GRIEG
COLLECTION
For Mixed Voices A Cappella
Steinar Eielsen, arranger
Øyvind Norheim, editor
choral music
Edvard Grieg Links
www.troldhaugen.no
www.edvardgrieg.no
Title: GRIEG COLLECTION
For Mixed Voices A Cappella
Music original: Edvard Grieg
Arranger: Steinar Eielsen
Editor: Øyvind Norheim
Published by Cantando Musikkforlag AS 2007 ISMN M-2612-2202-0
Cover design: Ernst Th. Monsen
Engravers: Bibo Lajos/Kjell Arne Pleym
Adress: P. O. Box 8019
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CONTENT by title
Title
Foreword 4
A Dream Ein Traum 292203a
Among Roses Millom Rosor 192203b
Ave, Maris Stella*
Ave, Maris Stella 862203c
Christmas Snow Jule-Sne 322203d
Dona nobis pacem* Dona nobis pacem 922203e
Fallen (At the Grave of a Young Wife)*Blegnet, segnet 212203f
Farmyard-Song Lok 412203g
Fatherland Hymn (Small choir)* Fædrelands-salme 482203h
Fatherland Hymn (Big choir)* Fædrelands-salme 492203i
Fisherman’s Song Fiskervise 432203j
God’s Son Hath Set Me Free* Guds Søn har gjort mig fri 592203k
How Fair Is Thy Face* Hvad est du dog skjøn 502203l
In Heav’n Above* I Himmelen 752203m
Jesus Christ Our Lord Is Risen*
Jesus Kristus er opfaren 702203n
Moonlit Forest Vandring i Skoven 112203o
Morning Prayer at School
Morgenbøn paa skolen 852203p
Song on the Mountain Sang paa Fjeldet 102203q
The Christmas Tree Sang til juletræet 402203r
The Cottage Hytten 142203s
The First Meeting Det første møde 162203t
The Norwegian Mountains De norske fjelde 462203u
The Ocean Havet 372203v
The Poet’s Heart Du fatter ei Bølgernes evige Gang72203w
The Princess Prinsessen 822203x
The Sparrow Sporven 902203y
Whitsun Hymn: “Oh Blessed the Dawning”* Pinsesalme: “Velsignede morgen”182203z
*) Original arrangements by Edvard Grieg.
All the other titles are arranged for mixed voices by Steinar Eielsen.
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Foreword
Edvard Grieg’s works for mixed voices constitute a relatively small proportion of his output. One of the reasons for this is that during the years of his early works male voice choirs dominated Norway’s choral life. Grieg wrote in fact three times as much for male voice choir as for mixed voices. Mixed choirs first became popular in Norway towards the end of the nineteenth century.
The earliest of his mixed voice works is the 4-part fugue Dona nobis pacem, EG 159, an exercise in counterpoint from his student days in Leipzig. It is to be found in a volume of harmony exercises now in the Grieg collection in the Bergen City Library, and was first published in Volume 17 of Grieg’s Complete Works (Frankfurt am Main, 1985). His first real composition for mixed voices was Rückblick, EG 303 (author unknown), which was written in Bergen in 1863 and received its first performance there. This work is no longer traceable. From around the same time (dated 13 May 1864) is Danmark, EG 161 to words of Hans Christian Andersen. Like Rückblick, this is written for mixed choir with piano accompaniment, and is therefore not included in this collection.
If we ignore the opera fragment Olav Trygvason (Op. 50), Kantate til Karl Hals (EG 164), the above-mentioned Danmark (EG 161) and two folk song arrangements of doubtful authenticity (EG 307), the present volume contains all Grieg’s preserved compositions for mixed choir. In addition there are some arrangements of songs which as far as we know have not previously been arranged for mixed choir. These arrangements are by Steinar Eielsen.
Pinsesalme (Whitsun Hymn) from the music to Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, (Op. 23) is from the end of Act 5, and is sung by churchgoers on a woodland path. This is in fact the only composition which Grieg originally wrote for mixed choir (apart from Dona nobis pacem and the Psalms Op. 74): All the others are arrangements from solo songs with piano accompaniment.
Blegnet, segnet (Fallen) is an arrangement of the song At the Grave of a Young Wife (words by O.P. Monrad). It is the fifth in the set of “Romances Old and New”, Op. 39. The song was written in 1873 and published in 1884. Grieg made the 8-part choral arrangement in 1899. It was probably commissioned by the Cæcilia Choir in Copenhagen, which gave the first performance in November 1899.
In January of the same year the Cæcilia Choir had given the first perfomance of another of Grieg’s choral arrangements, Ave Maris Stella, EG 150. This was a song Grieg had written in 1893 to a Danish translation of the Latin hymn, for a Danish volume of Christmas music. When the song was reprinted in 1897, Grieg wished to publish it with the Latin text, and the following year the two songs were published with the title Two Religious Choruses.
Grieg composed Fædrelands-salme (Fatherland Hymn) in 1894 for a school songbook with tunes to the songs in volume 1 of Nordahl Rolfsen’s new reading book for schools. The words, by the Finnish national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg, were translated into Norwegian by Nordahl Rolfsen specially for this book. Grieg was so enthusiastic about Rolfsen’s book that he set 7 of the songs to music, and published them in 1895 for solo voice and piano under the title Children’s Songs, Op. 61. In 1901 Grieg arranged all these songs for two and three part
children’s choir. The same year he was asked by J.M.Heimbeck to arrange Fædrelands-salme for mixed voices, for a gathering of Nordic students. Grieg’s arrangements for male-voice choir, female voices, 4-part mixed voices and 8-part mixed voices were published in November.
The Four Psalms, Op. 74, were to be Grieg’s final composition. The melodic material he found, as often previously, in L.M. Lindeman’s Ældre og nyere Norske Fjeldmelodier, and the words were religious baroque poetry by Hans Adolph Brorson (1694-1764), Hans Thomissøn (15321573) and Laurentius Laurentii Laurinus (1573-1655). In one of Grieg’s original manuscripts the Psalms are dated September (nos. 2 and 3) and December (no.1) 1906. He sent a manuscript to the publisher Peters in March 1907, and the Psalms were published in September the same year. By that time Grieg had already died.
Source material for this publication has been:
• Grieg’s autographs
• Published editions from Grieg’s lifetime
• Edvard Grieg: Complete Works (Frankfurt am Main: C.F. Peters, 1977–1995)
• Sämtliche Lieder für eine Singstimme und Klavier in zwei Bänden. Herausgegeben von Dan Fog & Nils Grinde (Frankfurt am Main: C.F. Peters, 2001) (This edition is a revised reprint of vol. 14 and 15 in the above-mentioned edition. Amongst other revisions, Op. 61 has new German translations.)
• Fire Salmer Op. 74. Edited by Knut Nystedt (Oslo: Edition Lyche; Norsk Musikforlag, 1996)
• 4 Psalms Op. 74. English translation and foreword by Percy Grainger (New York: C.F. Peters, 1925)
• Fire Salmer 1906 Op. 74. Edited by Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe (Stuttgart: Carus-Verlag, 1994)
Øyvind Norheim
The Norwegian Mountains, Op. 61,6. Gudbrandsdal: One of the most famous Norwegian valleys. It extends upward to the northwest, separating the Rondane and Dovre ranges in the east from the Jotunheimen Highlands in the west. Snøhetta: Highest peak in the Dovre Range (2286 m /7 500 feet), “Glaziers” i.e. Glittertinden; a mountain in Jotunheimen (2452 m/ 8040 feet).
(Edvard Grieg. Complete Works, vol. 15)
