Edvard Grieg

Composers / Edvard Grieg / Routes

Trasa Bergen

A port city on the North Sea, the second biggest city in Norway, the most important centre for navigation and trade in the country, a cargo and tourist port. From 1360 to 1754, it was an agency of the Hanseatic League (the Wendish group, with its headquarters in Lübeck, trading in dried fish). It has a university and numerous colleges.

In Grieg’s times, Bergen had around 25,000 inhabitants and was teeming with life. Growing up in such a city must have been quite an experience for a sensitive young boy. Not without reason was the city called the gateway to Europe, given that a great variety of foreign languages could be heard on the streets, a range of ships with exotic flags and cargoes moored in the port, and cultural life was thriving, thanks to numerous Bergenians who after travels and studies in the big wide world had called at their home port bringing with them a breath of new ideas and new people, including musicians. In 1765, the ‘Harmonien’ Music Society was founded, with its own ‘symphony’ orchestra – a mixture of professional military and church musicians and talented amateurs.

After his studies in Leipzig, Grieg returned briefly to Bergen, but soon left for Copenhagen, where he continued his studies. Until the death of his parents, in 1875, he regularly visited this city.

From 1880, he spent two seasons conducting the ‘Harmonien’ Orchestra. His greatest joy during those two years in Bergen was his friendship with the lawyer Frants Beyer. It was he who persuaded Grieg to buy a plot on which to build a house in the vicinity, since he was himself building a house to the south of the city, in Hop. In 1884, the decision was taken, and a year later, in a picturesque spot on an archipelago ten kilometres from the centre, the Troldhaugen villa was built.

Alexander Grieg, Edvard Griegs father, portrait (1850), Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek.
Bergen Public Library, phot. Nina Aldin Thune (creative commons).
Bryggen in Bergen. (creative commons)
Concert hall Grieghallen, (creative commons).
Det norske Theater (between ca. 1850 and ca. 1920). (creative commons)
Edvard Grieg, 11 years old, portrait, Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek.
Edvard Grieg, portrait, ca. 1858, Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek.
Edvard Grieg, portrait ca. 1870. Griegsamlingen, Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek.
Edvard Grieg, portrait ca. 1870. Griegsamlingen, Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek.
Edvard Grieg, portrait, ca. 1903, Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek.
Family of Griegs in Landås. From the left Elisabeth, Christiane Riis, Maren, Edvard, Oscar Riis, Benedicte, Alexander, Gesine, John (1862), Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek.
Fish market in Vågen. (creative commons)
Gesine Grieg, Edvard Griegs mother, portrait (1850), Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek.
Grieghallen in Bergen, phot. Nina Aldin Thune, (creative commons).
Grieg s family in Landås. From the left John, Elisabeth, Maren, Gesine, Alexander, Edvardine Kühle, Christiane Riis (1865).Griegsamlingen, Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek.
Herman Didrki Hagerup ( Nina Grieg’s father), Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek.
Logen Theater (creative commons).
Mansion in Landås (1860). Griegsamlingen, Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek.
Mansion in Landås, sketch by Edvard Grieg (1862). Griegsamlingen, Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek.
Mom and dad on the sofa, sketch by Edvard Grieg (1862), Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek.
Nina and Edvard Grieg with Tonny, Adelina and Herman Hagerup, Copenhagen, ca 1900. Griegsamlingen.
Old Bergen Museum. Svein-Magne Tunli. (creative commons)
Ole Bull, portrait c.1896 (creative commons).
Repslagerhuset on Sandviksveien 85. (creative commons)
St Marys Church in Bergen, photo Axel Lindahl.
St Marys Church in Berge, sketch by Johan Joachim Reichborn (1768), Bergen City Archives.
Strandgaten no. 152. Knud Knudsen, Arkivet etter Formannskapet, Bergen Byarkiv.
Tanks Upper Secondary School. (creative commons)
The German Wharf, Tyskebryggen. (creative commons)
The interrior of the Bergen Public Library (creative commons).
The National Theatre, new building (today). (creative commons)
Views of Landås bower and Landås Mountain, sketch by Edvard Grieg (1862), Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek.
Views of Landås bower, sketch by Edvard Grieg (1862), Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek.

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Edvard Grieg – Halling (Norwegian dance), Op. 47 No. 4 – Alexey Zuev (period piano Erard, 1849), Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio (rec. 18.03.2016), sound engineering team: Lech Dudzik, Gabriela Blicharz.

Route	Route type
Bergen	Local
Copenhagen	Local
Kristiania/Oslo	Local
Lipsk	Local
Other cities in Europe	Regional
Rome	Local
The journey around northern Zealand	Regional
Troldhaugen	Local