Piano Sonata (Grieg)

Piano Sonata (Grieg)

Edvard Grieg's Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 7 was written in 1865 when Grieg was only 22 years old. The sonata was published a year later and revised in 1887. The work was Grieg's only piano sonata and was dedicated to Danish composer Niels Gade. The sonata has four movements with the following tempo markings:

1. Allegro moderato
2. Andante molto
3. Alla Menuetto, ma poco più lento
4. Finale: Molto allegro

A typical performance lasts around 20 minutes.

In the first movement he used a technique probably most famously used by Bach and Shostakovich: his own name, more precisely his initials E-H-G (H being the German name for note B), begins melody in the first two bars, which is reiterated in octaves and even echoed by the left hand in bars 13 and 14. He used the same method in his two compositions of the Lyric Pieces "Gade", Op. 57, No. 2 and "Secret", Op. 57, No. 4, using the name of his admired colleague Gade.

In a 1944 letter to Ella Grainger, Percy Grainger mentioned planning to orchestrate the sonata. He apparently did so, but only a sketch is extant. However, an orchestration of the Menuetto by Danish composer Robert Henriques exists.