Johan Ludvig Heiberg, (1791-1860) was a playwright, poet, literary historian, and critic whose romantic idealism in a sense epitomized the Danish Romantic school, which he helped bring to an end when he established a new era of topical, sophisticated, and satirical literature.

Heiberg was a central figure in Danish literature and criticism for many years. During this time he originated Danish vaudeville, a form of popular folk musical, in which critical and satirical verses were set to well-known melodies. Theoretically, he argued in Om Vaudevillen (1826; “About Vaudeville”), vaudeville as a genre was a synthesis of words and music that subsumed in its poetic realism both the lyrical and the epic and thus marked the highest form of comedy-drama. Besides his vaudeville pieces, Heiberg’s most frequently performed plays are Elverhøj (1828; “Elfinhill”) and En sjæl efter døden (1841; A Soul After Death), which was his greatest literary success.

Over the years Heiberg edited several influential periodicals, most notably Kjøbenhavns flyvende post (“Copenhagen’s Flying Mail”) from 1827 to 1828, again in 1830, and, under the name Interimsblade, from 1834 to 1837. In this journal he carried on many literary feuds but also featured many new talents, including Søren Kierkegaard and Hans Christian Andersen. Even such exponents of modern realism as Georg Brandes and Henrik Ibsen acknowledged debts of inspiration owed to Heiberg.