Grieg - Bridal Processional of the Goblins at Vossevangen, op.72 no.14

[andhow04]

this is from Grieg's collection of Norwegian Peasant Dances, op.72, which are free transcriptions of norwegian folk fiddle tunes.  this one is a particularly charming arrangement, with lots of ornamentation meant to evoke the twang of the fiddle.

this and two other grieg pieces from op72 opened a program based on ill-fated, mostly mad lovers; the original fiddle versions were often used as bridal processions, i read, so they were intended to set a tone of holy matrimony before all hell breaks loose.

[andhow04]

here is the video for this piece:

[scottmcc]

this is an interesting little piece with which I was unfamiliar.  I like it, especially the interplay between a very lighthearted theme and some slightly darker, yet still whimsical elements. 

what is your next recital/project?

[andhow04]

thanks for replying, i was hoping people would realy like this piece.  i fell in love with grieg's opus 72, there are 18 pieces like this one that are transriptions of transcriptions.  this is what i wrote in the program notes:



LATE in the 19th century, Edvard Grieg was contacted by an old fiddler named Knut Dahle. Dahle was a folk musician who played a huge repertoire of tunes for the Hardangerfele, a nine-stringed fiddle and Norway’s main folk-music instrument. The tunes dated back at least to the 16th century, and were a major part of Norway’s folk heritage, particularly in their use as wedding processionals. Dahle was an uneducated fisherman, and wanted the tunes written down by a trained musician. Grieg sent an assistant to do so, more as a nationalist gesture than out of musical interest, but when he saw them, was so captivated that he desired to turn them into concert pieces.

   In his preface to the publication of opus 72, Grieg praised the music for “the originality, the blending of fine, soft gracefulness with sturdy, almost uncouth power and untamed wildness as regards melody and particularly rhythm.” Grieg stated his purpose in transcribing these pieces thusly: “To raise these works of the people to an artistic level, by giving them what I might call a style of musical concord.”

   This seemed to have suggested to Grieg a different approach than he had taken in the past. What came to represent “musical concord” was a refreshingly dissonant style, with droning parallel fifths, sharp trills evoking the twang of the fiddle, widely-spaced dissonances, and, in particular, the use of the Lydian mode (the brightness of the raised fourth suggested the country landscape to him, though strangely he could not identify the mode itself: “The use of G# in D major was the thing that drove me out of my mind… It’s a holdover from one old scale or another. But which?”) The usage of these key harmonic elements was developed tremendously by Bartók, and the style actually became known as barbarism.

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i always thought grieg was an interesting case because it seems that so many people hold a special place for his music in their hearts, people who you woulnd't always expect.  for isntance Bartok admired grieg's music, as i suggested above.  also Glenn Gould, which you wouldn't expect.  but my favorite surprise was when i read thru Medtner's "Muse and Fashion."  in a sort of coda section, he reserves special words of praise for Grieg!! medtner was such a stickler for his eternal rules of composition, that it truly surpirsed me.  i was so pleased (beacuse i love both compoesrs, but also because i placed the Medtner pieces right after Grieg in this program before reading this) that i wrote it down.  here's what he said about grieg:

"In the sense of artistic genuineness the whole output of Grieg, in spite of its modesty and simplicity, must be appraised by us as the only true and accurate achievement of the main problem of every creation: the harmonious adjustment of the individuality of the composer to such limits of choice in art as are granted to him.  This adjustment is highly complex and mysterious, and therefore very rare and valuable as an achievement."

in the book he says that his central thesis in composition is to make "unity through diversity," and explains that in some length in diff. fields like melody, rhythm, harmony, etc. so the "choices" he is talking about above i believe are the things that make a composition seem as one organic unit, or make it too diverse to be appreciated.  in this he believes that grieg was a great success, and i also agree.

i hope more people discover the opus 72, i think they are a bigger achievement than the lyric pieces!

[rachfan]

Hi andhow,

This piece is very lilting and flowing.  Grieg preferred working in small forms, but his popularity among pianists has never waned.  Very fine playing!

David

[andhow04]

Hi andhow,

This piece is very lilting and flowing.  Grieg preferred working in small forms, but his popularity among pianists has never waned.  Very fine playing!

David

thanks for listening and glad you enjoyed it. Grieg has never waned in popularity, thats true.  i find these op 72 pieces a more major achievement than many of the lyric pieces.. reading about them i found that some thought they should be treated as a set, tho i really think that would be a bit much. however the scope is generally larger and the way they treat the folk tunes is really inspired...

[ramseytheii]

I love this piece, it is very charming and definitely in Grieg's personal style.  I find it interesting to note how his pieces seem to be immediately recognizable as his, but he so effortlessly incorporated the Norwegian folk melodies that obviously were not written by him.

Interesting points about Grieg's admirers; I wonder if his relative modesty and humility, especially coming at a time in music history of great egomania, is part of what endears him to people.

Walter Ramsey