From Grieg to Brahms: Studies of Some Modern Composers and Their ArtMason, Daniel Gregory
History
From Grieg to Brahms: Studies of Some Modern Composers and Their Art
Mason, Daniel Gregory
Composers -- Biography; Music -- 19th century -- History and criticism
shoulder as if he limped; a 'bundle of nerves' [«_paquet des nerfs_»],
to use a doctor's phrase of picturesque energy. The head, which looks
massive on so small a body, is intelligent and very handsome, with
long grayish hair thrown back, thin face, smooth-shaven chin, short,
thick mustache, small but full nose, and eyes!--eyes superb, green,
gray, in which one can fancy one catches a glimpse of Norway, with
its melancholy fjords and its luminous mists. His gaze is serious,
wonderfully soft, with a peculiar expression, at once worn, tentative,
and childishly naïve. The entire effect is of kindness, gentleness,
candor, a sincere modesty.»
It is thus obvious that Grieg is of the nervous, sensitive temperament,
the temperament of Keats and Stevenson, quick and ardent in feeling,
and in art notable for subjective, intimate work rather than for the
wide objective point of view. Grieg's music is of value, indeed, just
because it is the artistic expression of delicate personal feeling.
We shall find that his whole development tended toward a singularly
individual, or at most national, utterance; that his efforts toward a
complexer or more universal style, such as in poetry we call epic, were
unsuccessful; and that his real and inimitable achievement is all in
the domain of the pure lyric.
Edvard Grieg was born in Bergen, Norway, in 1843. At an early age
he showed musical talent, starting in to learn the piano and theory
at six, under his mother's direction. Gesine Grieg, born Hagerup,
descendent from a forceful Norwegian family which had produced some
famous men, was a woman of musical and poetic instinct and of strong
character. She had studied music in Hamburg and in London, and given
some concerts and many soirées in Bergen. In a word, her son could not
have found a better guide in his first studies. At nine Grieg surprised
his school-teacher by submitting in place of a literary composition a
set of original variations on a German melody, a substitution which
was not kindly received. He was told to stop such nonsense. The
artistic temperament revealed itself also in great sensitiveness to the
beauty of the somber Northern landscape, and at fifteen Grieg wished
to become a painter. Fortunately, however, his musical ability was
recognized by the famous violinist Ole Bull, at whose suggestion his
parents decided to send him to the Leipsic Conservatory, whither he
traveled in 1858. Here again the romanticism of the boy showed itself
in his fretfulness under the strict régime of his masters, Hauptmann,
Richter, Rietz, Reinecke, and Moscheles, and in his passionate devotion
to the works of Schumann and Chopin, who were then looked upon in
academic circles as somewhat dangerous revolutionaries. Except for a
vacation of some months at home, necessitated by the pulmonary trouble
which has ever since weakened Grieg's health, he spent four years in
the Conservatory, being graduated in 1862.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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