| Peer Gynt | |
|---|---|
| Incidental music andSuites by Edvard Grieg | |
_by_Elliot_and_Fry_-_02.jpg) Photograph of Grieg, 1888 | |
| Opus |
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| Text | from Ibsen'sPeer Gynt |
| Composed | 1875 (1875) |
| Performed | 24 February 1876 (1876-02-24) Oslo |
| Scoring |
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Peer Gynt,Op. 23, is theincidental music toHenrik Ibsen's 1867 playPeer Gynt, written by the Norwegian composerEdvard Grieg in 1875. It premiered along with the play on 24 February 1876 inChristiania (now Oslo).[1] Grieg later created twosuites from hisPeer Gynt music. Some of the music from these suites has receivedcoverage in popular culture.
Edvard Grieg (1843–1907) was one of the definitive leaders of Scandinavian music. Although he composed many short piano pieces and chamber works, the work Grieg did for this play by Ibsen stood out. Originally composing 90 minutes of orchestral music for the play, he later went back and extracted certain sections for the suites. Peer Gynt's travels around the world and distant lands are represented by the instruments Grieg chooses to use.[2]
When Ibsen asked Grieg to write music for the play in 1874, he reluctantly agreed. However, it was much more difficult for Grieg than he imagined, as he wrote to a friend:
"Peer Gynt" progresses slowly, and there is no possibility of having it finished by autumn. It is a terribly unmanageable subject.
— Edvard Grieg (August 1874)[3]
Nina Grieg, his wife, wrote of Edvard and his music:
The more he saturated his mind with the powerful poem, the more clearly he saw that he was the right man for a work of such witchery and so permeated with the Norwegian spirit.[4]
Even though the premiere was a "triumphant success", it prompted Grieg to complain bitterly that the Swedish management of the theatre had given him specifications as to the duration of each number and its order:
I was thus compelled to do patchwork... In no case had I opportunity to write as I wanted... Hence the brevity of the pieces.[3]
For many years, the suites were the only parts of the music that were available, as the original score was not published until 1908, one year after Grieg's death, byJohan Halvorsen.[5]
Various recordings have been made of this music. Some recordings that claim to contain the complete incidental music have 33 selections;[6] the recording conducted byOle Kristian Ruud is split into 49 items.[7] Both recordings include several verses from the drama, read by actors.
The original score contains 26movements:[5] Movements indicated inbold were extracted by Grieg into two suites.
The complete score of the incidental music includes several songs and choral pieces. The complete score was believed to be lost until the 1980s and has been performed in its entirety only since then.[8] (See the article onIbsen's play for a list of notable productions, including concert performances of the incidental music.)
It was originally orchestrated for: onepiccolo, twoflutes, twooboes, twoclarinets in A, twobassoons, fourhorns in E, twotrumpets in E, threetrombones, atuba,timpani,cymbals,bass drum,triangle,harp, andstrings.
Over a decade after composing the full incidental music for Peer Gynt, Grieg extracted eight movements to make two four-movement suites. ThePeer Gynt suites are among his best-known works, although they began as incidental compositions. Suite No. 1, Op. 46 was published in 1888, and Suite No. 2, Op. 55 was published in 1893.[3] A typical rendition of both suites lasts 20 to 35 minutes.
Originally, the second suite had a fifth number,The Dance of the Mountain King's Daughter, but Grieg withdrew it.[9]
[Grieg] wanted an alternative to the first Suite for the concert programmes he conducted. At first he usedThe Dance of the Mountain King's Daughter to end the second Suite, and he also wondered about including Solveig's Lullaby and/or Peer Gynt's Serenade, but finally he decided to bring in the Arabian Dance and dropThe Dance of the Mountain King's Daughter. So he ended up with a kind of chronological miniature version of the drama.
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