Product Description
Duration: ca. 3:40, Score: 5 pages, solo part: 2 pages, piano part: 3 pages. Super-famous instantly recognizable tune, not very difficult - suitable for a recital, funeral or church meditation.
Grieg Background
In the first place, Edvard Grieg
(1843 1907) was a Norwegian composer as
well as a concert pianist. As a matter of fact, most music historians consider him one of
the foremost Romantic era composers. Consequently, his music is
part of the international standard classical repertoire. Grieg moreover used Norwegian
folk music in his own compositions. Consequently, he ushered Norwegian music to transnational
consciousness. Furthermore, he forged a national musical identity
for Norway. It is important to realize that he did this in a manner
similar to Jean Sibelius in Finland, and Bedřich Smetana in Bohemia.
Legacy
Grieg is especially celebrated in the city of Bergen. For
example, the city has erected numerous statues depicting Grieg. Specifically, the
city has named a concert hall (Grieg Hall), a music school (Grieg Academy) and
a professional choir (Edvard Grieg Kor) after him. As a matter of fact, there
is also a museum located at his former home in Troldhaugen.
Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 (Op. 46)
Grieg wrote incidental music for the purpose of
illustrating a play by Ibsen known as Peer Gynt. The play includes, in
particular, the famous selection entitled, In
the Hall of the Mountain King. In this composition, Grieg indeed depicts the
exploits of the scoundrel, Peer Gynt. In one famous episode, for example, Peer
steals a bride at her wedding. For this reason, the people chase him, but soon
Peer falls, thereupon striking his skull on a boulder. He wakens forthwith in a
highland bounded by angry gnomes. Consequently, the music of In the Hall of the Mountain King
represents the mad gnomes taunting Peer. Therefore, each time the theme repeats
it gets louder and faster. In the end, Peer surprisingly escapes from the
mountain.
Holberg Suite and Misc. Summary
It must be remembered that Grieg originally wrote his Holberg
Suite for the piano. In other words, he only later arranged it for
strings. Further, Grieg composed by and large many songs with lyrics by famous
writers such as Heine, Goethe, Ibsen, Hans Christian Andersen, Rudyard
Kipling, and others. On balance, Norwegian pianist Eva Knardahl recorded
altogether Griegs whole piano catalog on LP in 1980. These recordings were released
again on CD in 2006. In any event, Grieg himself performed and recorded the
bulk of these pieces toward the end of his life.
Register for free lifetime revisions and updates at www.jamesguthrie.com
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.