Composers › Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg
The musical voice of Norway: he brought his country's folk songs and dances into the concert halls of all Europe.
Life
He was born in Bergen, Norway; his mother, a pianist, gave him his first lessons. At fifteen he went to study at the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany.
Back home, he fell in love with Norwegian folk music and made it the heart of his style. His Piano Concerto in A minor (1868) made him famous throughout Europe.
He wrote 66 Lyric Pieces for piano, short musical pictures, and lived for many years in his house at Troldhaugen, near Bergen, now a museum.
Portrait: Bergen Public Library, no known copyright restrictions, from Wikimedia Commons.
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Curiosities
- In the Hall of the Mountain King is part of the incidental music for Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt, first staged in 1876.
- The piece describes Peer Gynt chased by the trolls: the same theme repeats louder and faster every time.
- In 1870, in Rome, Franz Liszt sight-read his Piano Concerto and encouraged him to go on.
At the piano
- The secret of the Mountain King is the crescendo: start very soft and slow and reach the top only at the end.
- The staccato notes must be short and a little mysterious, like sneaking steps.
- Speed up gradually, without losing precision.
Pieces to learn 1 piece
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