Wedding Day at Troldhaugen

	Grieg plays "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen" Recorded 1903
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Wedding Day at Troldhaugen (Norwegian: Bryllupsdag på Troldhaugen) is a musical piece composed by Edvard Grieg.^{[n 1][1]} It is the sixth piano piece in the eighth book of his Lyric Pieces, bearing the opus number 65. There has been some discussion about the quality and proportion of this composition in relation to the whole book.^[2]

Description

Originally called "Gratulanterne kommer" (The well-wishers are coming),^[3][4] it was written in 1896 as a memorial of the 25th wedding anniversary of Grieg and his wife Nina.^[5] The anniversary celebration had been held in the Fossli Hotel near the Vøringsfossen waterfall in June 1892. Grieg and his wife celebrated their wedding anniversary with Borre and Nancy Giertsen. Nancy was the sister of Marie Beyer, then married to Frants Beyer, Grieg's best friend. She belonged to their closest circle of friends at Troldhaugen. During the occasion a guest book was ready to take contributions from all the guests.

Grieg gave the work its final title in 1897 when he compiled Book VIII, Op. 65, of his Lyric Pieces. The work's festive first section describes congratulations and best wishes that are given by the guests to the newlyweds; the second section is reflective and subdued.

Notes

1. Troldhaugen was Grieg's villa, built in 1885, in Bergen. On Nina Grieg's suggestion he called it Troldhaugen ("The Hill of the Trolls") – Music Smiles. "Wedding Day". MusicSmiles.org. Retrieved 3 September 2012.

References

1. Denis Arnold, The New Oxford Companion to Music Volume 2, 1983 - p. 1972 "Wedding Day at Troldhaugen" (Bryllupsdag pa Troldhaugen). Piano piece by Grieg, No. 6 of his Lyric Pieces (Book 8), Op. 65 (1897).
2. Krellmann, Hanspeter (2008); Griegs Lyrische Klavierstücke – Ein musikalischer Werkführer. München, C.H. Beck, ISBN 978-3-406-44815-7, pp. 91-93
3. Beryl Foster, The Songs of Edvard Grieg - p. 166, 2007. "Memories of the day were later encapsulated in the piano piece "Gratulanterne kommer" (The Well-Wishers are Coming), now better known as "Bryllupsdag ved Troldhaugen" (Wedding Day at Troldhaugen), Op. 65/6."
4. Taruskin, Richard (2009). Music in the Nineteenth Century. Oxford University Press. p. 820. ISBN 019-538-483-0. "One especially apt example, because it conjures up an actual domestic scene, is "Bryllupsdag på Troldhaugen" (Wedding Day at Troldhaugen), the concluding item in the sixth book of Lyric Pieces, Op. 65 (1896)."
5. Grimley, Daniel M. (2006). Grieg: Music, Landscape and Norwegian Identity. Boydell Press. p. 68. ISBN 184-383-210-0. "Wedding marches also appear among the Lyric Pieces, not least "Bryllupsdag pa Troldhaugen" (Wedding Day at Troldhaugen), Op. 65/6 (written to celebrate Grieg's own silver wedding anniversary)."

Attribution

• This article is based on the translation of the corresponding article of the Norwegian Wikipedia. A list of contributors can be found there at the History section.

External links

• Wedding day at Troldhaugen: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project