Bergen, Norway

June 15, 1843

A Norwegian composer of folk-inspired works, including incidental music for Peer Gynt (1875). Grieg wrote for orchestra, solo piano, and string quartet and composed the Concerto for Piano & Orchestra in a, op. 16. Norway's most famous composer, actually of Scottish descent on his father's side, Grieg studied the folk tunes of his country in his youth (although he only actually quoted them once in his works) and studied with Robert Schumann in Leipzig, Germany. The clear mountain beauty of a Scandinavian landscape can be felt in the pure modal harmonies of pieces like the famous Concerto for Piano in a, with its melodies varied in inflection but not modulated in pitch. Sustained transparent textures combine with the warmth of a Schumannesque melodic sensibility. ~ Blue Gene Tyranny