Edvard
Grieg (1843 -1907)
Piano
Music Vol. 5
In 1874, the Danish music publisher,
Edvard Wagner, asked Grieg to make a collection of folk-tunes and songs which
would be published under the title: Melodies of Norway. Grieg
accepted the task in spite of having second thoughts. The intention was,
according to the subscription invitation, that: "The songs would be,
easy-to-play Arrangements for the Piano, while at the same time presenting a
degree of challenge to the performer and adhering to a certain Artistic
standard." immediately afterwards, Grieg kept his distance from the
arrangements as he felt that they had nothing to do with art. It was simply a
routine job he took to earn money. To Wagner, he insisted that he would accept
the job on the condition that his name would not be mentioned in connection
with the published work. Only much later did it become known that Grieg was
responsible for this selection and the arrangements. In 1877 Wilhem Hansen took
over the publishing rights for, Melodjes of Norway, because Wagner went
bankrupt. There were, of course, those who had guessed that Grieg had had
something to do with them, because in the revised edition, the publisher wrote:
"The songs that would be easy-to-play Arrangements for the Piano, while at the
same time presenting a degree of challenge to the performer and adhering to a
certain Artistic standard, have, by virtue of this Man's Name who assisted the
Editors... (a Name not unknown among the Greatest Musicians in Norway)... been the
best guarantee for the qua1ity of the selection and the great care that has
been taken in the rearrangement of the pieces."
Towards the end of his life, Grieg looked
upon these adaptations in a more positive light, and when he was criticized by
Gerhard Schjelderup, who described them as uscandalously common, and completely
lacking in sophisticationu, he defended them by saying, that one had to
evaluate them in relation to the public for whom they were intended. The
pub1isher, Wagner, intended that, Melodjes of Norway, would be a
collection for the "amateur piano player": the arrangements should not be too
difficult technically, but still be at a level that would appeal to, and
satisfy the taste of, the average music lover. In the above mentioned
subscription invitation to the first edition, it was also stated: "As the name
Melodie 5 of Norway suggests, this Work
shou1d be a collection of all the beautifu1, the national, the home loving and
appealing, that Norwegian Song Literature has to offer." That Grieg
succeeded in doing this, is evident from the fact that new editions of the
collection were constantly being published. After Grieg's death, the collection
was expanded considerably with new arrangements by the composer Eyvind Alnres,
(1872 - 1932), who continued using the same guidelines that Grieg established
with his own arrangements. Even today, Melodie5 of Norway, is a
collection that is widely used and highly appreciated in very many Norwegian
homes, and for thousands of Norwegians has been the first -and for many the most
important -first experience with their national music.
The greater part of Melodie5 of Norway
consists of songs, romances, and songs for male choir. In the 1870s the
vast majority of these compositions already belonged to the established
Norwegian Song Heritage. Even though some of them were relatively new, they
were able to hold their own, and soon were accepted as a regu1ar part of the
repertoire. In addition, Grieg included a long list of folk-tunes, not just
songs, but also pure instrumental folk-music. Altogether, the folk-tunes are
about a third of the collection. Most of the folk-music is from L. M.
Lindeman's collection Older and Newer Norwegian Mountain Melodie5, which from
the middle of the last century, and far into this, has been the most important
source of folk-music inspiration for Norwegian composers. This collection:
"Lindeman's Great Collection", as it is often called, consists of
piano arrangements of memoranda which were collected primarily by Lindeman
during his yearly travels, through most of the valleys in Southern
Norway,
in order to search for new material. He took the first of such journeys as
early as 1848, and several generations of Norwegian composers have found their
folk music raw material from that collection since then.
The original edition of Melodie 5 of
Norway, which is recorded here, is completely and totally Grieg's work.
Even though he wou1d not have his name connected to the collection, he did put
his name on six of the folk-tune arrangements (Nos. 6, 22, 45, 59, 125,126).
These were the ones that he rightfully acknowledged as his own arrangements. L.
M. Lindeman is named as the one who made the folk -tune arrangements for eight
of the pieces, (Nos. 36, 81, 87, 96, 115, 123, 127, 146). Grieg made only small
changes in those, such as transposing down to a simpler key or mode (for
example from A Major to G Major: Nos.115, 123,146). In the above folk-tunes,
where most of them are from Lindeman's collection: "Older and Newer etc.
...", the changes from Lindeman's origina1 arrangement are greater, and Lindeman
is therefore not given credit for these rearrangements. Lindeman was a marvelous
organist and a learned church musician, but his arrangements can often seem
somewhat overdone and some of the counterpoint can seem unnecessary .Grieg' s
changes very often improve these superfluous things, and as the astute piano
pedagogue that he was, he retained the essentia1 uniqueness of the folk-tune.
The compromise between what on the one hand should be playable for the average
amateur, and on the other hand should have a certain artistic content, cannot
have been easy to accomplish. Even more the reason to admire the results Grieg
achieved in this collection. As for the remaining compositions in the
collection, the reworking is reduced to writing the melody for voice to highest
voice for the right hand, something which in most cases leads to changes in the
piano movement. Sometimes Grieg has a1so made improvements or simplifications
which were not dependent upon the transcription from one medium to another. The
songs are often transposed down, genera1ly from a whole note and then as a rule
to a key with fewer sharps and flats, and often one that made it easier to
play. Just as often he seems to do this to make it easier for the unschooled
voice to sing it as well. In some of the compositions he a1so makes relatively
large changes, in, for example, preludes and epilogues, and sometimes he cannot
resist the temptation to make certain harmonic improvements. Whereas at other
times, there are little or no changes made from the origina1. The latter are
primarily where the origina1 song is the "ballad type" and where the
song's melody is a1ready in the piano's upper register.
Perhaps it is understandable that Grieg,
at the end of the 18705, was afraid of being exposed as the one responsible for
Melodies of Norway, among other things, considering that ten of his own
songs were among those in the selection. He was probably concerned that these
seemingly unpretentious and popular arrangements would undermine his own
artistic reputation. Where his own reputation as a serious composer and artist was
concerned, he was very sensitive and vulnerable. However, his selection of
works of other Norweglan composers who were represented shows that he was interested
first and foremost in quality .Ha1fdan Kjerulf, (1815 -1868) is represented by
sixteen of his finest romances and songs for the choir. Grieg included thirteen
songs from Rikard Nordraak (1842 -1866), are twenty Norwegian composers
represented, and with his thoroughness and sense for detail, Grieg has
obviously left his mark on the collection as a whole.
Finally, one must not forget that, Melodies
of Norway, as the first printing directly from Grieg's hand, was not just a
collection of melodies. It also includes some of the most praiseworthy
Norwegian lyric poetry written during the previous century. Bjornstjerne
Bjornson, (1832 - 1910) has as many as thirty-three of his poems included, but
then, since the middle of the last century he has been the Norwegian poet whose
works have most often been set to music. Others, who through poetry have left
their markon the collection, are Johan Sebastian Welhaven (1807-1873) with
eleven poems, Henrik Wergeland (1808 -1845) with ten, and Andreas Munch
(18l1-1884) with five.
According to my
judgement some melodies are well suited for a small house organ, and were
definitely played on such. Other tunes have a resemblance to the Norwegian folk
music instrument "Langleik" whose sound is very close to the clavichord. The
Graf-piano (1850) was used for recalling the ambience of the nineteen century
in more instrumental pieces. The combination with melodies and pieces played on
the modern piano might well have been chosen in another way but this was my
personal choice in this particular recording.
Einar Steen-Nokleberg