Edvard Grieg

Edvard  Hagerup  Grieg (Norwegian

Edvard Grieg
ˈɛ ɑɖ ˈhɑːɡərʉp ˈɡrɪɡː];
pronunciation:  [ dv 15 June
1843 – 4 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer
and pianist. He is widely considered one of the
leading Romantic era composers, and his music is
part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide.
His use and development of Norwegian folk music in
his own compositions brought the music of Norway to
international consciousness, as well as helping to
develop a national identity, much as Jean Sibelius and
Bedřich Smetana did in Finland and Bohemia,
respectively.[1]

Grieg is the most celebrated person from the city of

Bergen, with numerous statues depicting his image,
and many cultural entities named after him: the city's
largest concert building (Grieg Hall), its most
advanced music school (Grieg Academy) and its
professional choir (Edvard Grieg Kor). The Edvard Grieg in 1888, with signature,
Grieg Museum at Grieg's former home, Troldhaugen, portrait published in The Leisure
is dedicated to his legacy.[2][3][4][5] Hour (1889)
Born Edvard Hagerup
Grieg
Contents 15 June 1843
Bergen, Norway
Background
Died 4 September 1907
Career
(aged 64)
Later years
Bergen, Norway
Music
Occupation Classical composer
List of selected works
and pianist
See also
Spouse(s) Nina Grieg (née
References
 Further reading Hagerup)
English
Children 1
Norwegian
External links
Recordings by Edvard Grieg
Recordings of Edvard Grieg works
Music scores
Festivals

Background
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in Bergen, Norway.
His parents were Alexander Grieg (1806–1875), a
merchant and vice-consul in Bergen; and Gesine
Judithe Hagerup (1814–1875), a music teacher and
daughter of solicitor and politician Edvard
Hagerup.[6][7] The family name, originally spelled
Greig, is associated with the Scottish Clann Ghriogair
(Clan Gregor). After the Battle of Culloden in 1746,
Grieg's great-grandfather, Alexander Greig,[8]
travelled widely, settling in Norway about 1770, and
establishing business interests in Bergen.

Edvard Grieg was raised in a musical family. His

mother was his first piano teacher and taught him to
play at the age of six. Grieg studied in several schools,
including Tanks Upper Secondary School.[9] Edvard Grieg statue by Ingebrigt Vik
in Bergen
In the summer of 1858, Grieg met the eminent
Norwegian violinist Ole Bull,[10] who was a family
friend; Bull's brother was married to Grieg's aunt.[11] Bull recognized the 15-year-old boy's talent
and persuaded his parents to send him to the Leipzig Conservatory,[10] the piano department of
which was directed by Ignaz Moscheles.[12]

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. An
exception was the organ, which was mandatory for piano students. In the spring of 1860, he
survived two life-threatening lung diseases, pleurisy and tuberculosis. Throughout his life, Grieg's
health was impaired by a destroyed left lung and
considerable deformity of his thoracic spine. He
suffered from numerous respiratory infections, and
ultimately developed combined lung and heart
failure. Grieg was admitted many times to spas and
sanatoria both in Norway and abroad. Several of his
doctors became his personal friends.[13]

Career
In 1861, Grieg made his debut as a concert pianist in
Edvard Grieg (1891). portrait by Eilif
Karlshamn, Sweden. In 1862, he finished his studies Peterssen
in Leipzig and held his first concert in his home
town,[14] where his programme included Beethoven's
Pathétique sonata.

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 inspiration.
Nordraak died in 1866, and Grieg composed a funeral
march in his honor.[15]

On 11 June 1867, Grieg married his first cousin, Nina

Hagerup (1845–1935), a lyric soprano. The next year,
their only child, Alexandra, was born. Alexandra 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 Theatre in Copenhagen. Grieg himself was
unable to be there due to conducting commitments in Edvard Grieg and Nina Hagerup
Christiania (now Oslo).[16] (Grieg's wife and first cousin) in
1899
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's 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).[17]

In 1874–76, Grieg composed incidental music for the premiere of Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt,
at the request of the author.

Grieg had close ties with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (Harmonien), and later became
Music Director of the orchestra from 1880 to 1882. In 1888, Grieg met Tchaikovsky in Leipzig.
Grieg was struck by the greatness of Tchaikovsky.[18] Tchaikovsky thought very highly of Grieg's
music, praising its beauty, originality and warmth.[19]

Grieg was awarded two honorary doctorates, first by the University of Cambridge in 1894 and the
next from the University of Oxford in 1906.[20]

Later years
The Norwegian government provided Grieg with a pension as he reached retirement age. In the
spring of 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, despite limited fidelity. Grieg also
made live-recording player piano music rolls for the Hupfeld Phonola piano-player system and
Welte-Mignon reproducing system, all of which survive today and can be heard. He also worked
with the Aeolian Company for its 'Autograph Metrostyle' piano roll series wherein he indicated
the tempo mapping for many of his pieces.

In 1899, Grieg cancelled his concerts in France in protest of the Dreyfus Affair, an anti-semitic
scandal that was then roiling French politics. Regarding this scandal, Grieg had written that he
hoped that the French might, "Soon return to the spirit of 1789, when the French republic
declared that it would defend basic human rights." As a result of his position on the affair, he
became the target of much French hate mail of that day.[21][22]

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: “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.”[23]

Edvard Grieg died at the Municipal Hospital in

Bergen, Norway in the late summer of 1907 at age 64
from heart failure. He had suffered a long period of
illness. His last words were "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
Edvard Grieg Museum in
was played. Grieg was cremated, and his ashes were
Troldhaugen
entombed in a mountain crypt near his house,
Troldhaugen. After the death of his wife, her ashes
were later placed alongside his.[24]

Edvard Grieg and his wife considered themselves Unitarians and Nina went to the Unitarian
church in Copenhagen after his death.[25][26]

Music
Some of Grieg's early works include a symphony (which he later suppressed) and a piano sonata.
He also wrote three violin sonatas and a cello sonata.[6]

Grieg also composed the incidental music for Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt, which includes the
famous excerpt entitled, "In the Hall of the Mountain King". In this piece of music, the
adventures of the anti-hero, Peer Gynt, are related, including the episode in which he steals a
bride at her wedding. The angry guests chase him, and Peer falls, hitting his head on a rock. He
wakes up in a mountain surrounded by trolls. The music of "In the Hall of the Mountain King"
represents the angry trolls taunting Peer and gets louder each time the theme repeats. The music
ends with Peer escaping from the mountain.
In an 1874 letter to his friend Frants Beyer, Grieg expressed his unhappiness with Dance of the
Mountain King's Daughter, one of the movements he composed for Peer Gynt, writing "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."[27]

Grieg's 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. Norwegian pianist Eva Knardahl recorded the composer's
complete piano music on 13 LPs for BIS Records in 1977-1980. The recordings were reissued in
2006 on 12 compact discs, also on BIS Records. Grieg himself recorded many of these piano
works before his death in 1907.

List of selected works
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. 16
Incidental music to Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson'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 Chorus, Op. 30
Two Elegiac Melodies for strings or piano, Op. 34
Four Norwegian Dances for piano four hands, Op. 35 (better known in orchestrations by
Hans Sitt and others)
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. 46
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
 Slåtter (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, Poème érotique and Gone.

See also
Grieg's music in popular culture
Song of Norway
Peer Gynt Prize
Grieg (crater)
Edvard Grieg (sculpture)

References
Notes

1. Daniel M. Grimley (2006). Grieg: Music, Landscape and Norwegian Identity. Ipswich: Boydell
Press. ISBN 1-84383-210-0.
2. "Grieghallen" (http://www.bergenbyarkiv.no/bergenbyleksikon/arkiv/1424944?s=Grieghallen).
Bergen byleksikon. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
3. "Griegakademiet" (https://kmd.uib.no/no/studier/musikk). Universitetet i Bergen. Retrieved
September 1, 2017.
4. "Edvard Grieg Museum Troldhaugen" (http://griegmuseum.no/en). KODE. Retrieved
September 1, 2017.
5. "About Edvard Grieg Kor" (http://en.edvardgriegkor.no/). Edvard Grieg Kor. Retrieved
September 1, 2017.
6. Benestad, Finn. "Edvard Grieg" (http://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Edvard_Grieg/utdypning). In
Helle, Knut. Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved
10 September 2011.
7. Benestad; Schjelderup-Ebbe (1990) [1980]. pp. 25–28
8. Nils Grinde. "Grieg, Edvard" (http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/mus
ic/11757), Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press, accessed 11
November 2013 (subscription required)
9. Robert Layton. Grieg. (London: Omnibus Press, 1998)
10. Benestad; Schjelderup-Ebbe (1990) [1980]. pp. 35–36
11. Benestad; Schjelderup-Ebbe (1990) [1980]. p. 24
12. Jerome Roche and Henry Roche. "Moscheles, Ignaz" (https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/s
ubscriber/article/grove/music/19185), Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, Oxford
University Press, accessed 30 June 2014 (subscription required)
13. Laerum OD. Edvard Grieg's health and his physicians. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 1993 Dec
10;113(30):3750-3 PMID 8278965 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8278965)
14. Grieg Museum (http://griegmuseum.no/en/about-grieg)
15. Rune J. Andersen. "Edvard Grieg" (https://snl.no/Edvard_Grieg). Store norske leksikon.
Retrieved September 1, 2017.
16. Inger Elisabeth Haavet. "Nina Grieg" (https://nbl.snl.no/Nina_Grieg). Norsk biografisk
leksikon. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
17. Harald Herresthal. "Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)" (https://web.archive.org/web/2005121401105
6/http://www.mnc.net/norway/GRIEG.HTM). Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo.
Archived from the original (http://www.mnc.net/norway/grieg.htm) on 14 December 2005.
Retrieved 1 September 2017.
18. Gretchen Lamb. "First Impressions, Edvard Grieg" (https://web.archive.org/web/2009102709
2831/http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/5648/I_1st1.htm). Archived from the original on 27
October 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2006. Lamb cites David Brown's Tchaikovsky
Remembered
19. Richard Freed. "Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16" (https://web.archive.org/web/200611011
92808/http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?fuseaction=composition&composit
ion_id=2131). Archived from the original (http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm?
fuseaction=composition&composition_id=2131) on 1 November 2006. Retrieved 11 October
2006.
20. Carley, Lionel. "Preface." Preface. Edvard Grieg in England. N.p.: Boydell, 2006. Xi. Google
Books. Web. 01 June 2014.
21. Grieg the Humanist Brought to Light (http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2007/02/27/493382.htm
l) article by Dagbladet
22. I Have No Desire.... (https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/books/i-have-no-desire-to-appear-befor
e-a-french-audience-1.47656) Haaretz News. April 4, 2002. By Shaul Koubovi. Downloaded
Dec. 2, 2017.
23. John Bird, Percy Grainger , Oxford University Press, 1999, P. 133-134.
24. Finn Benestad. "Edvard Grieg" (https://nbl.snl.no/Edvard_Grieg). Norsk biografisk leksikon.
Retrieved September 1, 2017.
25. Peter Hughes (November 4, 2004). "Edvard and Nina Grieg" (http://uudb.org/articles/edvard
grieg.html). Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography. Unitarian Universalist
Association. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
26. Leah Kennedy (May 1, 2011). "The Life and Works of Edvard Grieg" (http://digitalcommons.u
su.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=honors). Utah State University. Retrieved
3 December 2014.
27. Layton, Robert (1998). Grieg: Illustrated Lives of the Great Composers. Omnibus Press.
p. 75. ISBN 0-7119-4811-9. See also: Tommasini, Anthony (16 September 2007). "Respect
at Last for Grieg?" (https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/arts/music/16tomm.html). The New
York Times. Music. Retrieved 4 July 2008.

Bibliography

Benestad, Finn; Schjelderup-Ebbe, Dag (1990) [1980]. Edvard Grieg – mennesket og

kunstneren (in Norwegian) (2 ed.). Oslo: Aschehoug. ISBN 82-03-16373-4.

Further reading

English
Carley, Lionel (2006) Edvard Grieg in England (Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press)
ISBN 1-84383-207-0
Finck, Henry Theophilius (2008) Edvard Grieg (Bastian Books) ISBN 978-0-554-96326-6
Finck, Henry Theophilus (2002) Edvard Grieg; with an introductory note by Lothar Feinstein
(Adelaide: London Cambridge Scholars Press) ISBN 1-904303-20-X
Foster, Beryl (2007) Songs of Edvard Grieg (Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press)
ISBN 1-84383-343-3
Grimley, Daniel (2007) Grieg: Music, Landscape and Norwegian Cultural Identity
(Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press) ISBN 1-84383-210-0
Jarrett, Sandra (2003) Edvard Grieg and his songs (Aldershot: Ashgate) ISBN 0-7546-3003-
X.
Kijas,, Anna E. (2013). " "A suitale soloist for my piano concerto": Teresa Carreño as a
promoter of Edvard Grieg's music". Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library
Association. Music Library Association. 70 (1): 37–58.

Norwegian
Benestad, Finn/Schjelderup-Ebbe, Dag (2007): Edvard Grieg – mennesket og kunstneren
(Oslo: H. Aschehoug & Co.) ISBN 978-82-03-23459-0
Bredal, Dag/Strøm-Olsen, Terje (1992) Edvard Grieg - Musikken er en kampplass (Oslo:
Aventura Forlag A/S) ISBN 82-588-0890-7
Dahl Jr., Erling (2007) Edvard Grieg - En introduksjon til hans liv og musikk (Bergen:
Vigmostad og Bjørke) ISBN 978-82-419-0418-9
Purdy, Claire Lee (1968) Historien om Edvard Grieg (Oslo: A/S Forlagshuse) ISBN 82-511-
0152-2

External links
 Media related to Edvard Grieg at Wikimedia Commons Works written by or about Edvard
Grieg at Wikisource

Grieg 2007 Official Site for 100th year commemoration of Edvard Grieg (http://www.grieg07.
no)
The Grieg archives at Bergen Public Library (http://www.edvardgrieg.no)
Troldhaugen Museum, Grieg's home (http://www.troldhaugen.no)
Biography of Grieg (https://web.archive.org/web/20051214011056/http://www.mnc.net/norwa
y/GRIEG.HTM) by prof. Harald Herresthal
Works by Edvard Grieg (https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL38111A) at Open Library
Edvard Grieg statue by (http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_hist
orical_sign.php?id=11839)Sigvald Asbjornsen Prospect Park (Brooklyn)
Films about Grieg's life: What Price Immortality? (1999) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt030395
5/), Song of Norway (1970) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066393/)
Edvard Grieg picture collection at flickr commons (https://www.flickr.com/photos/bergen_publ
ic_library/collections/72157617382486774/)
Edvard and Nina Grieg (https://web.archive.org/web/20080314160425/http://www25.uua.org/
uuhs/duub/articles/edvardgrieg.html), Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography

Recordings by Edvard Grieg

Papillon – Lyric Piece, Op. 43, no. 1 (http://www.pianolist.org/music/papillon.mp3) as
recorded by Grieg on piano roll, 17 April 1906, Leipzig (Info (http://www.pianola.org/reproduc
ing/reproducing.cfm))
Legendary Piano Recordings: The Complete Grieg, Saint-Saëns, Pugno, and Diémer
(Marston Records (https://web.archive.org/web/20150406023518/http://www.marstonrecord
s.com/legendary-piano/legendary_piano_tracks.htm))
Edvard Grieg: The Piano Music In Historic Interpretations (SIMAX Classics – PSC1809 (http
s://archive.is/20130223083237/http://www.simax.musiconline.no/shop/displayAlbumExtende
d.asp?id=16520))
Grieg and his Circle (Pearl, GEMM 9933 CD (http://www.pavilionrecords.co.uk))
Grieg spiller Grieg (http://www.kunstmuseene.no/Default.asp?enhet=troldhaugen&art=212&k
at=178&sp=1) (Edvard Grieg Museum Troldhaugen) (in Norwegian)
Piano Rolls (https://web.archive.org/web/20050306063111/http://www.rprf.org/Rollography.ht
ml) (The Reproducing Piano Roll Foundation (http://www.rprf.org/))

Recordings of Edvard Grieg works

Edvard Grieg, Sonata No. 1 in F major, I. Allegro con brio - Gregory Maytan (violin), Nicole
Lee (piano) (http://www.lunanova.org/MaytanCD/GriegSonata1-1.mp3)
Edvard Grieg, Sonata No. 1 in F major, II. Allegretto quasi Andantino - Gregory Maytan
(violin), Nicole Lee (piano) (http://www.lunanova.org/MaytanCD/GriegSonata1-2.mp3)
Edvard Grieg, Sonata No. 1 in F major, III. Allegro molto vivace - Gregory Maytan (violin),
Nicole Lee (piano) (http://www.lunanova.org/MaytanCD/GriegSonata1-3.mp3)
 Edvard Grieg, Sonata No. 3 in C minor, I. Allegro molto ed appasionato - Gregory Maytan
(violin), Nicole Lee (piano) (http://www.lunanova.org/MaytanCD/GriegSonata3-1.mp3)
Edvard Grieg, Sonata No. 3 in C minor, II. Allegretto espressivo all Ramanza - Gregory
Maytan (violin), Nicole Lee (piano) (http://www.lunanova.org/MaytanCD/GriegSonata3-2.mp
3)
Edvard Grieg, Sonata No. 3 in C minor, III. Allegro animato - Gregory Maytan (violin), Nicole
Lee (piano) (http://www.lunanova.org/MaytanCD/GriegSonata3-3.mp3)

Music scores
Free scores by Edvard Grieg at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
Free scores by Edvard Grieg in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
Free scores (http://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/make-table.cgi?Composer=GriegE) at the
Mutopia Project

Festivals
Peer Gynt Festival (http://www.peergynt.no/english/)
Oslo Grieg Festival (http://www.oslogriegfestival.no/)
Grieg International Choir Festival (http://www.griegfestival.no/)
Grieg in Bergen (http://www.grieginbergen.com/)

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