Edvard Grieg and his music

1. EdvardGrieg 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.

2. 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 18th 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, IgnazMoscheles (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.

3. 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, RikardNordraak, fellow Norwegian composer and great inspiration, and Nina Hagerup, his first cousin and eventual wife.

4. 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 BjørnstjerneBjørnson and Henrik Ibsen (1870-1876).

5. Bjørnstjerne and “Peer Gynt” • In the beginning of the 1870s, BjørnstjerneBjørnson and Grieg worked together rather extensively, which Evard writing compositions for his poems. • Compositions for plays with Bjørnstjerneinclude the melodrama “Bergljot”, “Landkjenning (Land-sighting)”, which was choral work (or using a chorus), and the music for the play “SigurdJorsalfar”. • 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 24th of 1876, the play was finally performed for the first time at the Christiania Theater in Oslo. The play was “an immediate success.”

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. Early Works • http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/edvard-grieg/album/grieg-violin-sonatas/track/sonata-in-f-major-op-8-allegretto-quasi-andantino • http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/edvard-grieg/album/grieg-complete-piano-music/track/piano-sonata-op-7-i-allegro-moderato • http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/edvard-grieg/album/grieg-complete-piano-music/track/humoresques-op-6-i-tempo-di-valse • Symphony in C minor “Never to be performed.” (1860-64) • Humouresques Op. 6 (1865) • Piano Sonata, Op. 7 (1865) • Violin Sonata #1, Op. 8 (1865)

11. 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.

12. The Morning • http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/various-artists/album/classical-moods---100-top-classical-favorites-of-all-time-big-eye-music/track/morning-from-peer-gynt • http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/various-artists/album/classical-moods---100-top-classical-favorites-of-all-time-big-eye-music/track/piano-concerto-in-a-minor • 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.

13. The Unplayable Symphony • http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/edvard-grieg/album/symphony-in-c-minori-host-in-autumn • This symphony was created by Evard Grieg, as a task set by NeilsGade, 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”.

14. More famous works • http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/various-artists/album/classical-moods---100-top-classical-favorites-of-all-time-big-eye-music/track/holberg-suite-op40---prelude • http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/edvard-grieg/album/complete-music-for-string-quartet/track/string-quartet-in-g-minor-op-27-i-un-poco-andante---allegro- • http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/edvard-grieg/album/complete-songs-vol-1/track/haugtussa-the-mountain-maid-op-67-i-det-syng-the-singing • Holberg Suite (1884) • Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 40 (1869) • String Quartet in G minor, Op. 27 (1878) • Huagtussa, Op. 67

15. Piano Conerto in a minor • Instruments needed: • Pairs of: • Flutes • Oboes • Clarinets • Bassoons • 4 horns • 2 trumpets • 3 trombones, timpani, and strings • 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. “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

16. First Movement of Holberg Suite http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/various-artists/album/grieg-in-high-definition-peer-gynt-suites-piano-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.

17. Second Movement http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/various-artists/album/grieg-in-high-definition-peer-gynt-suites-piano-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.

18. Third Movement http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/various-artists/album/grieg-in-high-definition-peer-gynt-suites-piano-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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. Bibliography • Edvard Grieg, HaraldHerresthal, 1996, MNC.net, 9-20-11 • Grieg Remember, Haraldherresthal, 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

22. Bibliography • 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