EDVARD GRIEG: HUMORESKE

MS 5517
MS Short Title EDVARD GRIEG: HUMORESKE
Text EDVARD GRIEG: HUMORESKE IN C-MAJOR FOR PIANO OP. 6 NO. 3, 2ND VERSION WITH 4 BARS ADDED
Description MS in Norwegian, Italian and English on paper, Bergen, 4th September 1873, 2 pp + 2 blank pp, 35x24 cm, single column (34x22 cm) ruled on 12 staves, notated on systems of 2 staves with the dedication: Humoreske til Hr Professor Anderson i håp om nærmere bekjendtskab i Amerika. Autograph, signed
Context The autograph of the original version is at the National Library in Oslo (Norsk Musikksamling 1553/104). It was first published as one of four Humoresker opus 6 in 1865.
Provenance 1. Professor Rasmus B. Anderson, Wisconsin and his wife (1873) and heirs; 2. Little Norway Folk Art Museum, Nissedahle, Stoughton, Wisconsin (1937 – until the Museum was closed and sold 2013-14). 3. Sotheby's 5.6.2013:412; 4. Musikantiquariat Dr. Ulrich Drüner, Stuttgart, 20.5.2014.
Commentary Anderson was professor of Scandinavian literature at the University of Wisconsin. He travelled to Norway with Ole Bull in 1865 for fundraising to a statue of Leif Eirikson, the discoverer of America. Paul Corneilson (Griegiana, Notes, 2000 pp. 907ff) recounts Anderson's meeting with Grieg in his tiny composer hut at Trollhaugen outside Bergen: "In the course of my chat with Grieg I told him I had often watched Ole Bull when he improvised melodies on the violin and told him that I wondered how Grieg managed to get those melodies and harmonies on paper. He said "I will show you." Getting some music paper and pen and ink, which he placed on a small table in front of the piano, he seated himself at the instrument, assuming a very serious, almost superhuman look, whistled a little, then played what he had whistled and then wrote down what he had played; whistled another phrase, played another phrase, wrote it down, and kept on in this manner until he had filled two pages. These he gave to me as a souvenir of this visit. I asked him to dedicate the music to my wife rather than me, which he did. -" Since this Humoresque was actually published in 1865, most of the composing was actually done then, but Grieg did not repeat exactly his work, but added pedal markings in 23 bars and some dynamic markings, and composed several new bars not included in the original edition or the edition of Grieg's collected works in 1986. The new bars were 19 and 38-40. This second version of the Humoresque in C remains unpublished.
Place of origin Bergen
Dates 4th September 1873