Book Description

A fascinating exploration of Grieg's visits to England and what the country meant to him, showing how it had a far greater impact on his life and career than has hitherto been recorded. When Edvard Grieg came to give his first concerts in London, he had the world at his feet. As the first composer to transmute the sights and sounds of his own spectacular country into music, he was held to be both prophet and pioneer, and English writers described him as the most popular of all living composers, commenting, when he returned to London the following year, on the 'Grieg fever' that raged in the capital. Between 1862 and 1906 Grieg spent some six months of his life in this country, for most of the time engaged in giving concerts of his own music as conductor, solo pianist and accompanist. Celebrated by his fellow musicians - among them Delius, Parry, Henry Wood and Grainger - Grieg was befriended by royalty, heaped with honours that included doctoral degrees from Cambridge and Oxford, pleaded in high quarters the cause of Norwegian independence, and found new friends who effected a profound change in his religious outlook. This book explores the impact he had on England as well as examining what the country meant to him, showing how England had a far greater influence on Grieg's life and career than hashitherto been recorded. It also offers an array of fascinating insights into the musical life and milieu of the time. LIONEL CARLEY is honorary archivist of the Delius Trust and respected author of many books about Delius.