Holberg Suite

Holberg Suite, Op. 40 more properly "From Holberg's Time", (German: Aus Holbergs Zeit, Norwegian: Fra Holbergs tid), subtitled "Suite in olden style" (Norwegian: Suite i gammel stil), is a suite of five movements based on eighteenth century dance forms, written by Edvard Grieg in 1884 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Danish-Norwegian playwright Ludvig Holberg.

It is an example of a piece of nineteenth century music which makes use of musical styles and forms from the preceding century. It can be compared with Franz Liszt's À la Chapelle Sixtine, S.360 (1862) and contrasted with later neoclassical works.

This suite is not as famous as the incidental music from Peer Gynt, which is usually performed as arranged in a pair of suites itself, but many critics see them as equal. The movements of the suite are:

1. Praeludium
2. Sarabande
3. Gavotte
4. Air (Andante religioso)
5. Rigaudon

Though originally composed for the piano, the version most well known today is the arrangement by the composer for string orchestra.

External links

• Free scores by Holberg Suite at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• Synthesized performance of string version in MP3 format at Logos Virtual Library
• Performance of piano version on YouTube (Flash required)