Edvard Grieg
...n an Edvard Grieg Museum and one of Norway’s major tourist attractions. Throughout his later years he appeared all over Europe as a traveling ambassador of his own music. As the leading Scandinavian composer of his time, Grieg was awarded honorary doctorates from the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, as well as many other distinctions (Grieg Society). During his own time Grieg was first and foremost a lyrical composer. His Op.33 Vinje settings is just one example of how he managed to encompass a wide range of emotional expression and atmospheric color. The ten opus numbers of Lyric Pieces for piano hold a wealth of characteristic mood-sketches. His later work showed that he was a pioneer in the impressionistic uses of harmony and piano sonority (Berlin). Grieg is the most prominent representative of Norwegian music in the 19th century, a period of growing national consciousness. He is best known for his nationalistic style of composition that possessed obvious roots to pure Norwegian folk music. His most famously known works are probably his Peer Gynt Suites 1 & 2, which were written for Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt, based on the epic tale Peer Gynt by. His other famous works include the Holberg Suite and his third violin sonata (Troldhaugen). Anitra’s Dance, the third movement of the Peer Gynt Suite no.1, is a perfect example of a dance suite from the romantic era. It was composed in 1875 for Ibsen’s play and was originally just one of 23 movements in the play (Troldhaugen). Although it is not as easily recognized as the 1st or 4th movements of the suite, I’m sure I have heard this in a movie or on a television show. This movement was about three minutes and forty-five seconds long and I must have listened to it about twenty times. I also listened to the entire Peer Gynt Suite quite a few times and I believe it is about eighteen minutes in length. The most appealing aspect of this piece to me would be the dreamy seductive tone of the orchestra, especially portrayed by the violins, that acts to support the particular theme of the piece as that of a dance. There was nothing I didn’t like about this piece. I absolutely loved the entire Peer Gynt Suite, although Ase’s Death is a ...