Edward Grieg "Morning": history, interesting facts, content, video, listen

Edward Grieg "Morning"

In the world music literature there are many works in which composers soundly reflect the natural landscapes with sounds. However, one of the best examples among such creations can be safely called "Morning". This musical picture was written by an outstanding Norwegian composer Edward Grieg to the philosophical drama of Henrik Ibson "Peer Gynt". Listening to this music, pictorially painting a picture of the awakening of northern nature, you unwittingly imagine the softness of the play of tender colors of the morning dawn, pastures with emerald grass, transparent springs and fjords with rocky shores. The sun rises and a person has a feeling of calm and hope that with the beginning of a new day, everything will change for the better: adversity will evaporate and all life obstacles will be overcome.

The history of the creation of the work of Edward Grieg "Morning", as well as interesting facts and musical content, read on our page.

History of creation

The history of the composition of the song "Morning" is closely linked with the creation By Edward Grieg music to the play of Henrik Ibsen "Per Gunt".

In 1874, the composer lived in Christiania, as the capital of Norway was previously called, which was later renamed Oslo. Edward and his wife Nina Hagerup moved to this city in 1866. This life-time by researchers of the composer’s works is noted as particularly fruitful, since at that time he did a lot for the development of the national musical culture.

Grieg contributed to the opening of the Musical Academy in the capital, and also initiated the founding of the Musical Society. To educate the public and popularize domestic music, the programs of concerts at which he acted as a conductor included not only works by great maestros such as Mozart, Sheet and Wagnerbut also young Scandinavian composers. In the same period, he created the Piano Concerto, the first notebook of "Lyrical Pieces" and the Second Violin Sonata. In 1874, the Norwegian government appointed Edward Grieg a lifetime scholarship for his great creative and educational activities. Such material support gave the maestro the opportunity to engage in composition without restriction.

While in Christiania, Edward constantly maintained contact with his famous friends: Hans Christian Anderson, Bjørnstjern Bjørnson and Henrik Ibsen. The composer has created many remarkable vocal works for the poetic texts of these outstanding authors. So at the end of the winter of 1874, Grieg received a message from Ibsen, in which the famous writer and playwright suggested Edward to write music for his already popular work, “Peer Gynt”. The composer, who always dreamed of creating a national opera, with a plot built on folk historical legends and sagas, responded to this request with great enthusiasm. Grieg liked Ibsen's work, but he had some concerns, since the task set by the playwright did not quite correspond to the nature of the composer's work, and yet the composer and the drama author could agree among themselves.

Despite the fact that "Peer Gynt" more and more fascinated Edward, and he did his best, the work on the work was rather slow. The difficulty lay in the fact that in his work Grieg did not know how to keep himself within strict limits, and while writing this music he constantly had to follow the author's instructions. Some numbers Edward composed very quickly, while others were given to him with great difficulty. Even during his trip with a visit to Denmark and Germany, he continued to compose and orchestrate numbers. Only in Leipzig, in the spring of next year, Grieg put the last point in the finished score. The premiere of the play took place in February 1876. The success of the production was immense. The song "Morning" sounded in the drama in Act IV. The music of the work in the play depicts the sunrise, when Peer Gynt, being in the Moroccan desert, was deceived by his companions. While the hero was sleeping, the yacht was hijacked, and he was left on the shore. The scene begins like this: "Dawn. Acacia and palm trees. Peer Gynt sits in a tree, defending himself with a branch from a group of monkeys." Ten years later, Grieg decided to combine the musical numbers from the play into suites. In 1888 the composer finished the first one, which was opened by the symphonic picture "Morning".

Interesting Facts

• Many believe that Henrik Ibsen took the name of his character Peer Gunt from a collection of Norwegian tales recorded by folklore collectors P. Asbjørnsen and J. Mu, however, according to the playwright himself, Per Gunt is a real person who lived in Norway in the late 18th century.
• The music of the symphonic picture "Morning" is one of the most famous classical melodies and is often used quite often in cinema, in television programs, and also in advertising.
• Music "Morning" Edward Grieg is very popular with filmmakers. They love to embed this song into the soundtracks of their films. Only recently it can be heard in such films as "The Kruds Family" (2013), "The Book of Life" (2014), "Australian Ninja" (2017), "Boys and Girls" (2017), "Happiness" (2017) .
• In 1960 Duke Ellington recorded a jazz interpretation of the Edvard Grieg suite "Peer Gynt". In Norway, a struggle began between representatives of the Grieg Foundation, who found the recordings insulting to Norwegian culture, and Ellington's Norwegian supporters. Ellington's versions were removed from distribution in the country until 1967, until Grieg's copyright expired.
• The composition "Morning" is a beautiful, but short piece that lasts 3 minutes and forty seconds.

Content

Morning is a poetic musical landscape that reflects the rising sun and the awakening nature, but in addition it conveys a state of complete serenity and peace of mind. The main expressive means by which the composer in the work achieves pastorality and picturesque landscape are pentatonic, timbre of woodwind instruments and transparent harmony.

The tonality of the work is E major. The tempo specified by the composer is Allegretto pastorale.

The composition opens with a small bright motif, resembling a simple shepherd flute. First, the theme sounds in the performance flutesthen passed oboe. Such a roll call, drawing a picture of the dawn, is repeated several times. Further, the motif, varying, acquires an ever more powerful and vibrant sound, leading to a climactic middle section.

In this section, the melodic line dissolves in a colorful and bold harmony. The orchestra, sounding on fortissimo, announces that the sun has risen and filled everything around with its light. Then the dynamics weaken, and the orchestral sonority again becomes transparent. The main theme beautifully sings the horn and transmits it to other instruments. After the last performance of the motive with the flute, everything calms down.

Symphonic picture "Morning", like all numbers from musical accompaniment to drama"Per Gunt“by right is included into the collection of masterpieces of world music art.“ Morning ”is not only a pictorial picture of nature, skillfully depicted by the composer in sounds. It is an expression of a person’s feelings, thoughts and experiences. The gentle music of the composition, sounding in the play, makes listeners understand that true happiness does not need to be sought in distant countries, since it is very close.