Ever since the string quartets of Haydn and Mozart, many composers have taken the challenge of writing for two violins, viola and cello. Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn and Dvořák added to the tradition and development for this most personal of musical forms.
Edvard Grieg was more well known for his lyric pieces for piano and his Piano Concerto In A Minor, but he did make three attempts at writing a string quartet. He completed only one, the String Quartet No. 1 In G Minor. It was written in 1878 and made an impression on Franz Liszt who said of it:
It is a long time since I have encountered a new composition, especially a string quartet, which has intrigued me as greatly as this distinctive and admirable work by Grieg.
The composition of the quartet was an ordeal for Grieg as he strove to continue the tradition while expanding the possibilities of the form. He was successful and his quartet had a large influence on not only Debussy, whose only string quartet is in the same key of G minor, but on later composers such as Schoenberg and Bartók.
That Grieg indeed strove to write in a different way for the form of the string quartet is evident in his own words about the work:
I have recently written a string quartet, which I still haven’t heard. It is in G minor and is not intended to bring trivialities to market. It strives towards breadth, soaring flight and, above all, resonance for the instruments.
Grieg wrote the work in cyclical form, and used a portion of one of his own songs as the recurring theme, the song titled Spillamæd (Minstrels). The quartet is in 4 movements:
I. Un poco andante - Allegro molto ed agitato -The work begins with all 4 instruments in unison, one of the devices Grieg uses to impart his own unique sound to the quartet. The original song that the main theme was taken from dealt with a water spirit that would give minstrels great gifts of musical abilities in exchange for their happiness. The main theme is full of rhythmic verve and appears in all 4 movements. The theme is full of drama and plays itself out until it comes to a full close. After a slight pause the second theme begins, a lyric tune that has outbursts that remind the listener of the opening. The opening theme returns and alternates with the second theme in a section that can be thought of as the development. The recapitulation brings the back the drama of the opening, along with the full close and slight pause before the second theme commences. There is an extended coda that continues to deal with the two themes and parts of them, including a short section where the cello plays solo while the other three instruments play tremolo and close to the bridge (sul ponticello) which gives the accompaniment a glassy, shimmering effect, until the instruments join in a loud, dramatic ending to the movement.
II. Romanze. Andantino -The movement begins with a happy, waltz-like theme, after which a more sinister and nervous middle section that is related to the main theme is played. After a transition, the waltz returns with a few differences. The nervous theme interrupts the waltz a few times until the waltz music ends the movement in the high register of all 4 instruments.
III. Intermezzo. Allegro molto marcato - Più vivo e scherzando -The song theme that opens the work returns at the start of this movement. The music remains rough around the edges as it rhythmically makes its way to the middle section where Grieg flexes his contrapuntal skill as the cello begins a theme by itself, and each instrument enters in turn while the others play pizzicato. This section is repeated and then developed. The first theme returns, a few references are made to the middle section, and the movement scurries to an end. IV. Finale. Lento - Presto al saltarello - The solemness of the opening of the quartet returns as an introduction before the music turns into a saltarello full of cross rhythms, syncopation and frenzy. Near the end the music turns back to the main theme of the work and alternates between major and minor mode versions until at the very end the major mode wins out and the work ends in G major.
Born in Norway, Edvard Grieg was educated at the Leipzig Conservatory and steeped in the German tradition of serious music, but came to use the folk music of his native country. His Piano Concerto In A Minor is one of the most well-known concertos in the literature, and although it has been compared to the Piano Concerto In A Minor of Robert Schumann, Grieg's work has examples of the folk music of his native Norway. The other work by Grieg that is very well known is his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt. His use of folk melodies made him the first Norwegian composer of international reputation.
Grieg's song cycle Haugtussa (literally translated from Norwegian as maid of the hill spirits) is based on a book of poems by the same title that were written by Arne Garborg. The book consisted of 71 poems and was published in 1895. Grieg read the book shortly after publication and was quite taken with the book and the musical quality of the poems. He began to envision settings for some of the poems and wrote a letter to friend that said:
I have been deep in a highly remarkable poem … Haugtussa. It is a quite brilliant book, where the music is really already composed. One just needs to write it down.
Grieg worked with some of the poems and finally settled on eight of them to tell the story of a maid in the mountains and of her first love and heartbreak. Haugtussa was the only song cycle Grieg wrote, and some consider it his finest set of songs. The songs range in mood from happy to contemplative to sad, with the final song being sung to the ever-present babbling brook of the Romantic era poets and composers.
Enticement
Oh, if you know the dream, and if you know the song,
you will always retain the notes.
And though time and again you may go astray,
you will never be able to forget.
Oh you enchantress!
you shall live with me,
on Blue Mountain you shall turn your silver spinning wheel.
You shall not fear the gentle night
when the dream spreads out its wings
to softer strains than daylight can offer,
and music from more delicate strings.
The hill rocks us gently;
all strife fades away,
and daylight does not know these hours of bliss.
You shall not tremble at fiery passion,
that sins and weeps and forgets
Arne Gaborg
His arms are hungry, his heart is meek,
and he can tame wild bears.
Oh you enchantress!
you shall live with me,
on Blue Mountain you shall turn your silver spinning wheel.
The Little Maid
She is small and dark and slender
with dusky, pure features
and deep gray eyes
and a soft and dreamy manner.
It is almost as though
a spell lay over her.
In her movements, in her speech
there is this muted calm.
Beneath her forehead, lovely but low,
her eyes shine as if through a mist.
They seem to be staring
deep into another world.
Only her breast is tight and heavy,
and there is a quiver about her pale mouth.
She is tremblingly frail and delicate,
and at the same time, charming and young.
Blueberry Hill
Just look how blue it is here!
Now, my cows, we can rest.
Oh, what splendid berries
the hillside's fairly teaming with them!
Never have I seen the like!
How good it is on the mountain.
Now I shall eat my fill;
I shall stay here till evening!
But what if the great bear should come!
There's room here for both of us.
I'd never dare say a word
to such a splendid fellow.
I'd say only: "Help yourself!
Now you mustn't be shy.
I won't bother you a bit;
take as much as you like."
But if it were the red fox,
he'd get a taste of my stick;
I would strike him dead
even if he were the Pope's brother.
Such a sly, scheming rascal!
He steals both cows and lambs,
And even though he is so handsome,
he has neither pride nor shame.
But if it were the wicked wolf,
as mean and mad as the bailiff,
I'd take myself a birch club
and fetch him one on the snout.
He's forever slaughtering
Mother's sheep and lambs;
Oh yes, just let him show his face,
he'll get what's coming to him!
But if it were the nice boy
from over in Skare-Brôte,
He too would get something on the mouth,
but, I hope, something quite different.
Oh, rubbish, what am I thinking of!
The day is getting on...
I'd better see to the herd;
there's "Dolly" dreaming of salt.
Meeting
One Sunday she sits pensive on the hillside,
while sweet thoughts flow over her,
and her heart beats full and heavy in her breast,
and a shy dream wakens within her.
Suddenly, enchantment steals along the hilltop.
She blushes red; there he comes, the boy she loves.
She wants to hide in her confusion,
but timidly she raises her eyes to him;
their warm hands reach out for one another,
and they stand there, neither knowing what to say.
Then she bursts out in admiration:
"My, how tall you are!"
Love
The crazy boy has bewitched my mind.
I am caught like a bird in a net.
The crazy boy, he struts so confidently.
He knows the bird won't try to escape.
Oh, if only you would beat me with rushes,
beat me till they burned to ashes!
If only you would draw me so tightly to yourself
that the whole world vanished for me!
If I could work magic, do witchcraft,
I would like to grow inside that boy,
I would like to grow inside you,
and be only with my own boy.
Oh, you who live deep in my heart,
you have taken hold of my thoughts,
so that every fluttering fancy
whispers only of you, of you.
When the sun shines from the brilliant sky,
she sees you, who are in my every thought.
When the day sinks and darkness falls:
Will he really think of me tonight?
Young Goats Dance
Oh hip and hop,
and tip, and top,
on such a day.
Oh nip and nap,
and trip and trap,
in just this way.
And it's stay-in-the-sun,
and it's play-in-the-sun,
and it's shimmer-on-the-hill,
and it's glimmer-on-the-hill,
and it's laughter
and commotion
on a sunny day.
Oh a nip on the neck,
and a dip to the slope,
and all on tiptoe.
Oh run in a ring,
and trip and swing,
and heigh-ho.
And it's lick-in-the-sun,
and it's lie-in-the-sun,
and it's joy-on-the-hill,
and it's noise-on-the-hill,
and it's twittering
and glittering
and a quiet corner.
Oh trip and trap,
and a tap on the noggin
is what you'll get!
Oh snip and snap,
and a kiss on the nose,
this you can take.
And it's roll-in-a-ring,
and it's song-in-a-swing,
and it's up-on-your-toes,
and it's speed-on-your-toes,
and it's heisa,
and it's hoppsa,
and tra-la-la.
Sorrowful Day
She counts the days and hours and endless evenings
till Sunday comes; he has promised so faithfully
that even if hailstones fall on the mountaintop
they will meet in the "Gjætarstova."
But Sunday comes and goes in rain and mist;
she sits all alone, weeping, under the bushes.
As a bird, wounded beneath its wing,
drips blood, so her hot tears fall.
She drags herself sick and shivering home to bed,
and tosses and sobs all night long.
Her heart is broken and her cheeks are burning.
Now she must die; she has lost her lover.
At Gjaetle Brook
You swirling brook,
you rippling brook,
you flow along so warm and clear.
And splash yourself clean,
and glide over stones,
and sing and whisper
so softly to yourself,
and glitter in the sunlight with your soft waves.
Oh, here I shall rest, rest.
You tickling brook,
you trickling brook,
you run so gaily along the bright slope.
With splashing and gurgling,
with singing and sighing,
with rustling and murmuring
through your leafy house,
with a wonderful surge and a restful sleep
Oh, here I shall dream, dream.
You whispering brook,
you humming brook,
you make your bed beneath the soft moss.
Here you dream
and lose yourself,
and whisper and sing
in the great stillness,
with healing for heartache and sick longing.
Oh, here I shall remember, remember.
You wandering brook,
you foaming brook,
what did you think about on your long journey?
Through empty spaces,
among bushes and flowers?
When you slipped into the earth,
when you found your way out?
Did you ever see anyone so much alone as I am?
Oh, here I shall forget, forget.
You hissing brook,
you rippling brook,
you play in the branches, you sing in the stillness.
And smile at the sun,
and laugh in your solitude,
and wander so far
and learn so much,
oh, do not sing of what I am thinking now.
Oh, let me close my eyes!
Edvard Grieg was by all accounts a bad student. He had no interest in academia, quit school when he was 15 and never went back. Luckily for him, his musical talent was noticed by the great Norwegian violin virtuoso Ole Bull, who convinced Grieg's parents to allow him to study at the Leipzig Conservatory. True to his nature, he didn't much care for his teachers or the conservative curriculum, but he was exposed to music of the masters and was determined to make his way as a professional musician.
In 1860 Grieg suffered from tuberculosis and other lung ailments that left him with only one functioning lung. For the rest of his life he was beset with respiratory infections plus he had a spinal deformity. He eventually developed heart disease later in life. He finished his studies in Leipzig in 1862 and began to give piano recitals.
Grieg composed his only Cello Sonata in 1882 after an extended period when illness and his conducting duties prevented him from composing. He dedicated the work to his brother John, a gifted amateur cellist, perhaps as a peace offering for the brothers were not on good terms. The premiere of the work was given by a different cellist and Grieg at the piano in 1883.
The Cello Sonata is in 3 movements: I. Allegro agitato -One of the few pieces Grieg wrote in sonata form, this movement begins with a highly agitated theme that literally wallows in romantic emotion. The theme quickens its pace until a serene second theme begins, which slowly unwinds until it reaches a mild climax, after which other material leads to the development section. The second theme goes through key changes and flirts with the passion of the first theme until the first theme reappears for a short reprise which is followed by a brief cadenza for the cello. The recapitulation begins with the first theme and quickly segues into the second theme. A short coda brings the first theme back at a quicker pace until the final chords signal the end of the movement.
II. Andante molto tranquillo -A lyrical theme begins the movement and slowly winds its way to a more agitated middle section. The lyrical theme returns, builds to a climax, and then recedes back to calmness. The end of the movement has the cello playing high in its register, and finally playing a very soft arpeggiated pizzicato chord.
III. Allegro molto e marcato -A short introduction for solo cello begins the movement. The piano interrupts with a spirited accompaniment and the cello joins it in a rustic Norwegian dance. The dance is interrupted by episodes that range from passionate to lyrical, and each time the dance appears, Grieg develops it in some way. The movement continues in this fashion until the last utterance of the dance brings it full circle. A short coda increases the tempo and passion until the cello soars into the top of its register with a passionate, long held note while the piano plays scales that lead to the final chords.
Grieg is more well known for his short, lyrical pieces for piano, the Piano Concerto in A minor and the Peer Gynt music, but his handful of chamber music pieces are some of the most passionate and dramatic music he ever wrote.
