Composer of My Ancestry

The Norwegian Composer, Edvard Grieg, was born on June 15 in 1843. Much of his music draws largely from Norwegian folk music. Grieg was quite a gifted pianist, and had the opportunity to study in Leipzig, Germany. His piano music shows clear influences from Liszt, Schumann, and Chopin.

One of the most popular compositions (and rightly so) is his Piano Concerto in A minor. The piece is often compared with Schumann's Piano Concerto in the same key, which Grieg heard Clara Schumann perform in Leipzig in 1858 (he composed his own concerto 10 years later). The first movements of both pieces begin with a short piano cadenza leading into an orchestral introduction of the first theme, followed by a repetition of the theme in the piano. After this follows some quicker piano passage-work and eventually the second theme. I've also observed that Rachmaninoff's 1st piano concerto is clearly influenced by both of these concertos, with the same type of program at the beginning. Listen to the first movements of the Schumann, Grieg, and Rachmaninoff 1st piano concertos to see what I mean.

Here is the continuation of the Grieg 1st movement and the 2nd movement (starting at 4:20), and the third movement (starting at 0:45). The second movement of this piece is to me one of the most beautiful movements in all of classical music. I know that since I'm Norwegian, too, I'm probably biased, but it's not like I've ever even been to Norway or know any of the language or culture. But there is something so pure and wistful about the 2nd movement (clearly influenced by the 2nd movement of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, another one of the most beautiful pieces in all of classical music).

Another very popular work by Grieg is the music he wrote for Henrik Ibsen's play, Peer Gynt. He put some of the music together into two Peer Gynt Suites, from which we get Morning Mood, Anitra's Dance, In the Hall of the Mountain King, and Solveig's Song among others. Although Grieg was influenced by a lot of the mainstream Romantic composers of his day, these last few compositions should give a taste of his unmistakable sound, probably because of the Norwegian folk music influence. I'm getting misty-eyed right now thinking about how my Grandmother used to ask me to play Solveig's Song for her on the piano all the time (she immigrated from Norway).

Grieg also wrote a lot of little piano pieces, many of which are included in his suites of Lyric Pieces, wonderful little gems, some profound and difficult, but most of them quiet little understated pieces. Here's a few: Wedding Day at Troldhaugen, March of the Dwarfs, The Butterfly, Melody, and Peace of the Woods. I've recently been playing through these and bought a 7-CD set of all of Grieg's piano works - delightful to listen to!