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Edvard Grieg music biography continued...

mother was a professional pianist who began teaching him at the age of six. At thirteen, he began studies at the Leipzig Conservatory. After graduating Leipzig in 1862, Grieg moved to Copenhagen, where he continued his music studies. He made progress towards Scandinavian folk music while being an apprentice of Rikard Nordraak. Soon Grieg freed himself from the German romantic tradition and grew towards the development of his original style. His love of the Norwegian folk culture and traditional melodies became evident in his compositions written after 1866, the year Grieg returned to Norway. He settled in Christiania (Oslo) and established himself as a music teacher and concert performer. At the same time Grieg became the founder of a concert society "Eutherpe" with a choir and a symphony orchestra. His collection of "Lyrical Pieces" for piano gave him a fine reputation among musicians. His famous Piano Concerto in A minor was completed in 1868 and performed in Copenhagen. With a letter of recommendation from Franz Liszt, Grieg received a state stipend for his studies in Italy and spent a winter of 1869-1870 in Rome. There Grieg performed his music and had meetings with Franz Liszt and other European musicians. In 1876, Grieg was asked by Henrik Ibsen to write the incidental music to "Peer Gynt", a play about the Norwegian folk hero. Later Grieg made two "Peer Gynt" Suites for concert performances, which scored international success. With this, Grieg officially became known as the "Chopin of the North."



From 1878-1880 Grieg and his wife Nina, a professional singer, went on a two-year tour of Europe. He went on to give performances of his Piano Concerto in London during the 1880s and 1890s. Grieg died on September 4, 1907, in Bergen, Norway, and was laid to rest in a mountain cave at his countryside estate in Troldhaugen, Norway. His wife Nina lived to the age of 90 and made Grieg's villa in Troldhaugen into a museum. A concert hall was built nearby to house the annual festivals of Grieg's music and celebrate his status as Norway's greatest classical music export.