost mother, takes the girl to heaven. No mention is made of the father beating the child. Music from The Nutcracker is used in one of the dream sequences.

Television

In the 1970 Mary Tyler Moore' episode "Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid", when Rhoda learns that Mary is working and can't spend Christmas Eve with her, Rhoda makes reference to the story by asking whether she (Rhoda) is supposed to spend the evening alone standing in the snow lighting matches.
In 1974, a contemporarized version set in Cincinnati on Christmas Eve was aired on WLWT. It featured a nine-year-old Sarah Jessica Parker in the role of the title character. This Christmas special was placed in syndication and last aired on the Family Channel in December 1982.
In 1987, HTV released "The Little Match Girl" a musical based on the original story. The cast included Twiggy and Roger Daltrey. It included the song "Mistletoe and Wine", which became a Christmas hit a year later for Cliff Richard.^[9]^[10]
In 1987, a modernized version, "The Little Match Girl", was shown on American television. The cast included Keshia Knight Pulliam, Rue McLanahan, and William Daniels.
In 2009, a modernized version set to original music and narrated by F. Murray Abraham was presented by HBO Storybook Musicals, in which the girl is the daughter of a homeless New York couple forced to live underground in an abandoned subway station due to the economic collapse of the 1990s.
On the first episode of Gilmore Girls, before going into her grandmother's house, Rory says to Lorelai "So, do we go in or do we just stand here re-enacting The little match girl?"

Literature

In 1996, Hogfather, one of Terry Pratchett's popular Discworld series of novels, gave the story a decidedly less morbid ending, thanks to the intervention of Death himself; currently acting as the Hogfather to compensate for the original's absence, he uses his current status to give the little match girl the present of a future.
In 2003, "The Little Match Girl" was adapted into a short story manga by Hans Tseng and was featured in the first volume of Tokyopop's Rising Stars of Manga.
In Neil Gaiman's 2004 novella, "A Study in Emerald," the main characters view a set of three plays, one of which is a stage adaptation of the "Little Match Girl".
A Spider-Man short story titled "Leah" about a homeless little girl who goes into a coma and is found by Spider-Man, the doctors inform Spider-Man she won't make it, as Spidey kisses Leah on the cheek he wishes her "sweet, sweet dreams"; Leah falls asleep looking at newspaper clippings of Spider-Man mirroring the girl's death while looking into the matches. The story was originally in the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Annual No. 1.
Match Girl, a short story by Anne Bishop, published in Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears in 1995.
In 1992 Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés Clarissa Pinkola Estés page 319 The Little Match Girl, as told to the author by her aunt, is followed by a lucid analysis.
Novelist Gregory Maguire read a short story based on "The Little Match Girl" over the air on NPR. In 2009 he expanded the short story into a novel, published as Matchless: A Christmas Story.^[11]
The Little Match Girl is sometimes referenced in the Japanese manga, Crayon Shin Chan.
The Little Match Girl is retold in a poem by William McGonagall (1825–1902)^[12]
In the Piers Anthony novel "The Color of Her Panties", chapter 11, the characters reference the story of the Little Match Girl, and the Demoness Metria takes the form of an orphan waif selling matches. As she lights her matches, the heart's desire of the one for whom she lights the match is granted.
In Anne Ursu's 2011 novel "Breadcrumbs", the main character Hazel meets a character based on the Little Match Girl in the woods.

Other

File:Fairy tale ghost.jpg

The Little Match Girl in the Fairy Tale Forest, Efteling, Netherlands.

Suikoden III, (2002), a video game for the PlayStation 2, contains a highly-abridged play version of "The Little Match Girl". In the game, the player can cast characters in different roles and have them perform a shortened version of the story.
"Resurrection of the Little Match Girl" is a 2003 Korean movie.
In the Japanese anime Gakuen Alice, the main character, Mikan Sakura puts on a play about The Little Match Girl to earn money.
In the Japanese anime Little Busters!, the Little Match Girl is mentioned by a main character, Komari Kamikita, who takes great interest in fairy tales.
The Colombian movie La Vendedora De Rosas (Little Rose Selling Girl) is a 1998 film about homeless children victims of solvent abuse, loosely based in The Little Match Girl.
In France, director Jean Benoît-Lévy's film version, La Jeune Fille aux Allumettes (1952) included a brief dance sequence with ballet star Janine Charrat.
The Fairy Tale Forest (Sprookjesbos in Dutch) of the amusement park Efteling in the Netherlands has a three dimensional attraction showing the story of the Little Match Girl, called Het Meisje met de Zwavelstokjes.^[13] In this attraction, use is made of the pepper's ghost technique.
Rest in peace – The dead children of Guizhou – report by @bzand in Der Spiegel: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/reports-on-death-of-children-highlights-repression-of-journalists-in-china-a-876073-2.html where the tragedy of Bijie reminded many of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Little Match Girl" and resulted in the Chinese authorities persecuting all the reporters who filed the original reports and confiscating evidence.

References

^ [1]
^ Hypothermia, University of Maryland Cold Cases page&q=hypothermia%20induced%20hallucinations&f=false hypothermia induced hallucinations
^ Tatar, Maria (2008). The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen. W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06081-2.
^ "Hans Christian Andersen: The Little Match Girl". Hans Christian Andersen Center.
^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2634370/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3
^ "The Song is a Fairytale". magle.dk. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
^ "The Little Match Girl Opera".
^ "7 En Musique".
^ Nick Smurthwaite (21 March 2005). "Million pound notes – Keith Strachan". The Stage. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
^ "INTERVIEW: West End director Keith Strachan takes Dancing In The Streets on tour". This is London. 20 October 2009. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
^ VanderWerff, Todd (19 November 2009). "Matchless: A Christmas Story". AV Club. Retrieved 23 November 2009.
^ McGonagall, William. "The Little Match Girl." Poetry Foundation.2010. Web. 26 February 2010.
^ Efteling – 'The Little Match Girl' in Fairy tale forest (Het meisje met de zwavelstokjes) (video)

External links

"The Little Match Girl" Jean Hersholt's English translation
[2] "The Little Match Girl" in the New Normal Reader
Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne Original Danish text
Surlalune: The Annotated Little Match Girl
"The Little Matchgirl" Creative Commons audiobook
"The Little Match Girl 1902 Adaptation (downloadable)" at The British Film Institute Released as part of the Creative Archive
Shedding Light on the Little Matchgirl traces the path director Roger Allers and the Disney Studio took in adapting the Hans Christian Andersen story to animation.
David Lang's passion
English translation (full text) from "Andersen's Fairy Tales"

[1] [1]

[2] Hypothermia, University of Maryland Cold Cases page&q=hypothermia%20induced%20hallucinations&f=false hypothermia induced hallucinations

[3] Tatar, Maria (2008). The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen. W.W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06081-2.

[4] "Hans Christian Andersen: The Little Match Girl". Hans Christian Andersen Center.

[5] ttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt2634370/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3

[6] "The Song is a Fairytale". magle.dk. Retrieved 6 July 2012.

[7] "The Little Match Girl Opera".

[8] "7 En Musique".

[stage-9] Nick Smurthwaite (21 March 2005). "Million pound notes – Keith Strachan". The Stage. Retrieved 23 March 2010.

[london-10] "INTERVIEW: West End director Keith Strachan takes Dancing In The Streets on tour". This is London. 20 October 2009. Retrieved 23 March 2010.

[11] VanderWerff, Todd (19 November 2009). "Matchless: A Christmas Story". AV Club. Retrieved 23 November 2009.

[Poetry_Foundation-12] McGonagall, William. "The Little Match Girl." Poetry Foundation.2010. Web. 26 February 2010.

[13] Efteling – 'The Little Match Girl' in Fairy tale forest (Het meisje met de zwavelstokjes) (video)

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@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 On a cold [[New Year's Eve]], a poor girl tries to sell matches in the street. She is freezing badly, but she is afraid to go home because her father will beat her for not selling any matches. She takes shelter in a nook and lights the matches to warm herself.
-In their glow, she sees several lovely visions including a [[Christmas tree]] and a holiday feast.<ref>It is known that [[hypothermia]] sometimes causes [[hallucination]]s. [http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/condition/hypothermia Hypothermia, University of Maryland] [http://www.forteantimes.com/strangedays/science/2806/cold_cases.html Cold Cases][http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=odY9mXicPlYC&pg=PA464&lpg=PA464&dq=hypothermia+induced+hallucinations&source=bl&ots=z06Hi6Q0x_&sig=AQBtQds2fMbLV9oGjXKe5r7TUvE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8b3XUtahAYOrhQfNYQ&ved=0CF0Q6AEwBg#v=on page&q=hypothermia%20induced%20hallucinations&f=false hypothermia induced hallucinations]</ref>  The girl looks skyward and sees a [[meteoroid|shooting star]], then she remembers her dead grandmother saying that such a falling star means someone is dying and is going to [[Heaven]]. As she lights the next match, she sees a vision of her grandmother, the only person to have treated her with love and kindness. She strikes one match after another to keep the vision of her grandmother alive for as long as she can.
+In their glow, she sees several lovely visions including a [[Christmas tree]] and a holiday feast. All four visions can be seen as [[hallucination]]s due to [[hypothermia]] but Anerson meant the last vision at least to be real.  <ref>[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/littlematchgirl/notes.html#NINE]</ref><ref>[http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/condition/hypothermia Hypothermia, University of Maryland] [http://www.forteantimes.com/strangedays/science/2806/cold_cases.html Cold Cases][http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=odY9mXicPlYC&pg=PA464&lpg=PA464&dq=hypothermia+induced+hallucinations&source=bl&ots=z06Hi6Q0x_&sig=AQBtQds2fMbLV9oGjXKe5r7TUvE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8b3XUtahAYOrhQfNYQ&ved=0CF0Q6AEwBg#v=on page&q=hypothermia%20induced%20hallucinations&f=false hypothermia induced hallucinations]</ref>  The girl looks skyward and sees a [[meteoroid|shooting star]], then she remembers her dead grandmother saying that such a falling star means someone is dying and is going to [[Heaven]]. As she lights the next match, she sees a vision of her grandmother, the only person to have treated her with love and kindness. She strikes one match after another to keep the vision of her grandmother alive for as long as she can.
 Running out of matches, the child dies and her grandmother carries her soul to Heaven. The next morning, passers-by find the child dead in the nook and take pity on her. They do not know about the visions she saw, or that she will not be cold or hungry any more in Heaven.

v t e Hans Christian Andersen
Bibliography
Short story collections	Fairy Tales Told for Children. First Collection. (1835–1837) Fairy Tales Told for Children. New Collection (1838–1841) New Fairy Tales. First Volume (1843–1845)
Short stories	"The Angel" (1843) "Blockhead Hans" (1855) "The Elf Mound" (1845) "The Emperor's New Clothes" (1837) "The Fir-Tree" (1844) "The Flying Trunk" (1839) "The Galoshes of Fortune" (1838) "The Garden of Paradise" (1839) "The Goblin and the Grocer" (1852) "Golden Treasure" (1865) "The Ice-Maiden" (1861) "Little Claus and Big Claus" (1835) "The Little Match Girl" (1845) "The Little Mermaid" (1837) "The Most Incredible Thing" (1870) "The Nightingale" (1843) "Ole Lukoie" (1841) "The Princess and the Pea" (1835) "The Red Shoes" (1845) "The Shadow" (1847) "The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep" (1845) "The Snow Queen" (1844) "The Snowman" (1861) "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" (1838) "The Story of a Mother" (1847) "The Sweethearts; or, The Top and the Ball" (1843) "The Swineherd" (1841) "The Tallow Candle" (1820s) "The Teapot" (1863) "Thumbelina" (1835) "The Tinderbox" (1835) "The Travelling Companion" (1835) "The Ugly Duckling" (1843) "What the Old Man Does is Always Right" (1861) "The Wicked Prince" (1840) "The Wild Swans" (1838)
Novels	The Improvisatore (1835) O.T (1836) The Two Baronesses (1848)
Plays, operas	Little Kirsten (1846) When the Spaniards Were Here (1865)
Poems and songs	Barn Jesus i en krybbe lå Danmark, mit fædreland Hist hvor vejen slår en bugt
Other works	Christine's Picture Book (art book)
Works inspired by Andersen's life and works	Hans Christian Andersen (1952) The Daydreamer (1966) The World of Hans Christian Andersen (1968) Andersen Monogatari (1971) The Fairytaler (2002–2003) Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale (2003 miniseries) Young Andersen (2005 serial)
Related	Hans Christian Andersen Museums Pleated Christmas hearts International Children's Book Day Hans Christian Andersen Award Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award
Category