Home > Piano Concerto (Grieg)
The Piano Concerto in A minor by Edvard Grieg was the only concerto Grieg completed. It is one of his most popular works and among the most popular of all piano concertos.The work is among Grieg's earliest important works, being written in 1868 in Sollerod in Denmark, during one of Grieg's visits there to benefit from the warmer climate than that of his native Norway. It is written for solo piano, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, timpani, violins, violas, celloString instruments Alternate meaning: Cello web browser A cropped image to show the relative size of a cello to a human The cello (also violoncello or cello is a stringed instrument and part of the violin family. The cello is much larger than a violin, ans and double bassSide and front views of a modern double bass with a french bow. The wire from the tailpiece to the bridge is for a piezo-electric pickup. With spike extended as in the photo, it measures approximately 2m tall. The double bass is a musical instrument, thees. It is in three movements:
- Allegro molto moderato
- Adagio
- Allegro moderato molto e marcato
Grieg's concerto is often compared to the Piano ConcertoThe Piano Concerto in A minor by Robert Schumann was completed in 1845. Schumann had begun several piano concertos before this one. In 1828 he had begun one in E flat major, from 1829-31 he worked on one in F major, and in 1839 he wrote one movement of a of Robert SchumannThis article is about the German composer. For the German-born French politician, see Robert Schuman; for the youngest person to go to the north and south poles, see Robert Schumann (record-breaker . For the American composer, see William Schuman. Robert - it is in the same keyIn Music theory, the key is the tonal center of a piece. It is designated by a note name (the tonic), such as C, and is the base of a musical scale from which most of the notes of the piece are drawn. Most commonly, that scale can be either in major or mi, the opening descending flourish on the piano is similar, and the overall style is considered to be closer to Schumann than any other single composer. Grieg had heard Schumann's concerto played by Clara SchumannClara Josephine Wieck Schumann ( September 13, 1819 May 20, 1896), wife of composer Robert Schumann, trained from an early age by her father Friedrich Wieck, had a brilliant career as a pianist from the age of thirteen up to her marriage. In the various t in LeipzigLeipzig [ˈlaiptsɪç] ( Sorbian/Lusatian: Lipsk is the largest city in the federal state ( Bundesland) of Saxony in Germany. The name is derived from the Slavic word (see Sorbian) Lipsk (settlement where the linden trees stand). It is s in 1858, and was greatly influenced by Schumann's style generally, having been taught the piano by Schumann's friend, E. F. Wenzel.
Additionally, Grieg's work provides evidence of his interest in Norwegian folk music - the opening flourish is based around the motif of a falling second (see intervalIn music theory, an interval is the difference (a ratio or logarithmic measure) in pitch between two notes and often refers to those two notes themselves (otherwise known as a dyad). An interval class is measured by the shortest distance possible between) followed by a falling third, which is typical of the folk music of Grieg's native country. This specific motif occurs in other works by Grieg, including the String Quartet . In the last movement of the concerto, similarities to the springar (a Norwegian folk dance) and imitations of the Hardanger (the Norwegian folk fiddle) have been detected.
Grieg himself was a good pianist but the work was premiered by Edmund Neupert on April 3, 1869 in Copenhagen. Grieg was unable to attend the premiere owing to committments with an orchestra in Kristiania (now Oslo). Among those who did attend the premiere were the Danish composer Niels Gade and the Russian pianist Anton Rubinstein. The Norwegian premiere in Kristiania followed on August 7, 1869, and the piece was later heard in Germany in 1872 and England in 1874.
The work was first published in Leipzig in 1872. Shortly before his death, Grieg revised the work, undoing Franz Liszt's suggestion to give the second subject of the first movement to the trumpet rather than the cellos among other changes.
In 1882-83 Grieg worked on a second piano concerto in B minor, but it was never completed.
