The Incidental music to Peer Gynt, Op. 23, was written in 1875 by Edvard Grieg for Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's play of the same name. It premiered along with the play on 24 February 1876 in Christiania (now Oslo).
Later, in 1888 and 1891, Grieg extracted eight movements to make two four-movement suites:
- Suite No. 1, Op. 46 and
- Suite No. 2, Op. 55.
[edit] Original score, Op. 23
For many years, the suites were the only parts of the music that were available, as the original score was not published before 1908, one year after Grieg's death, by Johan Halvorsen.[1]
Various recordings have been made of this music. Some recordings that claim to contain the complete incidental music have 33 cuts[2], however, that conducted by Ola Kristian Ruud is split into 49 cuts.[3] However, both recordings include several verses from the drama, read by actors.
The original score contains 26 movements:[1]
- Act I
- Prelude - At the Wedding (I Bryllupsgården)
- Halling
- Springar
- Act II
- Prelude - The Abduction of the Bride/Peer and Ingrid (Bruderovet/Ingrids klage)
- Peer Gynt and the Herd-Girls (Peer Gynt og Sæterjentene)
- Peer Gynt and the Woman in Green (Peer Gynt og den grønnkledde)
- Great folk may be known by the mounts... (På ridestellet skal storfolk kjennes)
- In the Hall of the Mountain King (I Dovregubbens hall)
- Dance of the Mountain King's Daughter (Dans av Dovregubbens datter)
- Peer Gynt hunted by the trolls (Peer Gynt jages av troll)
- Peer Gynt and the Boyg (Peer Gynt og Bøygen)
- Act III
- The Death of Åse - Prelude and 4th scene (Åses død, forspill til akt III og i 4. scene)
- Act IV
- Prelude - Morning Mood (Morgenstemning)
- The Thief and the Receiver (Tyven og heleren)
- Arabian Dance (Arabisk dans)
- Anitra's Dance (Anitras dans)
- Peer Gynt's Serenade (Peer Gynts serenade)
- Peer Gynt and Anitra (Peer og Anitra)
- Solveig's Song (Solveigs sang)
- Peer Gynt at the Statue of Memnon (Peer Gynt ved Memnonstøtten)
- Act V
- Prelude - Peer Gynt´s Homecoming. Stormy Evening on the Sea (Peer Gynts hjemfart. Stormfull aften ved kysten)
- Shipwreck (Skipsforliset)
- Solveig sings in the hut (Solveig synger i hytten)
- Night Scene (Nattscene)
- Whitsun Hymn (Pinsesalme)
- Solveig´s Cradle Song (Solveigs vuggevise)
[edit] Suite No. 1, Op. 46
- Morning Mood (Morgenstemning)
- Aase's Death (Åses død)
- Anitra's Dance (Anitras dans)
- In the Hall of the Mountain King (I Dovregubbens hall)
[edit] Suite No. 2, Op. 55
- The Abduction of the Bride. Ingrid's Lament (Bruderovet. Ingrids klage)
- Arabian Dance (Arabisk Dans)
- Peer Gynt's Homecoming (Stormy Evening on the Sea) (Peer Gynts hjemfart (Stormful aften på havet))
- Solveig's Song (Solveigs Sang)hear performance
[edit] Adaptations
[edit] "In the Hall of the Mountain King"
- The melody of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" was eerily used in Fritz Lang's classic suspense thriller M (1931), as the tune that the child murderer (played by Peter Lorre) whistles constantly.
- The Electric Light Orchestra recorded a version of the tune for their 1973 album On the Third Day. It mixed the classical elements of the composition with contemporary rock instrumentation and quickly became one of their live features.
- Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow recorded the piece with Ronnie James Dio on vocals on their 1995 "Stranger in us all" - album.
- The heavy metal group Apocalyptica, who play heavy metal using four cellos, recorded a highly modified version of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" in their album Cult (2000).
- The tune has become the unofficial theme tune for England's Alton Towers theme park on numerous advertisements.
- "In the Hall of the Mountain King" was used in to opening sequence of the 2009 film "Dead Snow".
[edit] "The Death of Åse"
- In 1974 the English composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji wrote a short piano piece Variazione maliziosa e perversa sopra "La morte d'Åse" da Grieg.
[edit] "Solveig's Song"
- In 2001 a group of electronica music called "Operatica" made a new version of the popular song from Peer Gynt, "Solveig's Song", which is rearranged and performed in English.
- The song "Forever", in the melodic-power metal band Kamelot's fifth album Karma, is loosely based on "Solveig's Song"
- Folk metal band Týr wrote a song called "Valkryjan" which used the melody for the intro and solo of the song.
- Nordic Folk metal band Midnattsol's final track on their album Where Twilight Dwells, Tapt av håp, is based upon "Solveig's Song"
- Los Angeles based group Sweetbox issued in 2001 an album named Classified (Sweetbox album). On that album, the song "Trying To Be Me" is an adaptation of Solveig's Song.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b Edvard Grieg - Thematisch-bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis, ed. by Dan Fog, Kirsti Grinde and Øyvind Norheim. Henry Litolffs Verlag Frankfurt/Main Leipzig London New York 2008
- ^ Classics Online
- ^ BIS Records
[edit] External links
