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EDVARD GRIEG AND HIS
MUSIC
History of The Popular Song and Its Composer
a.k.a
How I stopped listening to Classical Music and learned to love the
Norwegian Opera.
BEGINNING
•
Birth Date: June 15, 1843. Born in Bergin, Norway.
•
This Norwegian composer is of Scottish decent, his grandfather actually emigrating
to Noraway in the late 18 th Century.
•
Mother gave young Edvard piano and music lessons at six years old. Obviously,
young Edvard was enamored with them.
•
At age 15, he studied music a the Music Composium in Leipzig, Germany. There he
studied under such eminent professors such as, Ignaz Moscheles (in piano), Carl
Reinecke (in composition), and Moritz Hauptmann, whom he had the most respect
for. He studied the music of Beethoven, Mozart, Wagner, Mendelsohn, and
Schumman.
LIVING IN DENMARK
• His first concert was performed at Karlshamn in 18th of August 1861.
• Grieg knew full well that his music was intended to be Norwegian, but he
also knew that to get known he had to perform at an international level. So
he started living in Copenhagen, a Swedish city rich of international culture.
• People important in Greig’s life would be met in Copenhagen, including Neils
W. Gade, fellow composer and idol to Grieg, Rikard Nordraak, fellow
Norwegian composer and great inspiration, and Nina Hagerup, his first
cousin and eventual wife.
BECOMING NATIONALLY KNOWN
•
His first real Masterpiece was the Piano Concerto in A Minor 1868. This piece has
almost become synonymous with Norway.
•
After this and the death of their only child, Alexandra, Grieg hit a stagnation of his
music and split with Nina, which only took a close friend of his, Frants Bayer, to
convince him to reconcile with her and help continue his music.
•
Compositions made after this that helped him become a household name are a string
quartet in G minor, which was written to influence Cluade Debussy’s string quartet
(1878), his 10 volumes of Lyric Pieces, which are 66 compositions set across
different moods (1867-1870s), and his work with Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Henrik
Ibsen (1870-1876).
BJØRNSTJERNE AND “PEER GYNT”
•
In the beginning of the 1870s, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Grieg worked together rather
extensively, which Evard writing compositions for his poems.
•
Compositions for plays with Bjørnstjerne include the melodrama “Bergljot”, “Landkjenning
(Land-sighting)”, which was choral work (or using a chorus), and the music for the play “Sigurd
Jorsalfar”.
•
An Unfinished Play called “Olav Trygvason” was in the works, which was halted due to conflicts
on what the priority was: the music or the play. It was at this point Grieg worked on the music
for Ibsen’s “Peer Gynt”. This angered Bjørnstjerne to no end, and they’re relationship was rocky
ever since.
•
“Peer Gynt”, the play by Henrik Ibsen, was already written by the time he approached Grieg. He
was asked to write the incidental music for the play, which Grieg tackled with much enthusiasm,
to no easy feat. In February 24 th of 1876, the play was finally performed for the first time at the
Christiania Theater in Oslo. The play was “an immediate success.”
A BRIEF SUMMARY OF PEER GYNT
•
Peer Gynt is the story of a Norwegian in poverty because of his father. Trying to
rebuild life for him and his mother, his ambitions run as high as his head: in the
clouds. He is tempestuous and unapologetic man and this is reinforced when he
steals the bride of the wedding. Not long after he meets with the Girl in Green,
who takes him to see her father. He ends up meeting up with the troll king, in the
famous “In The Hall of the Mountain King” section. Solveig, the woman he meets
at the wedding, stays with him in a cottage, but before long he’s on his travels
again, to meet his dying mother. Before long he poses as an Arabian royal, stays
in a Cairo madhouse, and gets caught in a shipwreck on the way home. The
Button Moulder meets up with him and tells him he’s a defect button, which must
be melted down to save his soul. He realizes that Solveig, who has been waiting
patiently for him, is his redemption.
NATIONALLY KNOWN
•
Edvard Grieg’s goal was to create a national style of music that Norwegians could identify
with. To that extent he succeeded. However he also exceeded in expressing his thoughts
and emotions with his music. This was the kind of music that everyone could Identify with.
•
The secret to his world fame was in his piano melodies that were easy to play by
amateurs. These melodies were deeply rooted in the national folk tradition of Norway.
•
The 10 Volumes of Lyric Pieces, which are a collection of 66 piano compositions, are a
compulsory necessity in every piano-book-shelf.
•
In the 1877-1884 period of his life in Hardanger, he composed in his cabin around the
Norwegian atmosphere. You could almost hear in his music the sounds of the Norwegian
fjord lands, and the sounds of the mountains higher up.
COMING TO A CLOSE
•
Compositions released near the end of life include “Ballad in G minor”, an ambitious
ballad expressing his soul in turmoil, “The Mountain Thrall (Baritone, two horns and
strings)”, Norwegian Dances for Piano Duets, and the Holberg suite for Strings.
•
His final, completed composition is the “Four Psalms for mixed choir” (1906), which
was freely arranged from Norwegian Church Tunes.
•
He was a hard worker to his death. Despite missing a lung, which was from Pleuritt
(a kind of Tuberculosis), he was an active tourer and composer to the very end. In
September 4th, 1907, he fell gravely ill in Bergin, Norway, and died of Chronic
Exhaustion.
•
His legacy has influenced many composers, including Bela Bartok, Maurice Ravel,
and Claude Debussy.
INTERESTING FACTS
•
Technically, the song “In the Hall of the Mountain King”, was an old shame. He said the
song “reeked of cow-pies, ultra Norwegian nationalism, and trollish self-sufficiency”.
•
Neils W. Gade was said that when he was greatly inspired in music he would drink large
amounts of water. After seeing two of Grieg’s compositions, he promptly drank 4 large
decanters of it.
•
Evard Grieg kept a small cabin along the set of fjords at Lofthus near Ullensvang in
Hardanger around the 1880s. It was a one room cabin that had only a piano and a writing
desk. Surrounded by beautiful Norwegian scenery, he was content to compose in the
peacefulness of the environment. Sometimes he would invite peasants over to play
hallings (see terms) for them to dance to and play them his own compositions.
EARLY WORKS
• Symphony in C minor “Never to
be performed.” (1860-64)
•
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/edvardgrieg/album/grieg-violinsonatas/track/sonata-in-f-major-op-8allegretto-quasi-andantino
•
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/edvardgrieg/album/grieg-complete-pianomusic/track/piano-sonata-op-7-iallegro-moderato
•
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/edvardgrieg/album/grieg-complete-pianomusic/track/humoresques-op-6-itempo-di-valse
• Humouresques Op. 6 (1865)
• Piano Sonata, Op. 7 (1865)
• Violin Sonata #1, Op. 8 (1865)
THE HALLS
•
Edvard Grieg is considered an icon
of music in Norway, but no song has
entered the public consciousness
like the music used the play Peer
Gynt, particularly the well known
song “In the Halls of the Mountain
King”.
•
This song is part of incidental music
and a suite set to the play, Peer
Gynt, written by Henrik Ibsen. In the
play, the hero displays nature and
weaknesses humans, back in
Ibsen’s day, rather not like to show.
THE MORNING
•
Another Popular song from the play
is the song, Morning Mood, also
from the first suite.
•
These two were the first of his
compositions to reach worldwide
classical status, after years of
writing Norwegianic music, much like
the Piano Concerto in A minor, that
only reached European shores.
•
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/various
-artists/album/classical-moods---100top-classical-favorites-of-all-time-bigeye-music/track/morning-from-peergynt
•
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/various
-artists/album/classical-moods---100top-classical-favorites-of-all-time-bigeye-music/track/piano-concerto-in-aminor
THE UNPLAYABLE SYMPHONY
•
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/edvard-grieg/album/symphony-in-c-minori-host-inautumn
•
This symphony was created by Evard Grieg, as a task set by Neils Gade, a friend he
knew in Leipzig.
•
Due to lack of experience, partly at fault by Carl Reineck, his composition teacher,
Grieg found his symphony to be lacking in quality. So much so in fact that he put on
top of the the symphony the order “Never to be performed”.
MORE FAMOUS WORKS
•
Holberg Suite (1884)
•
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 40
(1869)
•
String Quartet in G minor, Op. 27
(1878)
•
•
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/various
-artists/album/classical-moods---100top-classical-favorites-of-all-time-bigeye-music/track/holberg-suite-op40--prelude
•
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/edvardgrieg/album/complete-music-for-stringquartet/track/string-quartet-in-g-minorop-27-i-un-poco-andante---allegro-
•
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/edvardgrieg/album/complete-songs-vol1/track/haugtussa-the-mountain-maidop-67-i-det-syng-the-singing
Huagtussa, Op. 67
PIANO CONERTO IN A MINOR
•
Instruments needed:
• Pairs of:
• Flutes
•
Three movements in total and 30 minutes
long.
•
The work is seasoned with influenced by
Robert Schumann, but regains its
originality. Its melody both passion and
warm and its harmony is full of vitality.
•
Bringing with him the concerto, he paid a
second visit to Franz Liszt’s home. Liszt,
who previously played with him a year
before on a violin sonata which moved
him emotionally, played the concerto,
having never seen it before, on his piano.
At a certain point in the song, he got up
from the piano and, throwing his arms up
and strode about the room singing the
theme at the top of his voice.
• Oboes
• Clarinets
• Bassoons
• 4 horns
• 2 trumpets
• 3 trombones, timpani, and strings
“He went back to the piano, repeated the whole strophe, and finished off. At the
end he said to me…‘You Carry on, My friend; you have the real stuff in you. And
don’t ever let them frighten you!’” --Edvard Grieg, in a letter home
FIRST MOVEMENT OF HOLBERG SUITE
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/various-artists/album/grieg-in-high-definition-peer-gynt-suitespiano-concerto-hol/track/holberg-suite-op-40-i-prelude-allegro-vivace
This first movement is a chipper tune, triple meter simple compound. It’s melody
is warm with violins playing the theme and the contrabass and viola play the
harmony, which jumps merrily with the melody. At :25 the violins enters the verse
slowly with the viola offering harmonic accompaniment. 1:18 the bridge offers
the violins a smooth descending melody, with the viola giving a steady rhythm.
The melody is conjunct with a homophonic texture to it.
SECOND MOVEMENT
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/various-artists/album/grieg-in-high-definition-peer-gynt-suitespiano-concerto-hol/track/holberg-suite-op-40-ii-sarabande-andante
The melody here starts off slow and sweet, in major key. The theme is repeated
twice, with viola giving the harmony, the melody rising before it is repeated. The
bridge plays a melodramatic minor melody before it is passed on to the viola, the
other strings giving accompaniment. Which all leads up to a very beautiful repeat
of the main theme. A variation at 2:07 of the melody starts rising. The melody is
very conjunct and the rhythm is very slow. The resolution can be felt at every
repetition of the theme.
THIRD MOVEMENT
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/various-artists/album/grieg-in-high-definition-peer-gynt-suitespiano-concerto-hol/track/holberg-suite-op-40-iii-gavotte-allegretto---musette-poco-pi
A much faster beat is played this time, the happy major key feeling coming back
in violin form. Played in quad meter simple division, the theme is repeated twice
before leading into a much faster bridge, which is also repeated. The theme has
violins and viola offer the melody which the chello is giving the accompaniment.
The bridge has the violins head into polyphony while the other strings follow the
second violin’s melody.
FOURTH AND FIFTH MOVEMENT
• The fourth movement is played in minor key. Slow and solemn, the violins
play the melody and the viola/chello offer harmony. A descending arc
conjunct is played, repeating twice. The cello plays the melody at :47 and at
2:14. At 2:55 the key switches to major, giving a variety in the theme of the
song, with cello giving harmony, which is soon given back to the violins At
5:10 a repeat of the theme can be heard with accompanying violin giving
counterpoint.
• The fifth movement goes back to the chipperness with a very resolute and
jumpy melody given to the violins in Major key. 1:30 the key is switched to
minor slightly, giving a variation. The rhythm is slowed to give sense of a
unease, but it’s short-lived.
TERMS
•
Halling: A vigorous Norwegian folkdance.
•
Concerto: a concert for one instrument, with instrumental accompaniment.
•
Sonata: a composition of one or two instruments.
•
Strophe: A movement performed by the chorus during singing.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
•
Edvard Grieg, Harald Herresthal, 1996, MNC.net, 9-20-11
•
Grieg Remember, Harald herresthal, 1996, MNC.net, 9-20-11
•
Tommasini, Anthony, “Respect For Grieg At Last?”, NYTimes.com, September 16, 2007, 9-20-11
•
Biography, Erling Dahl, 2004, Grieg07.no, 9-20-11
•
Edvard Grieg’s Works, Grieg07.no, 9-20-11
•
Edvard Grieg, Monica Jangard, John Hovland, 14-7-2008, The Municipality of Bergen, 9-20-11
•
Edvard Grieg, Classical.net, 9-20-11
•
Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 16, Richard Freed, Nov. 3-5, 2005, The Kennedy Center, 9-20-11
•
Characters and Summary of Plot – Peer Gynt, Merete Morken Anderson, 10-8-2001, 9-20-11
•
Peer Gynt, Incidental Music to Ibsen’s Drama, Op. 23, Richard Freed, June 5-7, 2008, The Kennedy Center,
9-20-11
•
Clark, Barret H., “Analysis of Peer Gynt”, The Continental Drama of Today, 1914, pp. 28-31, 9-20-11
•
“A Nordic Romantic Nationalist: Evard Grieg”, The Ninteenth-Century Legacy, 1989, “Edvard Grieg” Heritage
of Music, 1st Edition
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Pictures are from:
• http://www.ibsen.net/index.gan?id=562&subid=0
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lyriske_stykker.jpeg
• http://eng.grieg07.no/index.php?page=74&show=76
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eilif_Peterssen-Edvard_Grieg_1891.jpg