Edvard Grieg
Norwegian Romantic who gave Scandinavian music its lyrical voice
1843
1907
Norwegian
Romantic
Peer Gynt, Piano Concerto in A minor, Holberg Suite
Early life
Edvard Grieg was born on 15 June 1843 in Bergen, Norway. His mother, a talented pianist, gave him his first piano lessons at the age of six. At fifteen, on the advice of the violinist Ole Bull, he was sent to the Leipzig Conservatory, where he studied piano, harmony, and composition. Although he found some of the teaching old-fashioned, the experience immersed him in the German Romantic tradition — Schumann's music made a particularly deep impression. After further study in Copenhagen with the Danish composer Niels Gade, Grieg returned to Norway determined to forge a distinctively Norwegian musical language.
Career and major works
Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor (1868), composed when he was twenty-four, announced his arrival on the international stage. Liszt, who sight-read the manuscript in Rome, praised it extravagantly. The concerto's bold opening gesture — a descending cascade of chords — is one of the most recognisable openings in the repertoire. His incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt (1875), later arranged into two orchestral suites, brought him worldwide fame, with 'Morning Mood,' 'In the Hall of the Mountain King,' and 'Solveig's Song' becoming some of the most frequently heard pieces in classical music. Other major works include the Holberg Suite for string orchestra (1884), the String Quartet in G minor (1878), and the Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor (1887). His ten sets of Lyric Pieces for piano, composed over a period of thirty-four years, are intimate character pieces of great charm.
Musical style and legacy
Grieg's music is characterised by its use of Norwegian folk scales and dance rhythms — the halling, springar, and gangar — combined with a Romantic harmonic palette rich in chromatic colour. His gift was primarily lyrical and miniaturist rather than symphonic; he excelled at capturing a mood or landscape in a few pages. His influence on Scandinavian music was foundational, and composers from Debussy to Percy Grainger acknowledged his impact. He died in Bergen on 4 September 1907.