Grieg’s 'Lyric Pieces': A musical dialogue across time

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Grieg’s 'Lyric Pieces': A musical dialogue across time

Published: 04 Jul. 2025, 00:06

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Na Sung-in

The author is a music critic and director of the classical music brand Poongwoldang.

Edvard Grieg’s "Lyric Pieces" (1867-1901) present a curious phenomenon: different compositions set to nearly identical melodies. Within those subtle variations lies a quiet meditation on the inner landscapes of human emotion — between joy and sorrow, past and present. It resembles the feeling of rereading something written long ago, when emotions were raw and unfiltered, only to revisit them years later with a changed heart.

Over the course of his life, Grieg published 10 volumes of Lyric Pieces. The first piece, “Arietta,” was written in 1867 when he was just 24. It offers a fragile and tender melancholy, shaped in the form of a small, lyrical song. The music conveys a kind of nameless, vague yet piercing melancholy — the sort that only young people, still mapping their emotional contours, can fully experience.

More than 30 years later, in 1901, Grieg — then 58 — composed the final piece of the 10th and last volume. He titled it “Remembrances,” and in it, he quietly reintroduces the theme from “Arietta.” The effect is both intimate and lightly self-conscious, as though an older man is gently patting the shoulder of his younger self. With a wry smile, the music seems to say, “That was me once, and perhaps it wasn’t as grave as I believed.”

Portrait of Edvard Grieg taken in 1888. Courtesy of the Bergen Public Library. [BERGEN PUBLIC LIBRARY]

“Remembrances” transforms the poignant strain of “Arietta” into a lilting waltz. The former sorrow softens into quiet joy. Yet, this joy is not frivolous. It carries the grace of time and reflection — the kind of joy that embraces sadness rather than avoiding it. The piece becomes what one might call an audible smile: gentle, composed and fully aware of life’s weight.

Why did Grieg choose to conclude over three decades of musical output with a self-quotation? Perhaps, true lyricism lies in turning inward, in revisiting and accepting one’s former self with compassion. “Arietta” and “Remembrances” face each other across time, like old friends meeting after many years.

In the absence of lyrics, the two compositions form a kind of poetry on their own. They do not need words to express the quiet beauty of embracing one’s past. In Grieg’s final musical gesture, there is both closure and continuity — a reminder that the most personal reflections can resonate the longest.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.