Talk:Lyric Pieces

Piece Listing

I have added a list of all the pieces, but my (Schirmer) edition from which I got them only has the English titles. If someone has an edition with Norwegian titles, they are welcome to add them in as well. Adso de Fimnu 18:48, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

I've now put in original publication titles, which are in a mixture of Norwegian and German, taken from the Grove's Dictionary listing of Grieg's complete works. Since the collections of pieces were mostly published in Leipzig, I couldn't say why some have German titles and others have Norwegian titles. It tends to be the same across a given volume, though (along with a handful of foreign—French and Italian—titles).BluesEtude (talk) 01:25, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

I've edited both the listing and the dates according to the new Thematic Bibliographical Worklist published in 2008. (195.0.208.178 (talk) 15:04, 10 September 2009 (UTC))

I have no idea what the "official" English names of Op. 38 No. 5, and Op. 47 No. 6, might be, and so decline to change them myself; but rendering them as "Spring dance" seems very confusing. The name has nothing to do with the season "spring", but indicates a leaping (or perhaps "jumping") dance. This appears to be the same sort of problem as mentioned below, concerning Op 62 nr 5, but here the mistranslation is from German to English rather than from Norwegian to German. (If Grove also gives Spring dance, might it be useful to add a brief explanatory footnote to these?) Milkunderwood (talk) 23:59, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

Done: I have now added the following footnote to both Lyric Pieces and List of compositions by Edvard Grieg:

Although Spring Dance is the traditional translation of the Norwegian Springdans, the word refers to its sense in English of "leap" or "jump" rather than to the season "spring". The booklet notes to Grieg: Complete Works for Piano Solo; Gerhard Oppitz, Piano (RCA Victor Red Seal 09026-61569-2, (c) & (P) 1993) [1] use the less ambiguous translation "Leaping Dance".

Milkunderwood (talk) 20:16, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

Again, a quote from the review posted at ArkivMusic (see link in preceding paragraph) for the Oppitz set:

"The Folkdances include five "Cradle Songs", but the rest are mostly "dancelike" although the two longest "It Happened in My Youth" and "I Wander Deep in Thought" seem less terpsichorean than the others. The Peasant Dances, on the other hand are mostly Hallings, Gangers and Leaping Dances with a few Bridal Marches thrown in."

-- Gregory W. Stouffer, MusicWeb International, reviewing Gerhard Oppitz's complete box set of Grieg piano music, RCA 82876.

Milkunderwood (talk) 22:43, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

Actually I have another question, with Op. 43 No. 2: "Ensom vandrer" appears to translate directly to "Einsamer Wanderer" as I find in a Gerhard Oppitz recording; but then this disc further translates to "Lonely Wanderer", whereas here I find "(Solitary traveller)". So two questions arise. First, there's a big difference between "alone" or "solitary", as opposed to feeling "lonely". Second, "traveller" implies a destination, where "wanderer" implies no particular destination. So assuming the German is a faithful rendering of the original Norwegian, how might these two words best be translated into English? My inclination would be to use Lone Wanderer, but as far as I can find, German doesn't seem to really distinguish between being alone and being lonely, using einsam for both. Milkunderwood (talk) 00:50, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

From Brockhaus [2], 1954: "einſam, allein, von allen Lebeweſen (oder doch ſeinen Artgenoſſen) verlaſſen: ich lebe e.; wir zwei leben hier e.; ein einſamer Ort; unter den Zebras weidete ein einſames Gnu. HPTW.: die Einſamkeit, -, Einſchicht M."

(I'm not sure what all that means, but I'm not picking up a sense of loneliness. FWIW, I'm interested in this question for the purpose of my own cataloging, rather than for suggesting any change to any WP article. Also, I thought it's interesting that Brockhaus 1954 uses Roman rather than Fraktur, and also avoids the use of the ß character, but still uses a "long s" ſ.) Milkunderwood (talk) 21:57, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

German speaker: I hope I have enough of English little differences, let's see. "Allein" vs "Einsam" - allein is more factual, einsam says also that I don't enjoy alleinsein, looks to me like alone - lonely is similar. (But in poetry "allein" is often enough to hint at "einsam".) I would prefer "Lonely Wanderer". Can you explain solitary in that context? I imagine a traveller to move faster? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 23:10, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for your quick response. In English, the distinction is between being "alone", "allein", such as "wir zwei leben hier einsam", as opposed to "I feel lonely - wir zwei leben hier einsam, aber my wife/husband/roommate doesn't like me and won't talk to me or be friendly with me." So for this traveller or wanderer, is he happy and contented being by himself, or is he wishing for company, a companionable companion? Milkunderwood (talk) 23:25, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

So one would say, "Ich [enjoy] allein zu sein, aber ich [enjoy] nicht einsam zu sein"? (My German is seriously lacking.) I did not pick up that distinction from Brockhaus. Milkunderwood (talk) 23:40, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

Well, not quite. Firstly, it's normally one who is allein or einsam. (There is even the derived word of Zweisamkeit for two who like being together.) Two allein is something like separated from the rest of the world. "Ich leb allein" in Mahler's Rückert-Lieder is utmost contentment with that situation ("allein" ambiguous, also meaning "only" at the same time), could not be replaced by "einsam", but normally "allein" doesn't carry a connotation of feeling, just states a fact. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:51, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

If I may jump back a bit, New Grove does not offer English versions of the titles of these pieces, for what it is worth. However, since Grieg studied in Leipzig and the pieces were published there, why should we assume that the Norwegian language should take priority over German? Composers do not always choose to title their works in their first language, especially if it is not widely understood outside the borders of one comparatively sparsely populated country. Next, I find it extremely amusing that we see here the juxtaposition of two cases, in opposite directions, of a single term in one language that has two senses which, in another language, requires two separate words to express. Namely, English "spring" (in German "Frühling" or "Spring"), compared with German "einsam" (in English "solitary" or "lonely"). Such cases are fairly common, of course, and it is well to beware of such things when attempting translation. Poetry and humour often exploit such ambiguities, and may prove impossible to translate when the target language lacks the ambiguity of the original. In the present case, there seems little or no difficulty with the relation between the (original?) German and (supposed?) Norwegian versions—though I am obliged to admit to a lack of experience with the latter language (or two languages, if I understand the Norwegian situation correctly).—Jerome Kohl (talk) 05:53, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

That's an interesting point that hadn't occurred to me in those terms. Does New Grove use Norwegian or German titles, then, or some mixture of the two? Next, regardless of how the works came from the Leipzig printer, since Grieg conceived much of his output on the basis of folk music primarily from the general area of Bergen, as I understand it, he more than likely originally thought in terms of Norwegian titles, and either provided German equivalents to his publisher or left translations up to to them.

The situation with Springdans seems pretty clearcut, and I have already appended an explanatory footnote wherever I've found Spring Dance.

But I'm still puzzled (really just for my own curiosity) about Ensom vandrer or Einsam Wanderer. What picture does this title conjure up for you? We know that this person is alone, and is "on the road" so to speak. Presumably he's not hurrying from one place to a specific destination. He may indeed have a final destination in mind, but being a "wanderer", I think he's taking his time, perhaps investigating byways. A "traveler" on the other hand may also be taking his time, but this term in English implies to me that he is "traveling" to a specific destination, with less interest in side diversions and ruminations. So do you see this person as being merely allein, and contented to be so in his wanderings; or as I think Gerda was trying to say, is he wishing for companionship? In other words, do you interpret him as being lonely? I guess what's hanging me up here is that I don't see any suggestion at all from Brockhaus indicating loneliness, but merely the state of being allein, even when wir zwei leben hier einsam - d.h., nur ohne anders. Milkunderwood (talk) 09:48, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

My two cents - he's both. He's wandering the road alone, by himself, but also lonely. I'd used lonely/einsam here. PumpkinSky talk 22:34, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

(Edit conflict) For these pieces, at least, New Grove gives the original German titles, and does not offer translations into Norwegian, English, Arabic, or any other language. Standard practice in such matters (today) is not to speculate on what may or may not have been in the composer's mind. There are of course certain dissenting nationalist points of view, which in some cases have created absurd never-never versions even of composers' names (see, for example, the discussion at Talk:Johann Baptist Vanhal, and footnote 1 in the associated article, mentioning the wholly fabricated form of the composer's name, "Jan Křtitel Vaňhal"). If Grieg did not actually publish these pieces with Norwegian titles, we cannot be sure how he might have spelled them or in which of several dialects he might have been thinking, let alone whether today we should follow the orthography of Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Riksmål, or Høgnorsk. And let us not even think of getting bogged down in the question of whether Norwegian might be only a dialect of Danish! As to your other question, I have already declared myself a Norwegian-free zone, but the German Einsam Wanderer, as Gerda Arendt has already explained, has a little of the English sense of "lonely" in it (though I must point out that the English word has four different current senses, as listed in the OED: (1) unaccompanied, solitary, lone; (2) Of things: Isolated, standing apart; (3) Of localities: Unfrequented by men; desolate; (4) Dejected because of want of company or society; sad at the thought that one is alone; having a feeling of solitariness), as well as the more clinical "alone" (though even here, the OED lists nine senses, apart from combining forms). The German verb "wandern", on the other hand, indeed does not suggest a strong goal-directed sense of traveling, which would be better expressed by fahren or reisen. A Wanderer is a traveller more in the sense of a hiker or walker (or in British English, a "rambler"), who may or may not have a particular destination in mind.—Jerome Kohl (talk) 23:05, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

:-) Tusen takk to everyone - a thoroughly fascinating discussion, if a bit off-topic! Milkunderwood (talk) 23:45, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

Jerome, it suddenly occurs to me that OED is arranged historically by earliest usage rather than by most common current usage - so really their first three definitions have largely fallen into disuse, and it's their 4th definition that will be understood. But then on the other hand we're also talking about 19th C usage in German (or Norwegian); and Gerda has hinted that poetic usage of these terms may differ in connotation from their present everyday use. Milkunderwood (talk) 02:40, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

It is a mistaken assumption that the earliest use will be the first to fall out of fashion ("first in, first out", or FIFO, may be the preferred method for grocery-store stocking, but is not the way language works). In the present case, the only sense of "lonely" the OED marks with † (for "Archaic") is the fifth and last sense (LIFO, in this case, though of course this is not universal in language, either), which is why I applied the word "current" to the first four.—Jerome Kohl (talk) 05:12, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

No, I hadn't made such an assumption, and I did notice your "current". That's why I said "have largely fallen into disuse", which is different from OED's designation of "Archaic". In common modern usage "lonely", especially as applied to a person, will probably universally be understood as "(4) Dejected because of want of company or society; sad at the thought that one is alone; having a feeling of solitariness", or something to that general effect. One might say, e.g., "That candlestick looks lonely", meaning "I perceive it to be wanting a companion [for decorative balance, etc]" rather than making an obvious statement about its physical singularity. Logically and linguistically "lonely" certainly can be construed to mean "alone", but it isn't used that way, other than as may be for a specific and unusual effect. [BTW, I've been meaning to ask how your Hovhaness is coming along?] Milkunderwood (talk) 09:32, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

Entirely off-topic, but possibly of some interest, Wikipedia includes a useful discussion of the suffix "-ly" as it may pertain to the construction "lonely" from the root "lone". On the other hand Wikipedia presently has only an article (that I could find) on the negating prefix "a-" under Privative a, giving the example of "atypical" (plus the obscure Copulative a which really gives no useful examples in English at all). But Wiktionary does provide in its discussion of "a-" several distinguished forms and examples that may help explain the construction of "alone" from "lone" - such as "arise, await; apace, afire, aboil; aware; abash"; as well as the negating "amoral". Eric Partridge, in his Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English,[3] 1959, provides much more extensive discussions of these affixes. Milkunderwood (talk) 22:26, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

It would be nice to have the Norwegian titles here, too. I have to edit album track titles for my job, and below is the list we use. It can be tough to research these, since the English translations of the Norwegian are sometimes different than from the German. (ug) I don't have time to do all this editing right now, but maybe somebody does?

...sorry, that's really annoying: when I paste below, there are line breaks, but they don't show up when I post. Tried a string replace in multiple apps, and it still won't paste correctly here. :-/

--jrgsf Jrgsf 19:09, 17 October 2012 (UTC) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 1, Op. 12 - Arietta Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 1, Op. 12 - Vals (Waltz) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 1, Op. 12 - Vektersang (Watchman's Song) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 1, Op. 12 - Alfedans (Elves' Dance) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 1, Op. 12 - Folkevise (Folk Song) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 1, Op. 12 - Norsk (Norwegian) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 1, Op. 12 - Albumblad (Album-Leaf) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 1, Op. 12 - Fedrelandssang (National Song) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 2, Op. 38 - Berceuse (Cradle Song) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 2, Op. 38 - Folkevise (Folk Song) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 2, Op. 38 - Melodi (Melody) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 2, Op. 38 - Halling (Nowegian Dance) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 2, Op. 38 - Springdans (Folk Dance) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 2, Op. 38 - Elegi (Elegy) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 2, Op. 38 - Vals (Waltz) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 2, Op. 38 - Kanon (Canon) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 3, Op. 43 - Sommerfugl (Butterfly) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 3, Op. 43 - Ensom Vandrer (Solitary Wanderer) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 3, Op. 43 - I Hjemmet (In My Native Land) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 3, Op. 43 - Smagfugl (Little Bird) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 3, Op. 43 - Erotikk (Erotic) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 3, Op. 43 - Til Varen (To The Spring) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 4, Op. 47 - Valse Impromptu Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 4, Op. 47 - Albumblad (Album-Leaf) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 4, Op. 47 - Melodi (Melody) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 4, Op. 47 - Halling (Norwegian Dance) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 4, Op. 47 - Melankoli (Melancholy) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 4, Op. 47 - Springdans (Folk Dance) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 4, Op. 47 - Elegi (Elegy) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 5, Op. 54 - Gjetergut (Herdboy) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 5, Op. 54 - Gangar (Norwegian March) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 5, Op. 54 - Trolltog (March Of The Trolls) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 5, Op. 54 - Notturno (Nocturne) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 5, Op. 54 - Scherzo Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 5, Op. 54 - Klokkeklang (Bellringing) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 6, Op. 57 - Svunne Dager (Vanished Days) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 6, Op. 57 - Gade Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 6, Op. 57 - Illusjon (Illusion) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 6, Op. 57 - Hemmelighet (Secret) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 6, Op. 57 - Hun Danser (She Dances) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 6, Op. 57 - Hjemve (Nostalgia) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 7, Op. 62 - Sylfide (Sylph) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 7, Op. 62 - Tak (Gratitude) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 7, Op. 62 - Fransk Serenade (Fench Serenade) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 7, Op. 62 - Bekken (Brooklet) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 7, Op. 62 - Drommesyn (Phantom) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 7, Op. 62 - Hjemad (Homeward) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 8, Op. 65 - Fra Ungdomsdagene (From Days Of Youth) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 8, Op. 65 - Bondens Sang (Peasant's Song) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 8, Op. 65 - Tungsind (Melancholy) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 8, Op. 65 - Salong (Drawing Room) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 8, Op. 65 - I Balladetone (In Ballad Syle) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 8, Op. 65 - Bryllupsdag Pa Troldhaugen (Wedding Day At Troldhaugen) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 9, Op. 68 - Matrosenes Opsang (Sailor's Song) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 9, Op. 68 - Bestemors Menuett (Grandmother's Minuet) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 9, Op. 68 - For Dine Fotter (At Your Feet) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 9, Op. 68 - Aften Pa Hoyfjellet (Evening In The Mountains) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 9, Op. 68 - Badnlat (Cradle Song) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 9, Op. 68 - Valse Melancolique (Melancholy Waltz) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 10, Op. 71 - Det Var Engang (Once Upon A Time) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 10, Op. 71 - Sommeraften (Summer Evening) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 10, Op. 71 - Smatrold (Puck) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 10, Op. 71 - Skovstillhed (Peace Of The Woods) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 10, Op. 71 - Halling (Norwegian Dance) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 10, Op. 71 - Forbi (Gone) Grieg: Lyric Pieces, Vol. 10, Op. 71 - Efterklang (Remembrances) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jrgsf (talk • contribs) 19:09, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

Dates

Added dates of composition and publication (along with source: Grove's Dictionary). BluesEtude (talk) 19:07, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

Op 62 nr 5

I have corrected a 130-year -old mistake. Grieg named this piece Drommesyn (Dream Scene/Vision), but the German publisher evidently misunderstood the translation Traumsicht as Traumgesicht (Dream Face) which was then translated into English as "Phantom" (which doesn't fit the music). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.113.212.222 (talk) 20:17, 8 March 2011 (UTC)

Its always been translated "Phantom". If you look "Phantom" up in the dictionary, it actually has a more poetic meaning than you'd think. I don't think we can rename it because the word has been used a lot in horror movies and Scooby Doo.DavidRF (talk) 03:33, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

And at times, the published English translation has always been wrong and should be fixed. For example, a friend of mine who speaks fluent Czech mentioned that a translation of a similar work by Janacek had a horrifically bad English translation for the title. These things happen. And then they become published...and now those scores are creeping into the public domain. We should keep the original title but if we have people who speak Norwegian, they should offer another translation if seen fit. — Devin.chaloux (chat) 04:58, 25 December 2011 (UTC)

Most famous?

I'm questioning the pieces listed under as the most famous of the set. I think the Wedding Day one is certainly in the standard repertoire and is unquestionable, but the other two are pieces I'm not very familiar with at all, and I'd like to say I'm a Grieg buff. I've seen some of the other ones in compilations of Romantic works. I'm not sure how one can gauge the most famous pieces from the set outside of the Wedding Day (partially because it has been orchestrated many times.) I just find this part of the article very problematic and it should be addressed. — Devin.chaloux (chat) 04:55, 25 December 2011 (UTC)

Lyric pieces

New playlist of lyric pieces: [4]. Maybe you would like to exchange Butterfly, Notturno and Wedding Day at Troldhaugen with this sublime interpretation of a world class pianist.Sciencia58 (talk) 18:22, 12 June 2017 (UTC)