The exact date of composition for the small orchestral piece Lygtemænd (Will-o'-the-Wisps) is unknown. It was first performed at Hilda Sehested’s concert in the Student Association’s Ballroom in Copenhagen on 25 March 1915 and was described as the newest orchestral work on the programme. It must be assumed that it was composed at the end of the year 1914 or more likely at the beginning of 1915. The orchestra was put together for the occasion and was conducted by the composer Peder Gram.
Under the program item Miniatures for Orchestra, Mosekonen brygger was performed, followed by Lygtemænd. The latter was a hit with the audience and had to be repeated. In Axel Kjerulf’s review in Politiken, the two pieces are referred to as “a pair of well-instrumented, well-made miniatures”. Furthermore, he wrote that “Ms. Sehested showed herself in these orchestral pieces as a really talented lady who has learned a great deal and who probably doesn’t have big things on her heart, but manages to give it a certain modern shape and form.”
Also Suite for Orchestra with Obligatory Cornet and a Rhapsody for orchestra, now lost, were performed at the concert.
Gustav Hetsch's general mention in Nationaltidende therefore applies to all four works: "As for the content of Ms. Sehested’s (presented here for the first time) orchestral work has its strength in the fact that it is not common talk. It has something personal about it, even if it is not a great personality that has shaped it. You are kept in the spirit all the time by musical ideas that you did not expect (at least not expected to come there and in that manner), and even if the melodic inventiveness is not significant, the music is full of twists and turns that one notices and takes an interest in, and which in part hold one indemnified against the lack of meaningful motifs."
On 28 June 1929, Lygtemænd and Mosekonen brygger (in this order) were broadcast as a live studio performance on the radio in the program “New Danish Music”. Further performances are not known.
Hilda Sehested's Lygtemænd is published in a critical edition as a part of the Edition·S DCM series.
Lygtemænd is performed by Copenhagen Phil conducted by Thomas Dausgaard on 28 February in Copenhagen. Find more information about the concert here.