Event Detail

St. James Concert Series - Frank Wiens, piano

For this program, Mr. Wiens has selected music by Hungarian composer, Edvard Grieg. He opens his program with Notturno from the Lyric Pieces, Opus 54, followed by Little Bird and Butterfly, again from Lyric Pieces. Next on his program is the Piano Sonata in E Minor, Humoreske, Bridal Procession and Residence of the Goblins. Agitato closes the first half of the program.

Following intermission, Mr. Wiens returns with Moods, Holberg Suite, March of the Dwarfs, To Spring and Wedding Day at Troldhaugen.

Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in Bergen, Norway in June of 1843. He began playing the piano at the age of six under the tutorage of his mother. He is renowned as a nationalist composer, drawing inspiration from Norwegian folk music. Early works include a symphony (which he later suppressed) and a piano sonata. He also wrote three sonatas for violin and piano and a cello sonata. His many short pieces for piano - often based on Norwegian folk tunes and dances - led some to call him the “Chopin of the North.”

Some of the Lyric Pieces (for piano) are well-known as is the incidental music, composed at the request of the author, to Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt. Grieg’s popular Holberg Suite was originally written for the piano, and later arranged by the composer for string orchestra. Grieg wrote songs, in which he set lyrics by poets such as Goethe, Ibsen, Hans Christian Andersen and Kipling. Influential in his life were Liszt, whom he met in 1870, Tchaikovsky, whom he met in 1888 and Percy Grainger in 1906.