Piano Concerto (Grieg)

Lore & Background

Often compared to Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto, Grieg’s sole completed concerto shares its key and a similar dramatic piano flourish at the outset. The work is one of his most popular and a staple of the genre, with a typical performance lasting about thirty minutes. It is structured in three movements: the first, in sonata form, opens with a timpani roll and a virtuosic piano flourish that introduces the main theme, followed by a secondary theme in C major that later reappears in A major during the recapitulation, ending with a cadenza and a closing flourish. The second movement is a lyrical ternary-form piece in D major that leads directly into the third. The finale begins in A minor with an energetic theme influenced by the Norwegian halling dance, then introduces a lyrical theme in F major; after a recapitulation, a Quasi presto section varies the first theme, and the concerto concludes with a dramatic Andante maestoso rendition of the second theme in A major. Grieg’s interest in Norwegian folk music is evident: the opening flourish is built on a falling minor second and major third motif typical of Norwegian folk tunes, and the last movement echoes the halling dance and imitates the Hardanger fiddle. The concerto was composed in 1868 when Grieg was twenty-four, premiered in Copenhagen in 1869, and later revised multiple times, with over three hundred changes made to the orchestration before the final version was completed shortly before his death. Grieg also began but never finished a second piano concerto in B minor.

Reader's Guide

Edvard Grieg composed his only completed piano concerto at age twenty-four in 1868, during a stay in Denmark. The work is in three movements, with a typical performance lasting about half an hour. The first movement opens with a timpani roll and a dramatic piano flourish, leading to a main theme in sonata form; its secondary theme first appears in C major and returns in A major during the recapitulation, which concludes with a virtuosic cadenza. The second movement is a lyrical ternary-form piece in D major that leads directly into the finale. The third movement begins with an energetic theme in A minor influenced by the Norwegian halling dance, followed by a lyrical theme in F major; after a recapitulation, a quasi presto section varies the first theme, and the concerto ends with a dramatic andante maestoso rendition of the second theme in A major. Grieg scored the work for solo piano, woodwinds, brass, timpani, and strings, originally calling for two horns and a tuba rather than the later four horns and three trombones. The concerto shows Grieg’s interest in Norwegian folk music: its opening flourish uses a falling minor second and major third typical of folk melodies, and the finale imitates the halling dance and the Hardanger fiddle. The premiere took place in Copenhagen in 1869, performed by Edmund Neupert, with Niels Gade and Anton Rubinstein in attendance; Grieg was unable to play due to orchestra commitments in Christiania. Franz Liszt played the concerto at sight during a visit in 1870 and offered favorable comments. Grieg revised the work at least seven times, producing over three hundred changes to the orchestration; the final version was completed shortly before his death. The concerto was the first piano concerto ever recorded, in a heavily abridged six-minute version by Wilhelm Backhaus in 1909.

Did You Know?

• The concerto is the first piano concerto ever recorded, by Wilhelm Backhaus in 1909, though heavily abridged to six minutes.