Music with Ease > Classical Music > Concert Guide: Nationalist Era > Old Norwegian Romance with Variations. Op. 51 - Grieg

The composition entitled above was originally written for two pianos and subsequently scored for orchestra by the composer. The introduction opens quietly, and at last presents the theme in the strings, which is subsequently varied -- a quaint, simple, little Norwegian song. The variations are thirteen in number, and are so clearly worked out and so symmetrical in construction that they easily make their appeal and do not call for explanation. The final variation is the most elaborate. It begins with an Adagio molto expressivo, the strings divided into nine parts and opens in the violas, cellos, double basses thus divided and the bassoon. It leads to a Finale, opening with a theme in the strings, woodwinds, and horns worked up in a crescendo. The main theme of the movement is then repeated and ends in a tremendous climax. The liveliest of Codas founded on this theme, and the theme itself recurring in the muted strings and woodwinds, close the work.