In the 19th century, composers have often borrowed from their own songs the musical themes which became larger works. Poetry often provided the lyrics and inspired those songs: musical ideas sprung from the poet’s words.

This post and video aim to show that no musical training is necessary to experience how this poetry-to-music happened to Grieg for his great quartet #1… And it is not necessary either to know Norwegian to experience Henryk Ibsen’s poetry, thanks to the music!

The historical record indicates that writing a string quartet was a challenge for Grieg. He was more accustomed to writing in smaller forms like art songs and piano miniatures. Yet, one year after setting to song Ibsen’s poem “Spillemaend”, Grieg produced the very mature string quartet in G minor. Almost all of the musical material in the quartet’s first movement is derived from the song, including several creative variations of the full theme itself in a wide range of expression and affect. There are at least eight clear permutations for the listener’s discovery. But like the cyclic designs of Franck and, later, Debussy, the theme extends beyond the bounds of the first movement to obliquely influence the second, reappear in the third and frame the fourth including a nearly literal restatement of the quartet’s beginning just before the final conclusion. Though the complete work comprises a four-movement design with a great variety of music, it is fused together with a rare artistic unity (source: Kai Christensen)

The video below is designed to experience this creative process. Shortcuts:

00:00 Introduction to the tale of Fossegrim, and to Henry Ibsen (1828-1906),

00:42 Introduction to Grieg’s song “Spillamaend”

01:38 Listen to the song, and its three parts: longing, encounter, transformation.

04:12 Extracting the musical ideas from the poem’s themes of transformation, longing and encounter, and color-coding them before we listen to the quartet’s 1st movement.

05:51 Listen to the first movement, following along with the color-coded sheet music.

17:33 Listen to a short excerpt from the fourth movement, with the same color-coded pointers.