Greig: Holberg Suite

From Holberg’s Time: Suite in the Olden Style – Edvard Grieg Born June 15, 1843, in Bergen, Norway Died September 4, 1907, in Bergen, Norway This work was premiere in December of 1884. It is scored for string orchestra.

Edvard Grieg was a student of the great Germanic tradition of composition and studied in Leipzig.

The Norwegian nationalist received the best training possible, basing even his student works on Norwegian folk music and national tales. After graduation, he returned home and founded the Norwegian Academy of Music in 1867 at the age of twenty-four. His government, as a token of appreciation, bestowed upon him an annual stipend seven years later, removing his financial woes and allowing him to compose full-time. Grieg preferred composing in smaller forms – art song, piano pieces, and chamber music – but his efforts also produced large choral works. There was also an opera, Olav Trygvason, but Grieg abandoned the project. Grieg’s first major success was in 1869 with his Piano Concerto. The work became internationally recognizable and the Norwegian composer’s popularity was universal.

In 1884 the city of Bergen planned to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of Ludvig Holberg, a great Norwegian writer who was born there. They asked Grieg to compose the music for the festival and, bolstered by his love of all things Norwegian, he accepted the offer. In short order, a cantata and a piano suite was presented the city. The suite, entitled “From Holberg’s Time,” was composed using rhythms and musical textures from the early seventeenth century and is subtitled “Suite in the Olden Style.”

Grieg’s music was very well received by audiences and critics. Not long afterward, he created a version for string orchestra. A lively Praeludium opens the work and gives way to a stately Sarabande. A well-mannered Gavotte leads to a tuneful Air. A festive Rigaudon brings the piece to an appropriate conclusion.