Edvard Grieg's music in popular culture

The music of classical composer Edvard Grieg continues to be relevant in popular culture into the 21st century. This is due to his music's fast pace, instrumentation, and similarity in feel to many popular musical genres. This is not a coincidence, since Grieg was known for taking many of his melodies from Norwegian folk music, especially from the western shore area around Bergen. He is quoted as writing, "I am sure my music has the taste of codfish in it." His music's notability in popular culture is evidenced by the vast number of references to his music in music teaching, cartoons, "pop" concerts, and other forms and media. His music is also notable from conferences about his "Diverse Influences on the Music of the Twentieth and Twenty-first centuries."

His music continues to fascinate scholars as well. He has had much influence on high culture and low, including on Percy Grainger, the Australian folk music composer and collector.

One reason his music is so popular today is that:

Grieg ... saw that his music appealed to people beyond his own immediate sphere of activity. Musicians and audiences were enthusiastic in both America and Australia. In the hundred years that have passed since Grieg's death, many of his works have ... in recent years met with a greater interest and it is perhaps a healthy sign that a younger generation of musicians has revitalized the manner of performing Grieg's music - liberating it from some of the hoarier myths.

— Arvid O. Vollnes

Another reason his music is popular is that his is "music that is easy to remember":

In today's pop music world, the word hook refers to the catchy, repeated element in a piece of music.... In classical music, the same concept applies. A hook helps you remember, and identify with, a particular piece of music. The compositions of Mozart ... Grieg, and Schubert have hooks galore - so many hooks, in fact, that several of them have been pilfered for the melodies of today's rock songs.

— "Classical Music for Dummies,"

Music education

Grieg's music remains an important part of music education.

Grieg wanted classical music to be accessible, and by appropriating folk music of his native country, he brought it into the classroom and people's homes. For the 150th anniversary of his birth, Norway organized a huge celebration, "Grieg in the Schools", which included programs for children from pre-school to secondary school in 1993. The programs were repeated in 1996 in Germany, and called "Grieg in der Schule", in which over a thousand students participated. There were Grieg observances in 39 countries, from Mexico to Moscow.

Further celebrations of Grieg and his music were held in 2007, the 100th anniversary of his death. Bosnia and Herzegovina held a large-scale celebration, featuring Peer Gynt and the Piano Concertoon a public concert for children and adults. The July 2007 Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference featured Grieg's works. BBC has had Grieg concerts for the Centennial celebration, which unlike the American audiences for PBS, includes persons who like pop music.

In the United States, his music is often performed for students. The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery in Nebraska presented a chamber music concert that featured one of Grieg's string quartets. Annual conferences are held for continuing education of music teachers and music therapists in the United States.

The New York Times reviewed one of many concerts for young people with Grieg's music, made popular for today's audiences. The reviewer noted, "Kurt Masur has put youth high on his agenda at the New York Philharmonic, and he was conspicuously present at the orchestra's first Young People's Concert at Avery Fisher Hall on Saturday afternoon.... Children and parents came in fair numbers." However, "the enormous grip of popular culture under which such elements are subsumed and it looks like Mr. Masur and the Philharmonic will have the fight of their lives." Masur the teacher-conductor "wisely called for the Grieg themes about to be heard. His delivery was warm, not without humor and occasionally muddled by struggles with the language." He even "stopped in mid-performance to admire Irene Breslaw's viola solo [in Peer Gynt] and to point out its connection to the American hoedown tradition." In conclusion, The Times asserted that "the melodies, already identified by instrument, emerged out of the larger mass and did their work. There is a directness in Grieg's music that travels well across cultural divides."

In Saskatchewan, Canada, there is an officially-sanctioned and standardized lesson plan for music teachers that asks children to examine and discuss Grieg's influences in pop music. The plan states explicitly, "Sometimes classical music influences popular music. For example, the musical Song of Norway was based on the music of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg."

The University of Bergen named its Institute for Music Education (or conservatory), Griegakademiet, in honor of Grieg.

Neopaganism

See also: Paganism

Grieg is alleged to have created the neopagan neologism Asatru in his 1870 opera Olaf Tryggvasson.

References to Grieg's music in popular culture

Peer Gynt

Main article: Peer Gynt (Grieg)

Grieg's most famous piece, the incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt, has made frequent appearances in twentieth-century popular culture. "Peer Gynt" served as a basis for the theme of the Inspector Gadget animated series. Another piece from Peer Gynt, "Anitra's Dance", serves as background music in Quest for Glory IV. The American metal group Kamelot used the melody of "Solveig's Song" in "Forever", from its album Karma. The Norwegian metal group Midnattsol also used Solveig's Song in their song "Tapt Av Håp", as did the Faroese metal group Týr in their song "Valkyrjan". A 1993 Soyuzmultfilm short cartoon "Dwarves and the Mountain King" (rus. Гномы и Горный Король, directed by Innessa Kovalevskaya) is completely based on Grieg's music, primarily on Peer Gynt themes.[1]

Morning Mood

Main article: Morning Mood

Morning Mood was a favorite of Carl Stalling who often used it for morning establishing shots in Warner Bros. cartoons. It is now typically associated with Nordic scenes; however, it was meant to depict sunrise over the Sahara Desert. Amazon.com sells a compilation CD of Cartoon music, Cartoons Greatest Hits, Various Artists, which includes Stalling's version of Morning Mood by Grieg.

Morning Mood is also used in Katsuhiro Otomo's animated short film Construction Cancellation Order, a segment of the 1987 anime anthology film Neo Tokyo (aka Mani Mani Labyrinth Tales). The film derives a great deal of dark humor from the dissonance between the pastoral splendor of Morning Mood and the mechanized chaos and destruction that takes place in the film.

It can also be heard in two episodes of Phineas and Ferb.

Morning Mood was also used in a television commercial for Hardee's/Carl's Jr. in the late 90s and early 2000s.

It was used at the beginning of the theatrical trailer to Monsters vs. Aliens

It also features in the opening of the computergame Peggle.

It was also played in the Family Guy episode The Man with Two Brians

It was also played in the Beavis and Butt-head episode : Beavis and Butt-head are dead

The composition features in the The Simpsons episode Bart Carny. Also the standard morning melody in the series clearly resembles Morning Mood.

In The Big Bang Theory Season 3 Episode 15, Sheldon tries to persuade Leonard to take him to Switzerland by making him breakfast and serving in bed. Before he serves Leonard the breakfast, he plays the song with a recorder.

In the Hall of the Mountain King

Main article: In the Hall of the Mountain King

Music covers

The British instrumental band Sounds Incorporated released a rock arrangement of the piece as "Hall of the Mountain King" in 1965.

British rock band The Who recorded another performance of "Hall of the Mountain King" in 1967. This version went unreleased until 1995, when it appeared as a bonus track on a CD reissue of The Who Sell Out. Tucson Weekly has called this cover a "Who-freakout arraingment" One reviewer calls The Who's version the "weirdest of these" covers on the CD, and claims it is "a rendition of the corresponding extract from Grieg's Peer Gynt suite ... [yet] it hardly sounds like Grieg here, anyway..." Another claims that "the main function of the composition is to evoke thoughts of (naturally) King Crimson and (unnaturally) Pink Floyd, because in parts it sounds exactly like 'Interstellar Overdrive'.

The Michigan-based band SRC recorded a cover of In the Hall of the Mountain King on their 1969 album Milestones.

The phrase "the hall of the mountain king" appears in "Spill The Wine" by Eric Burdon and War. "Spill The Wine" peaked at #3 on the Hot 100 on 22 August 1970.

The Italian progressive rock band Buon Vecchio Charlie incorporated In the Hall of the Mountain King in the track "Venite giù al fiume" on their only album, recorded in 1971.

The British Band Apollo 100 used In the Hall of the Mountain King as inspiration for their version "Mad Mountain King" on their 1972 album Joy.

Electric Light Orchestra made a version on their 1973 album On the Third Day.

Progressive rock band Egg used the melody in their "Symphony No. 2" on their 1970 debut album.

Progressive rock keyboardist Rick Wakeman introduced the piece in a part of his album Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1974).

A fragment of the tune was used in "Enter the Exterminator" on the album Nail (1985) by Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel.

The British band Erasure covered the piece In the Hall of the mountain King in their second album The Circus (1987).

PIG used a fragment of this piece in the song "Find It, Fuck It, Forget It" off 1993's The Swining.

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is, to this day, the only band to perform In the Hall of the Mountain King as a song (Stranger in Us All album, 1994), with Peer Gynt-inspired English lyrics written by Candice Night.

A version of In the Hall of the Mountain King also appears on the 2000 album Cult by Finnish cello metal band Apocalyptica.

NWOBHM band Witchfynde utilizes a riff based on In the Hall of the Mountain King around the beginning of "Cry Wolf" from their 1983 album Cloak and Dagger.

Slayer's "Raining Blood" sounds similar to In the Hall of the Mountain King.

The progressive metal group Savatage includes an instrumental piece called "Prelude To Madness" on the Hall of the Mountain King album that is based on themes of this piece.

Dutch symphonic metal band Epica covered the song on their live album The Classical Conspiracy.

The song was used in German Eurodance duo Captain Jack's song "Dream A Dream" from their 1999 album The Captain's Revenge.

On the Trans Siberian Orchestra's album "Night Castle," the riff is used in the song "The Mountain."

Heavy metal guitarist Wolf Hoffmann covered the piece many times in live performances with his band Accept, including their live album Staying a Life (Track: "Guitar Solo Wolf" ) and also as a studio version on his solo album Classical.

German heavy metal band Helloween covers the theme in the interlude of their song Gorgar in their Walls of Jericho

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross in the original soundtrack for the 2010 film The Social Network

Film and TV:

This well-known piece has seen extensive use in movies and commercials, usually in accordance with a dramatic and fantastic or ominous event.

In the Hall of the Mountain King was famously used in the 1931 film M, in which Peter Lorre's character whistles it. As of February 2008, it may be viewed and heard on YouTube.

The Song also was used in the opening promo for WWE's Vengeance 2001

The song also appears during the teaser trailer of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Beetlejuice, Funny Games, Bride Wars, Rat Race, Friday After Next and Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian.

The song is the theme music for Dr. Ivo Robotnik in the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.

The semi-fictional characters Tristan Farnon and James Herriot in the BBC televised series All Creatures Great and Small perform the piece drunkenly with their dates at a pub.

It is also played over the end credits of the Woody Allen film Scoop.

A young boy is seen playing In the Hall of The Mountain King as a piano practice piece in an episode of Mad Men entitled "The Mountain King".

In the final episode of Beavis and Butthead, In the Hall of the Mountain King is being played when Principal McVicker has flashbacks to their antics.

In the Courage the Cowardly Dog episode, "Farmer-Hunter, Farmer Hunted", the song can be heard several times.

In the Hall of the Mountain King is also featured in the intro of the television series The Dudesons.

The vampires in The Lost Boys: The Tribe whistle the tune to this song.

Lamberto Bava's 1985 horror film Dèmoni (aka Demons) includes a title theme by Claudio Simonetti that incorporates the melody of In the Hall of the Mountain King.

In the Hall of the Mountain King and Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee are used in the theme songs and throughout the animated series Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Fragments of the piece are heard in the BBC Oscar-winning documentary Man on Wire in a re-enactment where Philippe Petit and an accomplice herd the infamous tightrope wire up the stairs, past a guard on duty. Thought not played in full, the song is listed in the film's musical credits.

It was used as the three brothers theme on the Garfield and friends spin-off Orson's Farm.

It is played when the antiestablishment Mozzie enters the FBI offices in USA Network's White Collar (season 2, episode 4, 2010).

In Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers Pete's song "Petey's King of France" is sung to the tune of this song.

Video games:

In the Hall Of the Mountain King was a main part of the 1983 Atari 2600 game Mountain King; the song would grow louder as you search for a certain item.

In the Hall of the Mountain King was also featured in the 1995 video game Return Fire, in which the piece would play as the background music when the player used the Armored Support Vehicle.

1983 ZX Spectrum computer game Manic Miner uses In the Hall of the Mountain King as in-game music.

In Porky Pig's Haunted Holiday, a game released for the Super Nintendo, part of In the Hall of the Mountain King is used in the music to the Abandoned Mines level.

In the game 10 Pin: Champions Alley, a more upbeat version of In the Hall of the Mountain King is used one one of the levels.

Advertisement:

Burger King used parts of In the Hall of the Mountain King piece sped up for a few of their commercials involving their mascot.

The UK theme park Alton Towers used In the Hall of the Mountain King in many of its advertisements.

In the mid 1990s, a commercial for the animated series "The Adventures of Batman and Robin" provided Batman-themed lyrics to "In the Hall of the Mountain King."

In the late 1990s and early 2000s Nabisco, an American baked snacks company, featured In the Hall of the Mountain King on many of their commercials.

Norwegian Dances

The Norwegian Dance No. 2 (Op.35) was used as the signature tune for the second series of The Adventure Game

Piano Sonata

The motion picture The First Legion used Grieg's Piano Sonata in E minor as a way to introduce a Jesuit priest's prayer. The priest, Father Fulton, plays the sonata as a way of connecting himself to the other Jesuits, when "forced to revise their standards of belief after experiencing first a makeshift and later a 'real' miracle."

Brothers, Sing on!

The folk song "Brothers, Sing On!" ( EG 170 - in the original Norwegian "Sangerhilsen") was written by Grieg with lyrics by Sigv. Skavlan, with English language lyrics by Herbert Dalmas and/or Howard McKinney. It is a popular piece for glee clubs' repertoire, often as the opening number. The Mohawk-Hudson Male Chorus Association (MHMCA) presented a massed concert, with 90 male singers, at the historic Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on May 3, 2008, entitled "Brothers, Sing On!", with the titular song, which was also adopted as the organization's theme song in 1974. They had previously performed the same song in the same venue in 2002.

The University of Northern Iowa has gone so far as to name its web site and to start every concert with this song:

What if all men, everywhere in the world, could get together and sing? If there was just one song that could be sung, in a true spirit of peace and brotherhood, "Brothers, Sing On!" by Edvard Grieg would be it. "Brothers, Sing On!" is the timeless gem in many men’s choral repertoire. It has been called the ‘international anthem’ of men’s choral singing. For nearly 50 years, "Brothers, Sing On!" has been the mainstay of our Glee Club’s repertoire. We have sung it from the top of Mount Vesuvius; a glacier in the Tyrolean Alps; the ancient castles and underground slate mines of Wales; the deck of a ship on the tossing Irish Sea; the Coliseum in Rome, and a great many places in between. We salute the many excellent men’s choirs throughout the world, especially the collegiate men’s glee clubs, those ‘wandering troubadours’ whom we hope will inspire future generations of singers.

— From the Brothers, Sing On! web site.

Other pieces

The musical Song of Norway, based very loosely on Grieg's life and using his music, was created in 1944 by Robert Wright and George Forrest and a film version was released in 1970. The 1957 movie musical The Pied Piper of Hamelin uses Grieg's music almost exclusively, with In the Hall of the Mountain King being the melody that the Piper (Van Johnson) plays to rid the town of rats.

The first movement of Grieg's Piano Concerto is used in Adrian Lyne's 1997 film Lolita. The popular British comedy duo Morecambe and Wise featured the Piano Concerto in a famous sketch involving Andre Previn. It also can be heard extensively on Rick Wakeman's (keyboardist with British rock group Yes) album Journey to the Centre of the Earth. The Simpsons used this piece as well.

See also

• Ásatrú
• Christian Wicca
• Finnish Paganism
• Germanic neopaganism
• List of compositions by Edvard Grieg
• Neo-Medieval