Grieg's music in popular culture

The music of the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg has been used extensively in media, music education, and popular music.

Music education

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.[1]

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 Concerto in a public concert for children and adults.[2][3] The July 2007 Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference featured Grieg's works.[4]

The Bergen University College, and later, the University of Bergen both named their tertiary music departments "Griegakademiet", in honor of Grieg.[5]

Peer Gynt
Main article: Peer Gynt (Grieg)

In 1960 Duke Ellington recorded a jazz interpretation of "Peer Gynt" in his Swinging Suites by Edward E. and Edward G. album. A struggle ensued in Norway between the Grieg Foundation and its supporters, who found the recordings offensive to Norwegian culture, and Norwegian supporters of Ellington. Ellington's versions were withdrawn from distribution in the country until 1967, when Grieg's copyrights expired.[6]

"In the Hall of the Mountain King"
Main article: In the Hall of the Mountain King
Music

Possibly, the first jazz rendition of "In the hall of the mountain king" was made by Alvino Rey (and His Orchestra) in 1941. Rey recorded also a version of "Anitra's Dance". American Bass Trombonist George Roberts recorded a jazz rendition of the song, playing the melody on his bass trombone. It appeared in his 1959 album "Meet Mr. Roberts" as the first song, entitled "In The Hall of the Mountain King".[7]

Nero & the Gladiators had a No. 48 hit on the British charts in 1961.[8]

A heavy rock version of the song appears on the album "Big Brother & the Holding Company: Live in San Francisco 1966" by the American rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company, although it was actually recorded at television station KQED in San Francisco on April 25, 1967.[9]

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.[10][11][12] Tucson Weekly has called this cover a "Who-freakout arrangement"[13] One reviewer calls The Who's version the "weirdest of these" covers on the CD, and says it is "a rendition of the corresponding extract from Grieg's Peer Gynt suite ... [yet] it hardly sounds like Grieg here, anyway..." Another says 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'."[14]

Electric Light Orchestra recorded a 6:37 long version of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" in 1973 as the concluding selection of their album On the Third Day and performed it with Great Balls of Fire in 1974 for their live album The Night the Light Went On in Long Beach.

Rick Wakeman's symphonic rock poem Journey to the Centre of the Earth, 1974, features the Hall of the Mountain King theme, near the end of the piece.

Early environmentalists - The Wombles, produced their own lively version; 'Hall of the Mountain Womble' on their third album 'Keep On Wombling' . The album spent six weeks in the UK album charts, peaking at number 17.

Progressive metal band Savatage's song "Prelude to Madness" is an arrangement of Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King". It is included on their 1985 album Hall of the Mountain King which also includes a song of the same name which, however, is an original composition.[15]

The music of Foetus's song "Enter the Exterminator" from his 1985 album Nail is based on Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King".[16]

Dutch produces Patrick van Kerckhoven released a single, "Ruffneck rules da artcore scene!!!" in 1996, borrowing the melody of In the Hall of the Mountain King, which reached eight in the Dutch top 40.

German Eurodance group Captain Jack's 1999 track "Dream a Dream" quotes from the motif of "In the Hall of the Mountain King". It was included in the 2000 arcade game Dance Dance Revolution 4thMix.

Finish symphonic metal band Apocalyptica covered "In the Hall of the Mountain King" in their 2000 album Cult.

Dutch symphonic metal band Epica performed a rendition of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" with the Extended Reményi Ede Chamber Orchestra at the Miskolc Opera Festival for their 2009 live album The Classical Conspiracy.[17]

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross included an electronic version of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" in their score to the 2010 film The Social Network, accompanying a scene where the Winklevoss twins compete in a crew match.

British rock band Marillion included the main melody of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" in a live version of "Margaret" found on the b-side of the Garden Party single, and also on the b-sides compilation album B'Sides Themselves. The song was recorded at Edinburgh Playhouse, April 7, 1983. [18]

K-Pop band SF9 include the main melody of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" in their song "Jungle Game" from the album "Burning Sensation".[19]

Power metal/Progressive metal band Kamelot based a song called 'Forever' on the melody of Solveigs' Song. This is also mentioned by their now previous singer Roy Khan, who is also Norwegian, on their live DVD 'One Cold Winters Night' [20]

In late October 2017, Black MIDI creator "Sir Spork" created a Black MIDI rendition of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" containing 2.9 Million notes and amassing over 31 million views on YouTube [21]

Jpop duo W uses the main melody of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" during the verses and musical interlude of their song "Choi Waru Devil", the lead track from their 2019 EP of the same name.[22]

Slot game provider Quickspin has a game called "Hall of the Mountain King" that is entirely based on the piece "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and where the melody of the same tune is used throughout the game. Also arrangements of "Aase's Death" and "Solveigs Song" can be heard on the opening screen and in win celebrations respectively.[23]

EDM artist Timmy Trumpet and Vitas collaborated in 2020 for "The King"

Film and TV

D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915) used the song to build up to the Union attack on Atlanta. The song had by that time already been used in film scores, whether for Ibsen's play or other works; yet the popularity of Griffith's film helped to establish it in American popular imagination.[24][25]

"In the Hall of the Mountain King" plays a major plot point in Fritz Lang's early sound film M. Peter Lorre's character of child killer Hans Beckert whistles the tune whenever he is overcome with the urge to commit murder. However, Lorre himself could not whistle – it is actually Lang who is heard.[26] The film was one of the first to use a leitmotif, associating "In the Hall of the Mountain King" with the Lorre character. Later in the film, the mere sound of the song lets the audience know that he is nearby, off-screen. This association of a musical theme with a particular character or situation, a technique borrowed from opera, became a staple in film.[24][27]

In the 1993 film Needful Things, based on the novel by Stephen King, the song is used when Nettie Cobb (Amanda Plummer) breaks into the home of Danforth Keeton (J.T. Walsh) to plant a phony letter accusing him of embezzlement.

In the 1993 animated series Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is sampled as part of the show's opening theme alongside "Flight of the Bumblebee" and the theme from the original Sonic the Hedgehog video game. The tune also serves as a leitmotif for antagonists Scratch and Grounder.

A trap version of the song, titled "Hair Up" is featured in the film Trolls.

"Knight of Cups" uses "Solveig's Song" and "Death of Aase" on multiple occasions.

In the cartoon Trollhunters by Guillermo Del Toro on Netflix the tune is associated with the villainous Zelda Nomura, playing during fight scenes between her and the hero, and others scenes in the land of darkness. She claims in a second-season episode (the fourth) that it has been her favorite song since she attended the premier of Peer Gynt.

Season 2 Episode 12 of the American television series Mad Men is titled The Mountain King. A young boy haltingly plays the piece on the piano as Don Draper watches, and Don comments, "It's scary." The song sets a mood of fear and trouble to the episode, which involved Don disappearing from his job and wandering in the strange land of Southern California in 1962.

Video games

A few bars of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" are played when entering the final cave in the 1982 video game Dragonstomper.

The running music for the seminal ZX Spectrum game Manic Miner.

The first level of the 1983 video game Manic Miner (Central Cavern) uses the song as background music.

The 1983 video game Mountain King uses the theme as background music throughout.

Anitra's Dance is featured in Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness released in 1993.

The 2011 video game Pump It Up Fiesta EX contains an arrangement by BanYa Production titled The Devil.

It is later given an 8-bit remix with Beethoven's 9th Symphony, the fourth movement in particular, in Just Dance 2018. with the title In the Hall of the Pixel King. It was supposed to be in its predecessor, Just Dance 2017, but was scrapped for unknown reasons.

This song is used as the opening music for the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A version of Hunt the Wumpus.

Solveig's Song from Peer Gynt (Grieg) is used as the melodic basis for a track in Vandal Hearts 2.

In the final challenge of the 2016 video game The Witness, "Anitra's Dance" and "In the Hall of the Mountain King" were used as auditory cues to indicate the amount of time the player has left to solve a series of timed puzzles.[28]

The game Forza Horizon 4 the song appears on the classic music channel on the radio

Theme and Amusement parks

The British theme park Alton Towers have repeatedly used the theme in the hall of the mountain king since 1994 with the opening of nemesis as a central musical identity to the park. The main theme is present in nearly all of the parks music and is often the most common association of the theme.

"Morning"
Main article: Morning Mood

Jay and the Americans recorded a rock and roll cover song known as Dawning, in 1962. "Morning" was later used in the 1973 film Soylent Green as the music selected by Edward G. Robinson's character to listen to as he lay dying.

In 1998, The Simpsons episode "Bart Carny" paid homage to its use in older cartoons in a sequence where a cheeseburger unwraps in the early sunlight.[29] Later in the same year, German musical project In-Mood feat. Juliette sampled the theme for their song "Ocean of Light."[30][31]

It is also used as the opening theme music in PopCap Games' video game Peggle, accompanying the animation of a rising sun.

The song plays in an episode of Pop Team Epic when Popuko wakes up. However, upon seeing it is still nighttime, she beats up the song caption.

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."[32]

"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.[33][34] 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.[35] They had previously performed the same song in the same venue in 2002.[36]

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.

— the Brothers, Sing On! web site, [33]

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 made-for-TV 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.

Eric Morecambe famously played "all the right notes, just not necessarily in the right order" of Grieg's Piano Concerto in a sketch on the 1971 Morecambe and Wise Christmas special that featured Andre Previn. The opening theme of the first movement of Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor was used by Jimmy Wisner, recording under the name "Kokomo", in the song "Asia Minor", a top-ten pop hit in the U.S. in 1961.

Spiritualist Rosemary Brown claimed that the deceased Grieg had dictated a musical composition to her.

See also

References
  1. MNC Web Site, Edvard Grieg Remembered
  2. Grieg07 - English - Home
  3. Norveska Official web site for Bosnia-Herzegovina
  4. Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference web site
  5. "Griegakademiets historie". Griegakademiet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 26 July 2010.
  6. Cooke, Mervyn and David Horn (2003) The Cambridge Companion to Jazz
  7. "George Roberts – Meet Mr. Roberts – George Roberts And His Big Bass Trombone (Vinyl, LP, Album) at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  8. Brown, Tony, Jon Kutner & Neil Warwick, The Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles and Albums, Omnibus Press, London, 2002, p. 712
  9. AllMusic Review by Richie Unterberger
  10. The Who dot Net web site Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
  11. 200th Anniversary celebration of Grieg
  12. NNdB web site
  13. Tucson Weekly
  14. Only Solitaire
  15. Phillips, Fred (28 September 2015). "Savatage, "Prelude to Madness / Hall of the Mountain King" (1987): One Track Mind". Something Else! Reviews. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  16. Duxbury, Janell R. (2000). "Rockin' the Classics and Classicizin' the Rock: A Selectively Annotated Discography: Second Supplement". ISBN 9781462807369. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  17. "Epica To Release 'The Classical Conspiracy' Double Live Album". Blabbermouth.net. Roadrunner Records. 12 March 2009. Archived from the original on 6 April 2009. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
  18. Duxbury, Janell R. (5 February 2001). Rockin' the Classics and Classicizin' the Rock: A Selectively Annotated Discography: Second Supplement. Xlibris. p. 144. ISBN 9781462807369. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  19. Share+Music (2017-02-05), SF9 (에스에프나인) - Jungle Game, retrieved 2017-04-27
  20. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqqPYySZnVY
  21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_c6uQHlhZ0
  22. "W-ChoiWaruDevil - video dailymotion". Dailymotion. Retrieved 2019-04-08.
  23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRF1vurhNPs
  24. Powrie, Phil and Robynn Jeananne Stilwell (2006) Changing Tunes: The Use of Pre-existing Music in Film
  25. Barbara Saltzman, "Griffith's 'Birth of a Nation' Reborn on Lumivision Disc," Los Angeles Times, June 21, 1991. Found at LA Times archives. Accessed May 23, 2011.
  26. Falkenberg, Paul (2004). "Classroom Tapes — M". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
  27. Costantini, Gustavo. "Leitmotif revisited". Filmsound. Retrieved 2006-05-10.
  28. "Wrestling With The Witness' Most Difficult, Divisive Puzzle". Kotaku Australia. 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  29. "The Simpsons (Classic): "Bart Carny"". avclub.com. Retrieved 20 Sep 2015.
  30. "In-Mood; Juliette - Musik / Poplexikon.de". SWR 3 (in German). August 7, 2007. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  31. "In-Mood feat. Juliette - Ocean Of Light". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  32. Lutz Koepnick, The Dark Mirror: German Cinema between Hitler and Hollywood, Weimar and Now: German Cultural Criticism, 32, found at U.C. Press web site.
  33. University of Northern Iowa Varsity Men’s Glee Club (Brothers Sing On!) official web site. Accessed May 5, 2008.
  34. Choralnet ideas web site. Accessed May 5, 2008.
  35. "In 1974 'Brothers, Sing On!,' by Edvard Grieg, was adopted as the organization's theme song." See Conductor's Club web site. Accessed May 5, 2008.
  36. BH Singing web site Archived 2009-04-15 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed May 5, 2008.
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