Grieg, Edvard

International Music Score Library Project [IMSLP] entry: Edvard Grieg

Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) was the celebrated Norwegian composer, best known for his music to Peer Gynt and his Piano Concerto, but also to many young pianists for his Lyric Suites and other mostly piano compositions.

Piece	MP3	Midi	Genre
Norwegian Dance (Spring)		MIDI	CD1 duet classical
	The Norwegian Dance in A major, Op. 35, No. 2, was composed for piano duet, though perhaps better known in an orchestral version, and is sometimes subtitled Spring, though it is more decorous than his fellow-Norwegian Sinding's boisterous Rustle. Composed in 1880 and marked Allegretto tranquillo e grazioso with an Allegro middle section. Sequenced primarily from the Novello edition in my collection, and compared with the Peters edition at IMSLP.

Four pieces, Op. 1
I. Allegro con leggerezza		MIDI	piano
II. Non Allegro e molto espressivo
III. Mazurka, con grazia
IV. Allegretto con moto
	The Four pieces, Op 1 were composed in 1861, when Grieg was 18, and dedicated to Seinem verehrten Lehrer [His respected teacher], E. F. [Ernst Ferdinand] Wenzel. Sequenced in 2020 from the PD IMSLP copy of the Peters edition [1907, ed. Hermann Kretzschmar]. These pieces were very difficult to sequence! Grieg delights in breaking up the rhythm, with suspensions and discords all over the place. The track described in the Midi as "accompaniment" is somewhat arbitrary; in the first piece, it's clear, elsewhere it's primarily a way of avoiding doubled notes. The mature Grieg is hard to discern in places! The first piece is rather like a prelude. The second is a bit shapeless, and has a scurrying faster part. The mazurka third piece is a long way from Chopin. The fourth piece is perhaps the best. Throughout, the sometimes rather eccentric emphasis and phrasing is as marked in the score.

Folkedanse		MIDI	classical piano
1. Allegro marcato		Springdans -- Norwegian Dance (Gol i Hallingdal)
2. Con moto		Ungersvennen -- The Swain (Vaage)
3. Allegretto		Springdans -- Norwegian Dance
4. Moderato		Niels Tallefjoren (Hjerdal) [I have not found any indication of who NT was!]
5. Allegro con fuoco		Jolstring -- Dance from Jolster (Jolster)
6. Allegretto		Brurelat -- Wedding Tune (Hallingdal)
7. Moderato		Halling (Osterdalen)
8. Allegretto		Grisen -- The Pig (Hjerdal)
9. Andantino		Nar mit oje -- Religious Song (Hitterdal)
10. Allegretto		Friervise -- The Wooer's Song
11. Con moto ma un poco maestoso		Kjempervise -- Heroic Ballad (Haukelle)
12. Andante		Solfager og ormekongen -- S. and the Snake-king (Mo i Telemarken) [Solfager is the subject of a fairy-tale involving her attempted seduction by a snake king, whatever that may be.]
13. Moderato		Reiselat -- "Wedding March" (journey-song) (Gol i Hallingdal)
14. Andante		Jeg sjunger med sorrigfuldt hjerte -- I sing with a sorrowful heart (Valders)
15. Andantino		Den siste lordagskvelden -- Last Saturday Evening [ [This seems to involve a horse and be altogether more decorous than modern nights out!]
16. Andante molto		Eg vet en lista gjente -- I Know a Little Maiden (Smaalenene)
17. Allegretto con moto		Keggen og flugga -- The Gadfly and the Fly (Kvikne) [Compare English "keggie" == "midge".]
18. Allegro		Stabbelaten -- Peasant Dance
19. Andantino		Holje Dale (Sillegjord)
20. Allegro moderato		Halling
21. Moderato		Saebygga -- The Woman from Setesdal [Saebygga is a lake in Telemark, southern Norway, adjacent to Setesdal.]
22. Andante con moto		Kulokk -- Cow-call (Valders)
23. Allegro		Sag du nokke kjerringa mi -- "Peasant Song" (Do You Know my Wife)
24. Moderato		Brurelat -- Wedding Tune (Vang i Valders)
25. Marcato		Rabnabryllup -- The Raven's Wedding (Soga)
	The 25 Norske Melodier og Folkedanse, Op. 17 [25 Norwegian Folksongs and Dances] are 25 short pieces, written about 1870 as arrangements of a collection by L. M. Lindeman. Sequenced in 2013 primarily from the urtext edition in my collection, edited by Thomas Assmus, and published by Koenemann Music, Budapest, but also compared with other copies. For most of the pieces, the table gives the title in Norwegian, the English translation, as given by Grieg, and the source [district of Norway]. Some of the translations seem wrong, so I've also given some of my own.

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Andy Walker, anw [at] cuboid4.me.uk [remove digit to construct address]