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Biography
redirect|GriegUse dmy dates|date=August 2011 Edvard Hagerup Grieg / IPA|'?d??? 'h??g????p g?i?g / (15 June 1843spaced ndash4 September 1907) was a Norway|Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto (Grieg)|Piano Concerto in A minor , for Peer Gynt (Grieg)|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 piano miniatures Lyric Pieces . http://www.snl.no/Edvard_Grieg Edvard Grieg (Store norske leksikon)
Biography
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in Bergen , Norway on 15 June 1843. 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 Edvard Hagerup .cite encyclopedia |title=Edvard Grieg |first=Finn |last=Benestad|authorlink=Finn Benestad |encyclopedia= Norsk biografisk leksikon |editor= Knut Helle|Helle, Knut |publisher=Kunnskapsforlaget|location=Oslo|url= http://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Edvard_Grieg/utdypning |language=Norwegian|accessdate=10 September 2011Benestad; Schjelderup-Ebbe (1990) 1980. pp. 25–28 The family name, originally spelled Greig (name)|Greig , has Scotland|Scottish origins. After the Battle of Culloden in 1746, Grieg's great-grandfather traveled widely, settling in Norway about 1770, and establishing business interests in Bergen.
Edvard Grieg was raised in a musical area. His mother was his first piano teacher and taught him to play at the age of 6. Grieg studied in several schools,clarify|date=September 2011 including Tanks Upper Secondary School|Tank's School .Robert Layton. Grieg . (London: Omnibus Press, 1998). 18. He often brought in samples of his music to class.Citation needed|date=September 2011 In the summer of 1858, Grieg met the eminent Norwegian violinist Ole Bull ,Benestad; Schjelderup-Ebbe (1990) 1980. pp. 35–36 who was a family friend; Bull's brother was married to Grieg's aunt.Benestad; Schjelderup-Ebbe (1990) 1980. p. 24 Bull recognized the 15-year-old boy's talent and persuaded his parents to send him to the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig|Leipzig Conservatory , then directed by Ignaz Moscheles .Citation needed|date=September 2011 Grieg enrolled in the music school|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 (music)|organ , which was mandatory for piano students. In the spring of 1860, he survived a life-threatening Respiratory disease|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 Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven 's Piano Sonata No. 8 (Beethoven)|Pathétique sonata. (Grieg's own recording of his Piano Sonata (Grieg)|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 Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann|J. P. E. Hartmann and Niels Gade . He also met his fellow Norwegian composer Rikard Nordraak (composer of the Ja, vi elsker dette landet|Norwegian national anthem ), who became a good friend and source of great inspiration. Nordraak died in 1866, and Grieg composed a Funeral March in Memory of Rikard Nordraak|funeral march in his honor.
On 11 June 1867, Grieg married his first cousin, Nina Grieg|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). http://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Nina_Grieg/utdypning Nina Grieg – utdypning (Store norske leksikon)
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).
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 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky in Leipzig. Grieg was struck by the sadness in Tchaikovsky.cite web |url = http://web.archive.org/web/20091027092831/ http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/5648/I_1st1.htm |title = First Impressions, Edvard Grieg |author=Gretchen Lamb | accessdate =11 October 2006 |archiveurl= http://www.webcitation.org/query? url= http://www.geocities.com/vienna/5648/I_1st1.htm& date=2009-10-25+23:57:43|archivedate=26 October 2009 Lamb cites David Brown's Tchaikovsky Remembered Tchaikovsky thought very highly of Grieg's music, praising its beauty, originality and warmth.cite web |title=Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 |url= http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/index.cfm? fuseaction=composition& composition_id=2131 |author=Richard Freed |accessdate=11 October 2006
Later years
Grieg's later life brought him fame. The Norwegian government awarded him a pension. In the spring 1903, Grieg made nine 78-rpm gramophone record ings 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: “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& #33; He is a genius that we Scandinavians cannot do other than love.”John Bird, Percy Grainger , Oxford University Press, 1999, P. 133-134.
Edvard Grieg died in the autumn of 1907, aged 64, after a long period of illness. His final 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 Frédéric Chopin|Chopin 's Piano Sonata No. 2 (Chopin)|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 Musical nationalism|nationalist composer , drawing inspiration from Norwegian folk music . Early works include a symphony (which he later suppressed) and a Piano Sonata (Grieg)|piano sonata . He also wrote three Sonatas for Violin and Piano (Grieg)|sonatas for violin and piano and a Cello Sonata (Grieg)|cello sonata . His many short pieces for piano – often based on Norwegian folk tunes and dances – led some to call him the " Frédéric Chopin|Chopin of the North".Who|date=September 2011Citation needed|date=September 2011 listen| filename = Edvard Grieg - Concerto in A minor, 1st movement.ogg | title = Concerto in A minor: 1. Allegro molto moderato | description = Performed by the University of Washington Symphony, conducted by Peter Eros (Neal O'Doan, piano) | format = Ogg | filename2 = Edvard Grieg - piano concerto in a minor, op. 16 - i. allegro molto moderato.ogg | title2 = Concerto in A minor: 1. Allegro molto moderato | description2 = Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra (courtesy of http://www.musopen.com Musopen) | format2 = Ogg | filename3 = Edvard Grieg - Concerto in A minor, 2nd movement.ogg | title3 = Concerto in A minor: 2. Adagio | description3 = Performed by the University of Washington Symphony, conducted by Peter Eros (Neal O'Doan, piano) | format3 = Ogg | filename4 = Edvard Grieg - piano concerto in a minor, op. 16 - ii. adagio.ogg | title4 = Concerto in A minor: 2. Adagio | description4 = Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra (courtesy of http://www.musopen.com Musopen) | format4 = Ogg | filename5 = Edvard Grieg - Concerto in A minor, 3rd movement.ogg | title5 = Concerto in A minor: 3. Allegro moderato molto e marcato | description5 = Performed by the University of Washington Symphony, conducted by Peter Eros (Neal O'Doan, piano) | format5 = Ogg | filename6 = Edvard Grieg - piano concerto in a minor, op. 16 - iii. allegro moderato molto.ogg | title6 = Concerto in A minor: 3. Allegro moderato molto e marcato | description6 = Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra (courtesy of http://www.musopen.com Musopen) | format6 = Ogg | filename7 = Grieg Notturno Op 54 No 4 performed live by Mark Gasser, 2009.ogg | title7 = Notturno , Op. 54, No. 4 | description7 = Performed live by Mark Gasser | format7 = Ogg | filename8 = Grieg+plays+Grieg+Butterfly+(1906).ogg | title8 = Grieg plays his butterfly. | description8 = Recorded 1906 | format8 = Ogg | filename9 = Grieg+plays+Grieg+Wedding+Day+(1903).ogg | title9 = Grieg plays his Wedding day. | description9 = Recorded 1903 | format = Ogg The Piano Concerto (Grieg)|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 Christmas 1971 '' Morecambe and Wise#Grieg's Piano Concerto by Grieg|Morecambe and Wise Show , conducted by André 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 : "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& #33; But I have a hunch that the irony will be discernible."cite book | last = Layton | first = Robert | title = Grieg: Illustrated Lives of the Great Composers | publisher=Omnibus Press | year = 1998 | pages = 75 | isbn = 0-7119-4811-9 See also: cite news | last = Tommasini | first = Anthony | title = Respect at Last for Grieg? | work=Music |work=The New York Times | date = 16 September 2007 | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/arts/music/16tomm.html | accessdate =4 July 2008
Grieg's popular Holberg Suite was originally written for the piano, and later arranged by the composer for string instrument|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 during 1978 and 1980. The recordings were reissued in 2006 on 12 compact discs by BIS Records .
List of selected works
main|List of compositions by Edvard Grieg
Piano Sonata (Grieg)|Piano Sonata in E minor , Op. 7
Sonatas for Violin and Piano (Grieg)|Violin Sonata No. 1 in F major , Op. 8
Concert Overture In Autumn (Grieg)|In Autumn , Op. 11
Sonatas for Violin and Piano (Grieg)|Violin Sonata No. 2 in G major , Op. 13
Piano Concerto (Grieg)|Piano Concerto in A minor , Op. 16
Incidental music to Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson 's play Sigurd Jorsalfar (Grieg)|Sigurd Jorsalfar , Op. 22
Peer Gynt (Grieg)|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|String Quartet in G minor, Op. 27
Album for Male Chorus , Op. 30
Two Elegiac Melodies for Strings , Op. 34
Four Norwegian Dances for piano four hands, Op. 35 (later orchestrated)
Cello Sonata (Grieg)|Cello Sonata in A minor , Op. 36
Holberg Suite for piano, later arr. for string orchestra, Op. 40
Sonatas for Violin and Piano (Grieg)|Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor , Op. 45
Peer Gynt (Grieg)| Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46
Lyric Suite (Grieg)|Lyric Suite for orchestra, Op. 54 (orchestration of four Lyric Pieces )
Peer Gynt (Grieg)| Peer Gynt Suite No. 2, Op. 55
Suite from Sigurd Jorsalfar , Op. 56
Four Symphonic Dances (Grieg)|Symphonic Dances for piano, later arr. for orchestra, Op. 64
Haugtussa (Grieg)| 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
Portal|Biography
Grieg's music in popular culture
References
;Notes Reflist ;Bibliography
cite book |first1=Finn |last1=Benestad |authorlink1=Finn Benestad |first2=Dag |last2=Schjelderup-Ebbe |authorlink2=Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe |title= Edvard Grieg – mennesket og kunstneren |edition=2 |year=1990 |origyear=1980 |language=Norwegian |publisher=Aschehoug |location=Oslo|isbn=82-03-16373-4
Further reading
English
Grieg The Writer ed. by Bjarne Kortsen. Vol I: Essays and Articles , vol II: Letters to Frants Beyer (editio norvegica, Bergen/Norway 1972)
Edvard Grieg in England by Lionel Carley (The Boydell Press 2006) ISBN 1-84383-207-0
Grieg: Music, Landscape and Norwegian Cultural Identity by Daniel Grimley (The Boydell Press 2006) ISBN 1-84383-210-0
Songs of Edvard Grieg by Beryl Foster (The Boydell Press new edition 2007) ISBN 1-84383-343-3
Edvard Grieg by Henry Theophilius Finck (Bastian Books new edition 2008) ISBN 978-0-554-96326-6
Grieg by John Horton (London 1950)
Norwegian
Finn Benestad|Benestad, Finn / Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe|Schjelderup-Ebbe, Dag (2007): Edvard Grieg – mennesket og kunstneren . H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard), Oslo. ISBN 978-82-03-23459-0
Bredal, Dag/Strøm-Olsen, Terje (1992): Edvard Grieg – Musikken er en kampplass . Aventura Forlag A/S, Oslo. ISBN 82-588-0890-7
David Monrad Johansen|Johansen, David Monrad (1956): Edvard Grieg . Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, Oslo.
Bøe, Finn (1949): Trekk av Edvard Griegs personlighet . Oslo.
External links
commons category
http://www.grieg07.no Grieg 2007. Official Site for 100th year commemoration of Edvard Grieg
http://www.edvardgrieg.no The Grieg archives at Bergen Public Library
http://www.troldhaugen.no Troldhaugen Museum, Grieg's home
http://www.mnc.net/norway/GRIEG.HTM Biography of Grieg by prof. Harald Herresthal
OL author|OL38111A
http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php? id=11839 Edvard Grieg statue by Sigvald Asbjornsen Prospect Park (Brooklyn)
Films about Grieg's life: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303955/ What Price Immortality? (1999), http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066393/ Song of Norway (1970)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bergen_public_library/collections/72157617382486774/ Edvard Grieg picture collection at flickr commons
Recordings by Edvard Grieg
http://www.pianolist.org/music/papillon.mp3 Papillon – Lyric Piece, Op. 43, no. 1 as recorded by Grieg on piano roll, 17 April 1906, Leipzig ( http://www.pianola.org/reproducing/reproducing.cfm Info)
Legendary Piano Recordings: The Complete Grieg, Saint-Saëns, Pugno, and Diémer ( http://www.marstonrecords.com/legendary-piano/legendary_piano_tracks.htm Marston Records)
Edvard Grieg: The Piano Music In Historic Interpretations ( http://www.simax.musiconline.no/shop/displayAlbumExtended.asp? id=16520 SIMAX Classics – PSC1809)
Grieg and his Circle ( http://www.pavilionrecords.co.uk Pearl, GEMM 9933 CD)
http://www.kunstmuseene.no/Default.asp? enhet=troldhaugen& art=212& kat=178& sp=1 Grieg spiller Grieg (Edvard Grieg Museum Troldhaugen)
http://www.rprf.org/Rollography.html Piano Rolls ( http://www.rprf.org/ The Reproducing Piano Roll Foundation)
Music scores
IMSLP|id=Grieg, Edvard
WIMA|idx=Grieg|name=Edvard Grieg
ChoralWiki|Edvard Grieg
http://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/make-table.cgi? Composer=GriegE Free scores at the Mutopia Project
Persondata|NAME = Grieg, Edvard Hagerup |ALTERNATIVE NAMES = |SHORT DESCRIPTION = Norwegian composer and pianist |DATE OF BIRTH = 15 June 1843 |PLACE OF BIRTH = Bergen |DATE OF DEATH = 4 September 1907 |PLACE OF DEATH = Bergen DEFAULTSORT:Grieg, Edvard Category:Norwegian composers Category:Romantic composers Category:Norwegian classical pianists Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav Category:Composers awarded knighthoods Category:Musicians awarded knighthoods Category:1843 births Category:1907 deaths Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Philharmonic Society Category:Norwegian people of Scottish descent Category:People from Bergen Category:Felix Mendelssohn College of Music and Theatre alumni Category:Composers for piano
