Piano Concerto in a minor, Op. 16

• Grieg composed his piano concerto in 1868 and it was first published in Leipzig in 1872.¹
• Grieg composed the concerto while he, his wife Nina, and their baby daughter Alexandra were visiting Søllerød in Denmark for the weather (milder climate than Norway). ²
• In 1870 the Grieg met Liszt in Rome. Liszt sight-read his way though Grieg’s piano concerto (orchestral and piano parts at the same time) and praised Grieg’s work.³

“I’m an experienced old musician and ought to be able to play at sight.”

Liszt, to Grieg, who was astonished that Lizst could sight-read this piano concerto.

• After Liszt finished playing through the concerto twice:

“Finally he said in a strange, emotional way: ‘Keep on, I tell you. You have what is needed, and don’t let them frighten you.’”

Edvard Grieg, from a letter recalling his meeting with Liszt.

• Influence: Grieg’s piano concerto is in the same key as Schumann’s, and their structure is similar too. When he was a piano student in Leipzig, Grieg heard Clara Schumann play Robert Schumann’s a minor piano concerto.⁴

1. John Horton and Nils Grinde, “Grieg, Edvard,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed October 16, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000011757.
2. Ibid.
3. “Edvard Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16,” Aspen Music Festival, accessed October 16, 2019, https://www.aspenmusicfestival.com/program_notes/view/grieg-piano-concerto-in-a-minor-op.-16.
4. Ibid.