"Use your God-given gifts to serve others." 1 Peter 4: 10
Edvard Hagerup Grieg 15 June 1843 – 4 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. The music he wrote was classical and is classed as one of the ‘Romantic Era’ composers.
He came from a very musical family – his mum was his first music teacher. They supported him when he said he wanted to be a musician and when he was a teenager, Edvard was sent to study at the best music conservatory in Europe -- in Leipzig, Germany.
He was a pianist and gave concert all over Europe. In the summer, he would go back to his home country of Norway and compose.
Grieg had an active career as a pianist, giving concerts all over Europe. But every summer, he came back to Norway to compose.
He became a great champion of Norwegian music, art and theatre, which is why the great Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen asked Grieg to write music for his play Peer Gynt.
The piece ‘Morning Mood’ is taken from this. It is a very famous piece of classical music. When you listen to it, you can think of a new day starting and how you want to start afresh and make it the best day you can.
Another movement (this just means a section of the music) is called ‘In the hall of the mountain king’. You may recognise it as it appears in Trolls, Minecraft trailers and the adverts for Alton Towers!