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Peer Gynt Suite No.1, Op.46

Suite · Op. 46

Edvard Grieg 1843–1907
Suite
Form
Op. 46
Catalogue
Score
First page of Peer Gynt Suite No.1, Op.46

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Difficulty
Our estimate Intermediate
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Themes & character
Ibsen incidental music·Norwegian folk color·Orchestral reduction·Vivid storytelling

At a glance

Catalogue
Op. 46
Form
Suite

Movements

1
Morning Mood

A gentle sunrise painted in a simple flute-like melody, originally set at dawn in the Moroccan desert.

2
Ase's Death

A slow, hushed elegy for Peer Gynt's mother, built from a single mourning string line.

3
Anitra's Dance

A light, seductive dance in triple time, evoking an Arabian chieftain's daughter.

4
In the Hall of the Mountain King

A steadily accelerating march representing Peer Gynt fleeing the trolls, one of the most recognizable passages in classical music.

About the piece

Edvard Grieg composed incidental music for Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt in 1875, at Ibsen's own request, and later arranged his favorite numbers into two orchestral suites, published in piano arrangement soon after. The first suite, from 1888, gathers four of the most vivid scenes. From the serene Morning Mood to the thundering climax of In the Hall of the Mountain King, the suite compresses Ibsen's sprawling fantastical play into a sequence of sharply drawn musical pictures.

The composer

Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg
1843–1907

Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of Norwegian folk music in his own compositions brought the music of Norway to fame, as well as helping to develop a national identity, much as Jean Sibelius did in Finland and Bedřich Smetana in Bohemia.

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