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Edvard GriegBorn: June 15, 1843Died: Autumn 1907
Edvard Grieg was born in Bergen, Norway on June 15th, 1843. His home was a musical home and he started his studies at the age of six. His mother, Gesine, was his first piano teacher. When he was 15 he met a prominent violinist who noticed his talent and persuaded the boy's parents to send him to the Leipzig Conservatory, which was then directed by Ignaz Moscheles. He liked the many concerts that were held in Leipzig and he made very good grades at the conservatory with the exception of organ classes. He performed at his first concert in his home town of Bergen. One of the numbers on it included Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata. 
When he was 20 years of age he went to Copenhagen, Denmark where he stayed for three years. He met several Danish composers, one of which was Rikard Nordraak, who composed the Norwegian National anthem. Nordraak was a great source of inspiration and they became good friends. Later, in 1866, Nordraak died and he composed a funeral march in his honor. Grieg became closely affiliated with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and later became its director from 1880-1882.
He married his first cousin, Nina Hagerup, when he was 24 years of age. The following year their only child, Alexandra, was born. While he was on a holiday in Denmark he wrote his Piano Concerto in A Minor, which was first performed by Edmund Neupert. Grieg himself was unable to perform it because of conducting commitments in Christiana, which later became Oslo.
Franz Liszt wrote a recommendation regarding him to the Norwegian Ministry of Education in 1868 and because of that he was able to obtain a travel grant. They first met in 1870 in Rome where Liszt first heard Grieg's Violin Sonata No. 1. During his second visit Liszt sightread his Piano Concerto. Although he felt Liszt's tempo was too fast the audience was very impressed. During the summer of 1869 Nina and Edvard's daughter became sick and died. She was just 13 months old.
At the request of the playwright, Henrik Ibsen, he, in 1876, composed music for Ibsen's play, Peer Gynt. The music quickly became very well liked and soon was used in orchestras as well as piano solos and duets. He met Tchaikovsky in 1888. He liked Grieg's music very much and praised its beauty, originality and warmth.
As he grew older his fame grew. The Norwegian government awarded him a pension. He made some gramophone recordings of his piano music in the spring of 1903. These historic discs have been reissued on both LPs and CDs. The recordings, although limited in their fidelity, nevertheless demonstrate his artistry as a performer.
In the autumn of 1907, at the age of 64, Grieg died. The last words he spoke were, "Well, if it must be so". To honor him, between 30,000 and 40,000 people came out on the streets of his home town. His own funeral march was played in addition to the funeral march of Frederic Chopin. His ashes and his wife's are in a tomb near his house in Troldhaugen, Norway. Grieg's piano concerto is now his most popular work although his music for Peer Gynt is still well liked. In a letter to a friend he told of his dislike for one of his compositions, "In the Hall Of the Mountain King". He wrote, "I have also written something for the scene in the hall of the mountain King - something that I literally can't bear listening to because it absolutely reeks of cow-dung, exaggerated Norwegian nationalism, and trollish self-satisfaction! But I have hunch that irony will be discernible." It was to become one of his most popular compositions.
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