GRIEG, Edvard Hagerup
b Bergen, 25 June 1843
d Bergen, 4 September 1907, aged sixty-four

His family, three generations of whom were British consuls in Bergen, had Scottish antecedents. He studied piano with his mother, who was an accomplished concert pianist, and he married his cousin Nina Hagerup, who was a fine singer. Not surprisingly, his greatness rests on his piano works and his songs. His first work, a set of variations, was composed when he was nine. At fifteen he was sent to the Leipzig Conservatory, where he was influenced by Schumann, and later he was greatly encouraged by Liszt. He lived for a while in Copenhagen in 1863, then settled for the rest of his life in a villa near Bergen, where he associated with such nationalist writers as Ibsen and Bjornson. An attack of pleurisy in his youth left him a sick man for the rest of his life, but he still made annual concert tours to promote not only his own music but that of Norwegian composers generally. He is buried in the wall of a cliff over a fiord near his horn e.

1865 (22)

In Autumn, concert overture

Violin Sonata No 1

1867 (24)

Lyric Pieces for piano, Book I

Violin Sonata No 2

1869 (26)

Piano Concerto in A minor

1872 (29)

Sigurd Jorsalfar, incidental music

1875 (32)

Peer Gynt, incidental music

1880 (37)

Two Elegiac Melodies

1881 (38)

Norwegian Dances

1883 (40)

Lyric Pieces for piano, Book II

1884 (41)

Lyric Pieces for piano, Book III

1885 (42)

Holberg Suite, for strings or piano

1887 (44)

Violin Sonata No 3

1888 (45)

Lyric Pieces for piano, Book IV

1891 (48)

Lyric Pieces for piano, Book V

1893 (50)

Lyric Pieces for piano, Book VI

1895 (52)

Lyric Pieces for piano, Book VII

1896 (53)

Lyric Pieces for piano, Book VIII

1898 (55)

Lyric Pieces for piano, Book IX

Symphonic Dances, for orchestra

1901 (58)

Lyric Pieces for piano, Book X

1906 (63)

Moods, for piano

Grieg also composed other piano works and many songs.