Peer Gynt is a dramatic poem written by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in 1867. Edvard Grieg wrote the music for the poem to be performed as a play and the music is perhaps Grieg's most famous work.
A couple of years after Ibsen wrote the poem, he wanted it to be set to music and performed as a play at Christiania Theater. He contacted Edvard Grieg at the beginning of 1874 to try and persuade the composer to write the music. Rumour has it that Edvard Grieg repeatedly said no, the main reason being that he thought Peer Gynt was the most unmusical of all poems. But a final offer of 400 speciedaler (the Norwegian currency at the time) made it difficult for Grieg to turn Ibsen down again, and finally he accepted the offer. The poem is often regarded as the national masterpiece of Norwegian literature.
The music from Peer Gynt
Grieg originally planned to complete the work before the end of 1874, but along the way the task turned out to be more complicated than he had expected. Part of the challenge was based on Grieg's strong dislike to parts of the content in the poem. But by July 1875, Grieg had finally completed the work, which at that time consisted of 26 musical pieces.
The work was premiered at Christiania Theater in 1876. However, Grieg was dissapointed with the instrumentation in the premiere, and banned the use of this edition. In the following years, he made a number of revisions of the music in connection with new stage productions and releases. He made the last update as late as 1902.
The most famous musical pieces from Peer Gynt
Of the original 26 pieces that Grieg composed for Peer Gynt, 3 are probably more famous than the others. These 3 are In the Hall of The Mountain King, Morning Mood and Solveig's Song. In the Hall of The Mountain King and Morning Mood make up Peer Gynt suite no. 1
with the pieces Åse's death and Anitra's dance, while Solveig's Song is part of Peer Gynt suite no. 2.
In the Hall of The Mountain King and Morning Mood have since been re-recorded countless times, not to mention all the films and TV programs these pieces have been used in. In the Hall of The Mountain King has actually been used as music in video games as well.
Photo: Edvard og Nina Grieg.
Although Peer Gynt was performed with great success all over the world, there was no shortage of criticism of the work. Some critics have argued that Grieg's music belongs in a concert hall, not in a theater, and that his "sweet" and "romantic" music fails to capture the bitterness and satire that lie in Ibsen's drama.
Other musical pieces composed for Peer Gynt
In modern times, a number of composers have set music to Peer Gynt. Most famous of these is another composer from Bergen, Harald Sæverud. In 1947 he wrote the stage music for a version of the play, which premiered at Det Norske Teatret in the spring of 1948.
Check out our other articles about Edvard Grieg and his career as a composer.
In Bergen you can visit both Edvard Grieg's home Troldhaugen and Harald Sæverud's home Siljustøl.
to add an item to your Itinerary basket.
