Heise holds a place of honour in the pantheon of Danish music for his "romances" and for the national opera Drot og Marsk (King and Marshal). It is often overlooked that Heise was an internationally oriented composer, and that he also composed a symphony and a score of outstanding chamber works and concert pieces as Bergliot and Tornerose. In Heise's several hundred romances melody, harmony, accompaniment and the choice of texts together reach the zenith of this genre in Denmark. He died far too early at the age of 49. If Heise's romances had been written to German texts, he would have been sure of international fame.