Background Notes

Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No.1: Anitra’s Dance

Musical Forms and Devices: Prepared Work – Area of Study 1

GRIEG: Anitra’s Dance from the Peer Gynt Suite No.1 (Op. 46)
The Composer
• Edvard Grieg – born in Bergen, Norway in June 1843 and died in September 1907.
• A composer from the Romantic era (1810 – 1900) in music and generally considered to be one of
the leading composers of the era.
• Grieg learned the piano from the age of six – his father was a merchant and his mother was a music
teacher.
• He studied at the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany, and in 1861 he made his debut as a concert
pianist at Karlshamn, Sweden.
• Grieg was interested in the characteristics of folk music in Norway and they were his inspirations
for his musical works.
• His output included works for the piano (e.g. Piano Concerto in A minor, Piano Sonata in E minor
and Symphonic Dances – later arranged for orchestra).
• He also composed an album for Male Chorus and sonatas for violin and cello. He composed
incidental music for plays.
• Grieg was influenced by the music traditions of Felix Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcEnSITNaGM

Composition Date: 1875 (Romantic Period)

Peer Gynt is a play in five acts written in verse by the Norweigan playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828 – 1906). The
play was published in 1867 and Grieg composed 26 movements as incidental music for the play. Peer Gynt
(Op. 23) was premiered in 1876 at the Mollergaden Theatre in Oslo. Grieg conducted this performance.
The title character, Peer Gynt, is a charming but lazy peasant youth who leaves his home in order to seek
his fortune. He meets a girl called Anitra in Act IV of the play. She is the daughter of the village leader.
Peer Gynt tries to seduce her but she is too clever and robs him of his money and possessions. You will be
studying the music composed for this section, “Anitra’s Dance”.
Grieg decided to select four of the movements from the whole Peer Gynt work to create Suite No.1 (Op. 46)
in 1888, which contained: Morning Mood, The Death of Ase, Anitra’s Dance and In the Hall of the Mountain
King.
Along with Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 continues to be the most famous works
by this composer. All four movements of Suite No.1 were not in the order of the original work or story.
Grieg also put together another Suite (No. 2) in 1891 with four other movements from the original score.

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Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No.1: Anitra’s Dance

General Information on Anitra’s Dance

Instrumentation: String Orchestra (Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello I, Cello II and Double Bass) and
Triangle.

Tempo: • Tempo di Mazurka/Molto Allegro

• 160 bpm
• Spirited dance (waltz)
• Tempo slows at bar 68-69 (poco rit) and resumes original tempo at bar 70
(a tempo).

Dynamics: • Range from pp (pianissimo – very soft) to f (forte – loud)

• Crescendo (gradual volume increase) and diminuendo (gradual volume
decrease) throughout the piece.

Tonality: Main Key: A minor

Bar 40-46 is in the key of D major (tonic major).

Rhythm and Simple rhythms, including quavers, crotchets and minims - dotted crotchets are
Metre: effectively used in new section.
Triple time (3/4 – 3 crotchet beats in a bar).

Texture: Mainly homophonic: melody and accompaniment.

Imitation is used (e.g. bar 70).

Melody and Conjunct and disjunct movement – well balanced with use of anacrusis.
pitch: Use of trill and mordent (melodic ornaments).
Large range for the main melody (violin I – nearly 3 octaves).

Harmony: Harmony is diatonic (e.g. bar 7) and chromatic in other sections (e.g. bar 15).

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Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No.1: Anitra’s Dance

Structure and Tonality

The key is A minor. Here is the main structure of the piece and featured keys:

Section Bars Number of bars Keys

Introduction 1-6 6 A minor
Section A 7-22 16 A minor – E minor
SECTION A is then repeated (Bars 7 -23)
Section B 24-39 16 E major – A major
Section A1 40-69 30 D major – D minor
(development section) F major – A minor
Section A2 (extended) 70-89 20 A minor
SECTION B and A are then repeated (Bars 24 -90)
Coda (short) 91-93 3 A minor

NB: The overall structure could be analysed as binary or ternary form for a number of musical
reasons, so candidates will not be asked to comment on this in any examination. However,
this structural analysis above clearly shows the individual sections which will feature in
examinations (A, A1 and A2 have been labelled to show differentiation).

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Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No.1: Anitra’s Dance

Musical Analysis
Introduction (bars 1-6)
The time signature of this dance is 3/4 (metre = 3 crotchet beats in a bar). The tonic key of the
movement is A minor, and the upper strings (violins and violas) perform a paused dominant chord of E
major (chord V) to begin the dance. These string parts are played divisi, meaning half of the performers
should play each note. All strings (apart from double basses) are con sordini (muted) and strings are
played arco (with the bow) on the first chord.

The dynamic is very soft (pp – pianissimo), and cellos and basses are tacet (not performing). The
triangle part accompanies with a roll followed by one crotchet beat on the first beat of the next bar.

The accompaniment pattern then begins at bar 3 played by all strings apart from the first violins. All
string instruments use pizzicato (plucking of the strings). The rhythm is very simple, using crotchets and
quavers with the bass note of A clearly heard on the first beat of the bar. The texture of the introduction
is homophonic, and the harmony is diatonic. The introduction uses two chords: the tonic, A minor
(chord i), and the dominant, E major (chord V), on the third beat of each bar. The dominant chords on
the third beats contain added discord notes – 7ths and 9ths. The dynamics are marked p (piano - quiet)
for all instruments – a little louder than the first chord.

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Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No.1: Anitra’s Dance

Section A (bars 7-22/23)

Bars 7-14
The A section begins in A minor and the texture is still homophonic (melody with accompaniment) with
three crotchet beats per bar. The overall tempo is Tempo di Mazurka (160 crotchet beats per minute)
or Molto Allegro. The first violins play the melody arco (bowed). Section A consists of a number of
musical motifs which are used in the whole prepared piece of music.

The first theme heard (theme w) begins with an anacrusis (3rd beat of bar 6 – an upbeat) and features
stepwise (conjunct) movement as well as wider melodic intervals between notes (disjunct movement).
The Violin I part shown above gives some examples of the melodic movement and intervals used (3rd,
4th, 5th and 6th). An upper mordent is used in the first full bar of theme w (a rapid single alternation
between a note and the note above). The violins play some staccato (detached) notes and some slurred
notes (played smoothly) and the dynamic marking is piano. Another ornament used is a trill (a repeated
alternation between two adjacent notes e.g. DEDEDE etc.). The rhythm used in both the melody and
accompaniment is simple and mainly uses minims, crotchets and quavers. The other string instruments
perform an accompaniment in the same style as the introduction (pizzicato), and the triangle plays on
the first crotchet beat of alternate bars.

The harmony in the first four bars of theme w is diatonic (as in the introduction), and the phrase ends
on a perfect cadence in A minor. The second phrase (bars 11-14) is based in A minor and finishes on
a B major chord (chord II). B major is the dominant of E minor and the music is modulating to this key.
The overall harmony is highlighted in the extract above.

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Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No.1: Anitra’s Dance

Bars 15-22/23

The second part of the A section starts with theme x, which is based in B Major played by the first violins
and first cellos (in octaves). The melodic material is generally chromatic, but some clear triads can be
identified (E major in bar 16 and B minor in bar 17). This theme is performed over a repetitive pedal B
note performed by the second violins, second cellos and double basses. The pedal is played on beats
one and three. This melodic transition theme in Violin I and Cello I is bowed while the other strings still
use pizzicato. The music begins pianissimo, becoming gradually louder (crescendo) and then gradually
quieter (diminuendo) whilst the violas highlight the descending chromatic movement (shown below in
semitone steps). The texture is still homophonic (using a melody and accompaniment). This figure ends
on the first beat of bar 19 where the melody instruments – first violins and first cellos – complete their
phrase with another upper mordent ornament.

NB: Middle C for the viola is on the middle line of the stave (alto clef – viola).

Theme w then returns (bar 19) in unison. Violin II and violas play in octaves, joined in bar 21 by the first
violins with a scalic extension of the theme in E minor. The last cadence here is V-I in E minor (perfect
cadence). All stringed instruments are accented in unison (B-E). The dynamic now returns to forte
(f - loud). The melody here is mainly conjunct, monophonic in texture and played pizzicato.

NB: The whole A section is repeated exactly.

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Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No.1: Anitra’s Dance

Section B (bars 24-39)

The first theme heard in Section B (theme y) features a dotted rhythm and a conjunct melody. The
second bar (ascending) is an inversion of the first bar (descending).

The harmony is based in the dominant major (E major). The first two notes are the 7th and 9th intervals
of the scale and the first violins play in 3rds. The second violins perform the simple accompaniment arco
in bars 24-27. The lower strings are still playing pizzicato and the triangle plays a crotchet on the first
beat in every other bar. The texture is homophonic, and the harmony is diatonic.
The next theme presented is theme z, which is a four-note quaver motive first played by the second
violins and violas (pizzicato) and imitated by the first violins and cellos (arco). This is four bars long and
provides us with a diminished chord in the key with some passing notes between (each note in a
diminished chord is made up of minor 3rd intervals, e.g. G#, B, D & F). The rhythms here are made up of
quavers, and the triangle part is silent during this theme. The texture here is monophonic, which is a
contrast to theme y, and with the use of pizzicato this gives a quieter feel. Apart from the double basses,
the descending pattern is played by all of the other instruments.

Following a different descending pattern in the cellos, the music moves to the tonic major in bar 32 (A
major – I7).

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Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No.1: Anitra’s Dance

The previous eight bars are then repeated in this new key firstly with theme y.

Theme z once again is based on a diminished chord, this time using the notes C#, E, G & B♭. Once again,
the ideas heard firstly are played pizzicato by the second violins and violas and imitated arco by the first
violins and cellos.

NB: Remember a diminished chord is made up of minor 3rds.

This material is repeated from the E major section before but now transposed to A major and finishes
with another short descending pattern by the cellos, which takes us to the subdominant major (D
major) in bar 40.

NB: This is a circle of fifths: E major (bar 24) – A major (bar 32) – D major (bar 40).

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Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No.1: Anitra’s Dance

Section A1 (development) (bars 40-69)

This section consists of two 7-bar phrases, followed by two 4-bar phrases.
The melody of this section is theme w, which is played arco by the first violins but now heard in D major,
the subdominant. It begins as before with an upbeat and contains the ornaments as heard in the
original section. The other strings play a simple pizzicato accompaniment as before, using the chords of
D and A.

After a few bars of accompaniment, theme w is heard again at bar 49 but in D minor (subdominant
minor – iv). The melody is again played with arco with pizzicato accompaniment and the dynamic
marking is piano. Again, notice the 7th and 9th notes of the chords here:

From the upbeat to bar 55, this melody and accompaniment is repeated four times in a series of
different keys. Each time theme w is heard, played by the first violins and then imitated a bar later by
the violas. From bars 54-61, the first cellos perform the notes E♭ & F# as long sustained notes. The first
cellos then continue with a slurred two-note pattern for the next eight bars.

In this section the dynamics increase until bar 58 and then decrease to bar 66. At bar 69 the tempo
begins to get a little slower as shown by the marking poco rit.

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Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No.1: Anitra’s Dance

Section A2 (bars 70-89/90)

The A section then returns at the original tempo (a tempo), and the main musical elements are generally
the same. However, this time, the first violins play in octaves and the first cellos imitate theme w one
bar later. All other instruments are playing with pizzicato and the dynamic is piano once again. This
theme is marked dolce, which means it should be played sweetly. The upper mordent and trills are
featured as in the original A section.

The second half of the theme below is now extended to eight bars instead of the original four bars
earlier in the piece. This forms another sequence, with bars 78-81 being a perfect 5th lower than bars
74-77.

Theme x is then heard once again – a perfect 4th higher in pitch than before, and this concludes this
section.

NB: The first Section A finished in E minor (dominant minor – v) but now A2 concludes in the tonic
minor key of A minor (chord i).

NB: The B Section and both A Sections are repeated.

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Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No.1: Anitra’s Dance

Coda (bars 91-93)

Following the repeat of the A section for the final time, the cellos and bass provide an extra dominant
and tonic crotchet beat to end the piece – a perfect cadence. This is followed by the upper strings
playing the chord of A minor (arco and divisi) in the same way the movement began with a triangle roll
but now with the tonic chord as described.

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Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No.1: Anitra’s Dance

Activities
Listen to ‘Edvard Grieg - Peer Gynt - Suite No. 1, Op. 46 - III. Anitra’s Dance’ on YouTube.
For a visual performance check out ‘Edvard Grieg: Anitra’s Dance from Peer Gynt Suite • Volker Hartung,
conductor’ on Youtube.

1. Discuss in a group what you have learnt from the prepared piece that could be useful in your
composing.
2. Rehearse a group performance of ‘Anitra’s Dance’ with some friends. Organise a performance to
the class and talk about the success and challenges it presents in performance.
3. Grieg is perhaps best known for his ‘Piano Concerto in A Minor’. Find out what you can about
this work. Does it have any connection with the prepared set work?

Tasks
1. Here are some other musical works that feature incidental music:
• Henry Purcell: Abdelazer Suite (1695)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Thamos, King of Egypt (1776)
• Felix Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1842)

Listen to these works online and compare the music.

2. Incidental Music can be used in a play, television or radio programme, video game or film. This
music is also featured in Area of Study 3 – have a listen online and describe the timbre, tone
colour and dynamics within this style.

Edvard Grieg An image of the

(Norway) character Peer Gynt

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