Decorah-posten og ved arnen., 1907-09-10
Grieg and the American Press.

The death of Edward Grieg at his
home near Bergen, Norway, removes
from life one of the greatest living
composers. Grieg represented better
than anyone else the Morse element
in music. His early endeavors in
musical composition were under the
inflence of Chopin and Schumann and
Wagner, but later on he found him
self and his meter. 1t was his good
fortune to give to the world the
strange, SAD melodies of the far north,
with their haunting melancholy and
their mystic charm. He gave him
self up completely to the folk lore and
the folk songs of his native land, and
he enriched the worlds store of music
by the contributions he made that
we're thus inspired.
Grieg is always telling of Scandi-
navia, its dark forests, its towering
mountains, its deep and silent fjords.
He sings of elves and imps, living in
the caverns of the earth and the
depths of the sea, elves of light and
Of dark, half-human and half-satanic.
1t may be in the "springdans" or in
the "halling"-the alluring elf-maidens
are always dimly seen dancing among
the peasants. His music abounds in
tender melancholy, in shimmering
grace, in striking eccentricity, and
sometimes even in rough and gro
tesque humor. But always it is Morse.
That was his mission as a composer
to sing to us of hat bleak and bar
rem country where men, by very
reason of their endeavor 10
wrest a living from the soil, have
grown great and strong, and upon
whose temperaments the wildness of
nature has set its melancholy and
poetic seal.
1t is a great work that Edward
PGrieg has done. For years his indom-
table energy has carried him along in
spite of a pulmonary weakness that
has filled his life with misery. His
name and fame are happily secure,
for unlike his young and promising
compatriot, Nordraak, he was not cut
off in youth, but has been able to
complete and round out his life's
work. His service TO his native coun-
try was, M is happy to add, thoroly
appreciated and rewarded during his
lifetime. His fame, now that death
has claimed him, is secure.-The Min
neapolis Jorunal.
In the death of Grieg Norway loses
its most distinguished musical compo-
ser. Through his tone pictures, folk
songs, and dances the Scandinavian
people learned TO value in full the
beauty of their melodies, and TO them
were given that distinctive national
stamp which so quickly brought them
into favor in all parts of the musical
world. What Grieg might have &C
complished had he cared to follow
the beaten track, as his musical ia
Tents and education permitted, is only
a matter of surmise. Perhaps it is
fortunate that he resigned himself
wholly TO the characteristics of his
own country, and was content with
reproducing those characteristics with
the strange coloring and eccentric
modulation typical of his work.
Theodore Thomas did much TO in
troduce and popularize the music OF
Grieg in the United States. The fas-
cination that was Immediately found
in the Peer Gynt suite, perhaps the
most notable of his compositions.
was found also TO extend TO other
tone pictures and Morse melodies,
while the beauty and marked individ-
uality OF his songs brought them
prompt welcome in the concert room
and the home. As a pianist Grieg
wrote much for the piano, and this
tended to give him a large following
among the technically educated and
TO familiarize the people with the
distinctive nature of his writing. The
eccentricity which seemed puzzling
at first eventually proved the charm
that assured a loyal admiration.
The world is indebted TO Norway
for Edward Grieg. Norway is in
debted to Grieg for the distinction he
has conferred upon its music and for
sending it into all countries. II a
man is not to be counted among the
few masters of universal music it is
something that he set his own limi-
~tations and proved himself great
within those boundaries. Any man
who can do for his county's music
what Grieg has done for the melody
of his northland has accomplished a
work which has its part in gratifying
the esthetic pleasures OF the world
! The Chicago Tribune.