Staying on the theme of Spring (we’ll be here for a while) …

I don’t need to tell you that Spring is more than just a change of season – it’s a rebirth after death, warmth after cold, light after darkness.

It can also be so much more complex than that. Edvard Grieg‘s work, “Last Spring”, was inspired by the poetry of Aasmund Olavsson Vinje. The title sounds like the work will be a nostalgic daydream … however, the word “last” in this case refers not to the previous year, but the sense that this will be the poet’s final spring on earth. Bittersweet indeed.

Like many of Grieg’s most famous works, it was originally written for piano, and later arranged it for orchestra (in this case, just strings) by the composer.

… And if you don’t know how, Anitra will be happy to teach you.

Anitra is a character in the Norwegian play Peer Gynt, written by Henrik Isben. The play is a satire of Norway and Norwegians, their peculiarities, their mythology, and their humor (if you can call it that.) Isben asked Norway’s composer poster-child, Edvard Grieg, to write music for the play. Later, Grieg created two suites using music he wrote for the play, which have become orchestral favorites the world around. Not too shabby for a country of fishermen, whose total population today is less than 6 million.