From Peer Gynt; Suite No. 1, Op.46
Edvard Greig
1843-1907
In 1874 Evard Greig received a letter from Henrik Ibsen saying, “Dear Mr. Greig: I am writing to you in connection with a plan that I propose to implement. The plan is this: I propose to adapt Peer Gynt for the stage. Will you compose the music that will be required?” Greig composed twenty three musical numbers for the play. In 1885 he selected four for his Suite No. 1. The first, ‘Morning Mood’ is best described from an old RCA Victor liner notes.
“ ‘Morning’ brings into the concert hall the pine-scented freshness of Northern woods and lakes and fields. While not precisely programmatic or imitative of nature, there are powerful suggestions of bird-song and of dawning, the pale and then intensifying colors of early morn, the clear airs and skies of the day’s hours walking across a Scandinavian landscape.”
