But he soon grew used to it all and was busy as could be with lessons in piano and harmony. Just as in the earlier days in school, so in Leipzig, Edvard wrote music as it sounded in his heart. In the harmony lessons he could not make himself write plain chords to the bass which was given him as an exercise. He wrote the light, airy, lovely, fanciful tunes and rhythms that were singing within him. And just like the schoolmaster at home, the harmony teacher shouted at him, saying: "No, that is all wrong!" His harmony teacher was E. F. Richter. [Illustration: No. 9 E. F. RICHTER] But you remember that Ole Bull understood the boy's music. While here in Leipzig there were many who understood it too. Bit by bit Edvard made friends who loved to listen to his pieces. One of them was Niels Gade, a fine musician in Denmark, who was a friend of Schumann's, who one time, wrote a Northern Song on the letters on Gade's name. It begins like this: [Illustration: No. 10 GADE'S MUSICAL NAME] And Edvard too once wrote a fugue on the letters G-A-D-E. So inspiring was his music study that Edvard worked very hard. He composed a great deal of music which slowly made friends for him. Robert Schumann was one who spoke kindly of the young Norwegian and his music. And so he grew and improved. Because he was true to his talent, he made many friends not only in Leipzig but throughout Europe, as we shall see. [Illustration: No. 11 R. SCHUMANN] You will learn some day the names of many of the people who became friends of Grieg. There were Rikard Nordraak, and later on Franz Liszt. Grieg became one of the group of great Norwegian artists in which Henrik Ibsen and Bjornstjerne Bjornson were prominent. Indeed, Grieg wrote the music to Ibsen's _Peer Gynt_. One of the great pleasures of Grieg's life was Bjornson's _Patriotic Poem_ to his own music. [Illustration: No. 12 NORDRAAK] [Illustration: No. 13 LISZT] [Illustration: No. 14 IBSEN] [Illustration: No. 15 BJORNSON] One day Grieg showed Gade a composition called _In Autumn_ which Gade did not like. "It is too Norwegian," he said. This pleased Grieg, although Gade told him to go home and write something better. He was nearly as rough as Grieg's schoolmaster. But one day later a prize was offered in Sweden for an orchestral composition. Grieg's _In Autumn_ won the prize. And Gade was one of the judges. We wonder if he forgot about it! [Illustration: No. 16 GADE] Grieg married his cousin Mina Hagerup, to whom he dedicated his famous song: _I Love Thee_. But the mother of his bride did not think highly of him. "He is a nobody," she said, "who writes music that no one cares to listen to." [Illustration: No. 17 GRIEG AND HIS WIFE]