Edvard Grieg

Edvard Grieg  (15 June 1843  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ 4 September 1907) was a  Norwegian  composer  and  pianist. He is best known for his  Piano Concerto in A minor, for  his incidental music  to  Henrik Ibsen's  play  Peer Gynt  (which includes  Morning Mood  and  In the Hall of the Mountain King), and for his collection of  pianominiatures  Lyric Pieces. [1] ————————————————- Biography Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in  Bergen,  Norway  on June 15, 1843. His parents were Hiemlik Grieg (1806–1875), a merchant and the American vice consul in Bergen, and Gesine Carrie Hagerupel (1814–1875), a music teacher and daughter of  Edvard Hagerup. The family name, originally spelled  Greig, hasScottish  origins. After the  Battle of Culloden  in 1746, however, Grieg's great-grandfather traveled widely, settling in Norway about 1770, and establishing business interests in Bergen. Edvard Grieg was raised in a musical home. His mother was his first  piano  teacher and taught him to play at the age of 6. Grieg studied in several schools, including Tank's School,. [2]  He often brought in samples of his music to class. In the summer of 1858, Grieg met the eminent Norwegian  violinist  Ole Bull, who was a family friend; Bull's brother was married to Grieg's aunt. Bull recognized the 15-year-old boy's talent and persuaded his parents to send him to the  Leipzig Conservatory, then directed by  Ignaz Moscheles. Grieg enrolled in the  conservatory, concentrating on the piano, and enjoyed the many concerts and recitals given in  Leipzig. He disliked the discipline of the conservatory course of study, but he achieved very good grades in most areas. An exception was the  organ, which was mandatory for piano students. In the spring of 1860, he survived a life-threatening  lung disease. The following year he made his debut as a concert pianist, in  Karlshamn,  Sweden. In 1862, he finished his studies in Leipzig and held his first concert in his home town, where his programme included  Beethoven's  Pathetique  sonata. (Grieg's own recording of his  Piano Sonata, made late in his life, confirms that he was an excellent pianist). In 1863, Grieg went to  Copenhagen,  Denmark, and stayed there for three years. He met the Danish composers  J. P. E. Hartmann  and  Niels Gade. He also met his fellow Norwegian composer  Rikard Nordraak  (composer of the  Norwegian national anthem), who became a good friend and source of great inspiration. Nordraak died in 1866, and Grieg composed a  funeral march  in his honor. On 11 June 1867, Grieg married his first cousin,  Nina Hagerup. The next year, their only child, Alexandra, was born. She died in 1869 from  meningitis. In the summer of 1868, Grieg wrote his Piano Concerto in A minor while on holiday in Denmark. Edmund Neupert  gave the concerto its premiere performance on 3 April 1869 in the Casino Theater in Copenhagen. Grieg himself was unable to be there due to conducting commitments in Christiania (as  Oslo  was then named). [3] In 1868,  Franz Liszt, who had not yet met Grieg, wrote a testimonial for him to the Norwegian Ministry of Education, which led to Grieg obtaining a travel grant. The two men met in  Rome  in 1870. On Grieg's first visit, they went over Grieg's Violin Sonata No. 1, which pleased Liszt greatly. On his second visit, in April, Grieg brought with him the manuscript of his Piano Concerto, which Liszt proceeded to sightread (including the orchestral arrangement). Liszt's rendition greatly impressed his audience, although Grieg gently pointed out to him that he played the first movement too quickly. Liszt also gave Grieg some advice on  orchestration, (for example, to give the melody of the second theme in the first movement to a solo trumpet). In 1874–76, Grieg composed  incidental music  for the premiere of  Henrik Ibsen's play  Peer Gynt, at the request of the author. Many of the pieces from this work became very popular in the orchestral suites or piano and piano-duet arrangements. Grieg had close ties with the (Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra) (Harmonien), and later became Music Director of the orchestra from 1880–1882. In 1888, Grieg met  Tchaikovsky  in  Leipzig. Grieg was struck by the sadness in Tchaikovsky. [4]  Tchaikovsky thought very highly of Grieg's music, praising its beauty, originality and warmth. [5] ————————————————- Latter years Edvard Grieg Museum Troldhaugen Grieg's later life brought him fame. The Norwegian government awarded him a pension. In the spring 1903, Grieg made nine 78-rpm  gramophone recordings  of his piano music in Paris; all of these historic discs have been reissued on both LPs and CDs and, despite limited fidelity, show his artistry as a pianist. Grieg also made live-recording  player piano  music rolls for the  Welte-Mignon  reproducing system, all of which survive today and can be heard. In 1906, he met the composer and pianist  Percy Grainger  in London. Grainger was a great admirer of Grieg's music and a strong empathy was quickly established. In a 1907 interview, Grieg stated: â€Å"I have written Norwegian Peasant Dances that no one in my country can play, and here comes this Australian who plays them as they ought to be played! He is a genius that we Scandinavians cannot do other than love. †[6] Edvard Grieg died in the autumn of 1907, aged 64, after a long period of illness. His final words were â€Å"Well, if it must be so. † The funeral drew between 30,000 and 40,000 people out on the streets of his home town to honor him. Following his wish, his own  Funeral March in Memory of Rikard Nordraak  was played in an orchestration by his friend  Johan Halvorsen, who had married Grieg's niece. In addition, the  Funeral March  movement from  Chopin's  Piano Sonata No. 2  was played. His and his wife's ashes are entombed in a mountain crypt near his house,  Troldhaugen. ————————————————- Music Grieg is renowned as a  nationalist composer, drawing inspiration from  Norwegian folk music. Early works include a  symphony  (which he later suppressed) and apiano sonata. He also wrote three  sonatas for violin and piano  and a  cello sonata. His many short pieces for piano — often based on Norwegian folk tunes and dances — led some to call him the â€Å"Chopin  of the North†. 7] The  Piano Concerto  is his most popular work. Its champions have included the pianist and composer  Percy Grainger, a personal friend of Grieg who played the concerto frequently during his long career. An arrangement of part of the work made an iconic television comedy appearance in the 1971  Morecambe and Wise Show, conducted by  Andre Previn. Some of the  Lyric Pieces  (for piano) are also well-known, as is the  incidental music  to  Henrik Ibsen's  play  Peer Gynt, a play that Grieg found to be an arduous work to score properly. In a 1874 letter to his friend Frants Beyer, Grieg expressed his unhappiness with what is now considered one of his most popular compositions from  Peer Gynt,  In the Hall of the Mountain King: â€Å"I have also written something for the scene in the hall of the mountain King – something that I literally can't bear listening to because it absolutely reeks of cow-pies, exaggerated Norwegian nationalism, and trollish self-satisfaction! But I have a hunch that the irony will be discernible. â€Å"[8] Grieg's popular  Holberg Suite  was originally written for the piano, and later arranged by the composer for  string  orchestra. Grieg wrote songs, in which he set lyrics by poets  Heinrich Heine,  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,  Henrik Ibsen,  Hans Christian Andersen,Rudyard Kipling  and others. Russian composer  Nikolai Myaskovsky  used a theme by Grieg for the variations with which he closed his Third String Quartet. ————————————————- List of selected works Main article:  List of compositions by Edvard Grieg * Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 7 * Violin Sonata No. 1 in F major, Op. 8 * Concert  Overture  In Autumn, Op. 11 * Violin Sonata No. 2 in G major, Op. 13 * Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 6 * Incidental music  to  Bjornstjerne Bjornson's play  Sigurd Jorsalfar, Op. 22 * Incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play  Peer Gynt, Op. 23 * Ballade in the Form of Variations  on a Norwegian Folk Song  in G minor, Op. 24 * String Quartet  in G minor, Op. 27 * Album for Male Cho rus, Op. 30 * Two Elegiac Melodies for Strings, Op. 34 * Four  Norwegian Dances  for piano four hands, Op. 35 (later orchestrated) * Cello Sonata in A minor, Op. 36 * Holberg Suite  for piano, later arr. for string orchestra, Op. 40 * Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Op. 45 * Peer Gynt  Suite  No. 1, Op. 6 * Lyric Suite for Orchestra, Op. 54 (orchestration of four  Lyric Pieces) * Peer Gynt  Suite  No. 2, Op. 55 * Suite from  Sigurd Jorsalfar, Op. 56 * Four  Symphonic Dances  for piano, later arr. for orchestra, Op. 64 * Haugtussa  Song Cycle after  Arne Garborg, Op. 67 * Slatter  (Peasant Dances) for piano, Op. 72 * Sixty-six  Lyric Pieces  for piano in ten books, Opp. 12, 38, 43, 47, 54, 57, 62, 65, 68 and 71, including:  Arietta,  To the Spring,  Little Bird,  Butterfly,  Notturno,  Wedding Day at Troldhaugen,  At Your Feet,  Longing For Home,  March of the Dwarfs,  Poeme erotique  and  Gone.