Trolling Around with Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No 1
The Best Moments
Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46
I'm Edvard Grieg, and these are the best moments of my Peer Gynt Suite No 1. You'll meet the passages that made this suite so loved, above all the Mountain King's theme, which creeps in quietly among the low instruments and races to a frantic finish. On this site my fellow composers and I also teach you to recognize our pieces the moment they begin, so give the Trainer a go and see how quickly it comes.
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Sunrise, With a Flute on Duty
I open Morning Mood with a flute singing a simple, gently rocking tune in E major, and then the oboe takes its turn so the two of them can pass the melody back and forth like polite neighbors sharing a garden fence. Many listeners picture a Norwegian sunrise, but in the play it's actually dawn in the Moroccan desert, so that sunrise has done quite a bit of travelling.
The Quietest Room in the House
I begin Åse's Death with soft, crooning strings in B minor, played so slowly that the music seems to tiptoe through a house where everyone is asleep. It depicts the death of Peer's mother, so I kept it hushed and simple, and you find yourself lowering your voice just to listen.
A Prophet Who Is Easily Distracted
I start Anitra's Dance with light, dainty strings and a little triangle, in A minor, in the manner of a mazurka. In the play Anitra is a Bedouin chieftain's daughter who seduces Peer while he is posing as a prophet, and I wanted her dance to be soft, delicate and beautiful, which explains why the poor man's prophecies suffer.
Tiptoeing Past the Trolls
I open In the Hall of the Mountain King with cellos, double basses and bassoons creeping along quietly in B minor, like a guest trying very hard not to wake the host. The tune is then repeated higher and handed to other instruments while the tempo keeps speeding up toward a loud, frantic finish, and I'll admit I later said the piece reeks of cowpats and ultra-Norwegianism, though I hoped its irony would be noticed.
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I hope you enjoyed learning about the best moments of Peer Gynt Suite No 1 as much as I enjoyed sharing them with you. When I look back at it now, I'm still a little surprised that a piece I agreed to write reluctantly has found so many listeners. I once called the subject of the play terribly unmanageable, and yet those four short movements, from a quiet sunrise to a noisy troll hall, have travelled much further than I ever expected. Perhaps that is the nicest part of it, because the music that began as a theatre job now belongs to anyone who wants to sit down and listen. There is still plenty of Peer Gynt Suite No 1 left for you to explore. You could look at how the suite grew out of the play, hear how its tunes have turned up in films long after my time, or simply listen again and notice a detail you missed the first time. I'd also point you toward Suite No. 2, which keeps the story going with four more movements. If you're curious, click on the links provided and carry on exploring Peer Gynt Suite No 1 at your own pace. I'd be glad to think of you humming the Mountain King theme on your way home, a little quieter at first and then a little faster.