British occupation of the Faroe Islands on 9 April 1940, British forces launched "Operation Valentine" to occupy the Faroe Islands. On 11 April, Winston Churchill — then First Lord of the Admiralty — announced to the House of Commons that the Faroe Islands would be occupied: We are also at this moment occupying the Faroe Islands, which belong to Denmark and which are a strategic point of high importance, and whose people showed every disposition to receive us with warm regard. We shall shield the Faroe Islands from all the severities of war and establish ourselves there conveniently by sea and air until the moment comes
An Imaginary Trip to the Faroe Islands tone for my overture. I did not create so much of it myself through any spiritual experience, and yet the work has filled me with pleasure. I have tried to offer some of the same spirit that the painter or sculptor creates when he places his abilities at the service of applied art." The programme for the concert listed the following subtitles for the work: An Imaginary Trip to the Faroe Islands Carl Nielsen's rhapsody overture An Imaginary Trip to the Faroe Islands ("En Fantasirejse til Færøerne"), is a musical composition for orchestra. The Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen commissioned