Marianne Ihlen

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The Norwegian Marianne Ihlen (born May 18, 1935 in Larkollen ; † July 28, 2016 in Oslo ), at times also Marianne Jensen and Marianne Stang , lived with various artists in the 1950s and 1960s. She is considered the muse of the writer Axel Jensen and the singer Leonard Cohen . Cohen processed the relationship with her in several poems and songs, including the 1969 song So Long, Marianne , which is one of his best-known works.

biography

Ihlen was born in Larkollen ( Rygge municipality on the Oslofjord, fylke Østfold ) in 1935 . After the Second World War , her family moved to Oslo, where Ihlen completed her school days. Your personal environment at the time is described as that of a middle-class family .

Against the wishes of her parents, she entered into a relationship with the young writer Axel Jensen, with whom she first traveled through Europe. At the end of 1957 they moved to the Greek island of Hydra , where they led a simple life in the style of bohemians . They married in 1958. A year later, their son was born.

In May 1960 Ihlen met the Canadian Leonard Cohen, who was almost the same age at Hydra , who was trying to establish himself as a writer and novelist at the time. Axel Jensen had a brief affair with Cohen's girlfriend at the time. Ihlen then separated from her husband, divorced and after a while entered into a relationship with Cohen. After spending a year in Montreal , Ihlen returned to Hydra with her son and Cohen for three years. Here she inspired Cohen to write several songs. When he began his singer career in the late 1960s and became internationally known, the relationship loosened up and finally ended in 1972, after the birth of Cohen's son Adam , who had emerged from the partnership with another woman.

In 1973 Ihlen returned to Norway, in 1979 she remarried and took the name Stang. She worked temporarily in the human resources department of a company and occasionally worked as a painter. Ihlen died on July 28, 2016 in Oslo of complications from leukemia .

Marianne Ihlen and Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen described Marianne Ihlen as "the most beautiful woman I have ever seen."

During the time of living with her, Cohen developed from a pure novelist and lyricist to a singer and songwriter. During their time together on Hydra, she inspired him to write several songs that became very popular. Among other things, Bird on the Wire , published in April 1969, goes back to Ihlen . When she observed a bird perched on a newly stretched power cable, she asked Cohen to write a text on the subject. Cohen also addressed Marianne Ihlen in his song So Long Marianne . Initially, the headline was called Come on, Marianne and was meant as an invitation to allow changes in your life. Even before the separation from Ihlen, Cohen replaced the encouraging “come on” with the farewell greeting “so long”.

Cohen also wrote the song Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye for Marianne Ihlen. It first appeared in 1967 on the album Songs of Leonard Cohen .

The back of the cover of Cohen's second album Songs from a Room shows a photo of Ihlen at the desk on Hydra.

Cohen dedicated his volume of poems Flowers for Hitler (1964) to Ihlen . With For Marianne and Waiting For Marianne, it contains two poems that deal specifically with her. The volume of poetry The Energy of Slaves , published in 1973, once again refers to Marianne Ihlen in Welcome Home .

When Cohen learned in the early summer of 2016 that Ihlen was going to die of leukemia, he said goodbye to her with an emotional letter that became public after Ihlen died. In it, Cohen, who at the time was already suffering from leukemia himself, expressed his expectation that he would follow her soon. He died three months after her, on November 7, 2016.

In June 2019, about 50 letters exchanged between Ihlen and Cohen in the 1960s were auctioned for more than US $ 876,000. "

literature

  • Kari Hesthamar: So Long, Marianne. A Love Story includes rare material by Leonard Cohen. ECW Press, Toronto 2014, ISBN 978-1-77090-500-9 .

Radio feature

  • Kari Hesthamar: So Long, Marianne. Leonard Cohen's Norwegian childhood sweetheart. Production: Norsk Rikskringkasting 2005 / Westdeutscher Rundfunk 2007.

Movie

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b N.N .: So Long, Marianne: Leonard Cohen wrote his muse a letter shortly before her death. www.rollingstone.de, August 12, 2016, accessed October 22, 2016 .
  2. ^ Ian McGillis: Marianne Ihlen: More than Leonard Cohen's muse. www.montrealgazette.com, August 12, 2016, accessed October 22, 2016 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Marianne Ihlen, Leonard Cohen's muse-obituary. www.telegraph.co.uk, August 19, 2016, accessed October 22, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Kari Hesthamar: Interview with Marianne Ihlen. www.leonardcohenfiles.com, 2005, accessed October 22, 2016 .
  5. ↑ a b Noel Rademacher: The woman from earlier . TAZ from November 15, 2006.
  6. ↑ Sidharth Bhatia: Hey Leonard Cohen, That's No Way to Say Goodbye . The WIRE of November 11, 2016.
  7. ↑ Soundcloud: Interview by Kari Hesthamar with Marianne Ihlen from August 3, 2008 (accessed November 13, 2016).
  8. ↑ Illustration of the cover ( Memento from October 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed October 24, 2016).
  9. ^ Leonard Cohen and Marianne Ihlen: One last “So Long”.
  10. ↑ a b Dirk Peitz: Until then, Marianne. www.zeit.de, November 8, 2019, accessed on December 31, 2019 .
  11. ^ NN: $ 56,250 for a love letter from Leonard Cohen. www.spiegel.de, June 14, 2019, accessed on June 14, 2019 .
  12. ↑ So Long, Marianne. Deutschlandradio Kultur from August 27, 2008 (accessed December 7, 2016).
  13. ^ "Marianne & Leonard": Nick Broomfield on Leonard Cohen's love of life. derstandardonline of November 6, 2019 (accessed November 6, 2019).
personal data
SURNAME Ihlen, Marianne
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jensen, Marianne; Stang, Marianne
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian muse of the writer Axel Jensen and the singer Leonard Cohen
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Larkollen , Norway
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 2016
Place of death Oslo