Scandinavian Society

During the nineteenth century, the Scandinavian Society was located on the Via Condotti. It was a favourite haunt for students, actors, writers, musicians, artists and sculptors from all over the North who were eager for contact with their fellow northerners. And next to it was the Caffè Greco... During his first stay in Rome, around the turn of 1866, Grieg visited the Scandinavian Society many times, particularly in the evenings, to rest after visiting the Eternal City all day. He met there many artists and musicians, with whom he could discuss and listen to chamber music concerts organised by the Society. He took part in those concerts on many occasions: with his friend Georg Bohlmann, for example, he played an arrangement of Niels Gade’s Sixth Symphony in G minor. He spent the whole of Christmas 1865 at the Society. He remembered in particular the Christmas Eve party, when the assembled artists gave endless speeches in praise of Scandinavian art and Scandinavian artists; there were also a Christmas lottery and dancing until two in the morning. Today, the Scandinavian Society is located on the Trastevere.