Publisher's Synopsis
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) is known and loved throughout the world as one of the most important composers of the late nineteenth century. His music seems to embody the spectacular beauty of the mountains and fjords of his beloved Norway as well as the undercurrent of melancholy in the soul of its people. Scholars have long been aware that Grieg was a prolific and skillful letter-writer, but only recently have his letters been gathered from libraries and archives all over the world and made available in published form. Over 500 of the most important of these letters are presented in English in the present volume. Make no mistake about it: The author of this book is Edvard Grieg himself. This book constitutes a kind of autobiography. Not least, it provides a fascinating insight into what he was thinking, how he was feeling when he wrote this or that piece of music. The recipients of Grieg's letters included some of the most renowned people of his day -- Johannes Brahms, Henrik Ibsen, Clara Schumann, Peter Tchaikovsky -- as well as many unheralded colleagues and friends whose lives touched his in one way or another. To different correspondents, at different times, in different moods, he revealed various sides of his personality.
