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In the Hall of the Mountain King is one of the most recognizable classical songs ever composed. It is part of the Peer Gynt suites composed by Edvard Grieg.
The unmistakable theme has helped In the Hall of the Mountain King attain iconic status in popular culture. The song has been arranged by many artists, including Duke Ellington andThe Who. It has appeared in numerous film and TV productions. See Grieg’s music in popular culture for an extensive listing of where the song has appeared.
Peer Gynt
Edvard Grieg
Peer Gynt, written by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg in 1875, is the incidental music to Henrik Ibsen‘s 1867 play, Peer Gynt. The music premiered along with the play in 1876. The play’s lead character is Peer Gynt, and the story centers around a troll king that Peer Gynt invents in a fantasy.
Edvard Grieg
1843-1907
Edvard Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. Grieg used and developed Norwegian folk music in his compositions, which launched Norway’s music onto the international scene. He also helped develop Norwegian romantic nationalism. Similarly, Sibelius and Dvořák helped develop the national music identities of Finland and Bohemia, respectively.
Grieg traveled widely throughout Europe and is regarded as both nationalistic and cosmopolitan. He felt his music expressed both the beauty of Norwegian rural life and the overall culture of Europe.
Henrik Ibsen
1828-1906
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is referred to as “the father of theatrical realism” and is one of the founders of Modernism in theater. Ibsen was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1902, 1903 and 1904. He wrote his plays inDanish — the common written language of both Denmark and Norway.
Ibsen is often ranked as one of the most distinguished playwrights in the European tradition. He is widely regarded as the most important playwright since Shakespeare. Ibsen is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare. Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, became the world’s most performed play by the early 20th century.
Ibsen influenced other playwrights and leading novelists including: George Bernard Shaw,Oscar Wilde, Arthur Miller, James Joyce, Eugene O’Neill and Miroslav Krleža.
Several of Ibsen’s later dramas were considered scandalous to many folks during his era, when European theater was expected to model strict morals of family life and propriety. Ibsen’s later work examined the realities that lay behind many façades, revealing much that was disquieting to many contemporaries. He utilized a critical eye and free inquiry into the conditions of life and issues of morality. Ibsen’s poetic and cinematic early play, Peer Gynt, has strong surreal elements.
Henrik Ibsen’s Major Works:
- A Doll’s House
- An Enemy of the People
- Brand
- Emperor and Galilean
- Ghosts
- Hedda Gabler
- Peer Gynt
- Rosmersholm
- The Master Builder
- The Wild Duck
In the Hall of the Mountain King — Edvard Grieg — Live Performance
Gary Reiner
Comfortably Numm 
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