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Stories of Symphonic Music / A Guide to the Meaning of Important Symphonies, Overtures, and Tone-poems from Beethoven to the Present Day cover

Stories of Symphonic Music / A Guide to the Meaning of Important Symphonies, Overtures, and Tone-poems from Beethoven to the Present Day

Chapter 59: GRIEG
By Lawrence Gilman
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About This Book

The guide offers concise, non-technical explanations of symphonies, overtures, and tone-poems, arranged by composer, that orient concert-goers to the illustrative or poetic intentions behind each work. A preface argues for knowing a composition's programme when it is central to the music; individual entries summarize a work's descriptive basis, thematic outline, and salient orchestral effects without indulging in speculative interpretations. Coverage ranges from Beethoven through late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century composers and selects items likely to appear on contemporary orchestral programs, providing practical background to enhance informed listening.

GRIEG

(Edvard Grieg:[61] born in Bergen, Norway, June 15, 1843; died in Bergen, September 4, 1907)

SUITE (No. 1), "PEER GYNT" [62]

1. MORNING MOOD

(Allegretto pastorale)

2. THE DEATH OF AASE

(Andante doloroso)

3. ANITRA'S DANCE

(Tempo di Mazurka)

4. IN THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING

(Marcia e molto marcato)

This is the first, as it is the more famous and frequently played, of the two orchestral suites arranged by Grieg from the incidental music which he wrote, at Ibsen's suggestion, for the latter's singular drama, "Peer Gynt." The story of the play, in the form in which it was given by Ibsen to Grieg for musical accentuation, is thus succinctly told by Mr. Henry T. Finck in his comprehensive and authoritative monograph on the Norwegian master:

"Peer Gynt is a rough Norwegian peasant youth, who, in the first act, drives his mother Aase (Ohse) to distraction by his fantastic talk and ruffianly actions.

"His dream is to become emperor of the world. Everybody dreads and avoids him. He hears that the beautiful Ingrid is to be married, goes uninvited to the wedding, and carries the bride into the mountain wilderness. The next day, deaf to her laments, he deserts her, after taunting her with not having the golden locks or the meekness of the tender-hearted Solvejg, who, at the wedding, loved him at sight, notwithstanding his ruffianly appearance and behavior. After divers adventures Peer finds himself in the Hall of the Mountain King, where he is tortured by gnomes and sprites, who alternate their wild dances with deadly threats; he is rescued at the last moment by the sound of bells in the distance, which make the hall of the goblins collapse. Then he builds a hut in the forest, and Solvejg comes to him on her snow-shoes of her own free will. Weeping, she tells him she has left her sister and parents to share his hut and be his wife. Happiness seems to be his at last, but he is haunted by the gnomes, who threaten to torture him every moment of his life, whereat, without saying a word to his bride, he leaves her and returns to his mother. Aase is on her death-bed, and soon expires in his arms. Later, he turns up in Africa, where he has divers adventures. Having succeeded in stealing from robbers a horse and a royal garment, he goes among the Arabs and plays the rôle of a prophet. He makes love to the beautiful Anitra, daughter of a Bedouin chief, and elopes with her on horseback; but she, after cajoling all his stolen jewels from him, suddenly turns her horse and gallops back home. In the last act, Peer Gynt, after suffering shipwreck on the Norwegian coast, returns to the hut he has built in the forest; there he finds Solvejg faithfully awaiting his return, and dies as she sings the tearful melody known as 'Solvejg's Cradle Song.'"

In Grieg's suite, the "Morning Mood" (Morgenstimmung) music forms the prelude to the fourth act of the play. It is a piece of serene and idyllic tone-painting, with no dramatic suggestions.

"The Death of Aase" is a brief and sombre dirge on the death of Peer's mother, scored entirely for muted[63] strings.

"Anitra's Dance" is the music of the dance with which the daughter of the Bedouin chief tries to beguile the inconstant Peer.

"In the Hall of the Mountain King" is taken from the accompaniment to the scene in which Peer, in the dwelling of the trolls, is beset and tormented by gnomes and imps. The music of this number has been characterized as "a veritable hornets' nest."

FOOTNOTES:

[61] "In cyclopædias," says Mr. H. T. Finck, "we generally find his name given as Edvard Hagerup Grieg, but he does not sanction the middle name, and never uses it in his correspondence. 'It is true,' he writes to me, 'that my baptismal name includes the Hagerup. My artist name, however, is simply E. G. The Hagerup which is to be found in most of the encyclopædias is derived in all probability from the archives of the Leipsic Conservatory.'"

[62] Without opus number.

[63] See page 12 (foot-note).