Grieg, Edvard

Preface

Grieg, Edvard – Sigurd Jorsalfar Op. 22, incidental music (with Norwegian text and partly German translations )

(b. Bergen, 15 June 1843 – d. Bergen, 4 September 1907)

Preface
As a leading Romantic-era composer, Edvard Grieg represents his home country of Norway-Sweden well among the giant personalities of the late nineteenth century. Grieg was born in the small town of Bergen in modern-day Norway to a diplomat father and a music teacher mother. This early connection to music fostered a skill and talent that garnered recognition among the Norwegian musicians of the time, specifically, violinist Ole Bull (1810–1880), who according to Robert Schumann “. . . is on a level with Niccolo Paganini . . . ” Ole backed Grieg’s bid to enroll at the Leipzig Conservatory to further his musical studies. Surprisingly, he left the conservatory feeling he was a composer with not much capability for the craft. However, after a stint as a concert pianist back in Norway, Grieg found his true calling as a romantic nationalist composer representing his home country, all thanks to the mentorship and guidance of Rikard Nordraak (1842–1866).

Finally free of his self-criticism, Grieg began to flourish in Norwegian folk-inspired symphonic works and piano and violin concertos. However, Grieg was tied to a classical genre less glorified than the prolific genres of symphony and sacred music; a genre that found incidental fame: stage music. This musical type was the contemporary form for what now is film music. Grieg’s best-known contribution to incidental music genre was his collaboration with Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in the production of Peer Gynt and the timeless melody “In the Hall of the Mountain King.”

However, the literal journey to the halls of the mountain king began because of a collaboration with another compatriot, Norwegian poet Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. Familiar with each other’s work, Bjornson looked to Grieg to compose the music for the stage play Sigurd Jorsalfar, a celebration of King Sigurd I of Norway. This was a perfect opportunity for Grieg to reinforce his calling to compose music of and for his homeland. In a flurry of composition, Grieg finished the score in one year in time for the play’s opening. On April 10, 1872, in Christiania (current day Oslo), the play Sigurd Jorsalfar and its accompanying music by Grieg made its debut to immense success under the direction of Johan Hennum and the featured soprano Laura Gundersen as soloist, among others. The work’s reception warranted ten more productions in Christiania. …

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