Edvard Grieg's music in popular culture

The music of the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg has been used in media.

Music education

For the 150th anniversary of his birth, Norway organized a huge celebration, "Grieg in the Schools", which included programs for children from pre-school to secondary school in 1993. The programs were repeated in 1996 in Germany, and called "Grieg in der Schule", in which over a thousand students participated. There were Grieg observances in 39 countries, from Mexico to Moscow.

Further celebrations of Grieg and his music were held in 2007, the 100th anniversary of his death. Bosnia and Herzegovina held a large-scale celebration, featuring Peer Gynt and the Piano Concerto a public concert for children and adults. The July 2007 Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference featured Grieg's works.

The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery in Nebraska presented a chamber music concert that featured one of Grieg's string quartets. Annual conferences are held for continuing education of music teachers and music therapists in the United States.

The New York Times reviewed one of many concerts for young people with Grieg's music, made popular for today's audiences. The reviewer noted, "Kurt Masur has put youth high on his agenda at the New York Philharmonic, and he was conspicuously present at the orchestra's first Young People's Concert at Avery Fisher Hall on Saturday afternoon.... Children and parents came in fair numbers." However, "the enormous grip of popular culture under which such elements are subsumed and it looks like Mr. Masur and the Philharmonic will have the fight of their lives." Masur the teacher-conductor "wisely called for the Grieg themes about to be heard. His delivery was warm, not without humor and occasionally muddled by struggles with the language." He even "stopped in mid-performance to admire Irene Breslaw's viola solo [in Peer Gynt] and to point out its connection to the American hoedown tradition." In conclusion, The Times asserted that "the melodies, already identified by instrument, emerged out of the larger mass and did their work. There is a directness in Grieg's music that travels well across cultural divides."

The Bergen University College, and later, the University of Bergen both named their tertiary music departments "Griegakademiet", in honor of Grieg.

Neopaganism

See also: Paganism

Grieg is alleged to have created the neopagan neologism Ásatrú in his 1870 opera Olaf Tryggvasson.

References to Grieg's music in popular culture

Peer Gynt

Main article: Peer Gynt (Grieg)

In 1960 Duke Ellington recorded a jazz interpretation of "Peer Gynt" in his Swinging Suites by Edward E. and Edward G. album. The album was rereleased on CD in as Three Suites along with Ellington's reworking of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker in 1990.

A 1993 Soyuzmultfilm short cartoon Dwarves and the Mountain King (rus. Гномы и Горный Король, directed by Innessa Kovalevskaya) is completely based on Grieg's music, primarily on Peer Gynt themes.[4]

"In the Hall of the Mountain King"

Main article: In the Hall of the Mountain King

Music

Hugo Montenegro, an American orchestra leader and composer of film soundtracks, released a jazz arrangement of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" on his 1960 album, Bongos and Brass.

Ritchie Blackmore recorded a rock arrangement of the piece with the band The Lancasters, using the title "Satan's Holiday".

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow is, to this day, the only band to perform "In the Hall of the Mountain King" as a song (Stranger in Us All album, 1994), with Peer Gynt-inspired English lyrics written by Candice Night.

The British instrumental band Sounds Incorporated released a rock arrangement of the piece as "Hall of the Mountain King" in 1965.

British rock band The Who recorded another performance of "Hall of the Mountain King" in 1967. This version went unreleased until 1995, when it appeared as a bonus track on a CD reissue of The Who Sell Out. Tucson Weekly has called this cover a "Who-freakout arrangement" One reviewer calls The Who's version the "weirdest of these" covers on the CD, and claims it is "a rendition of the corresponding extract from Grieg's Peer Gynt suite ... [yet] it hardly sounds like Grieg here, anyway..." Another claims that "the main function of the composition is to evoke thoughts of (naturally) King Crimson and (unnaturally) Pink Floyd, because in parts it sounds exactly like 'Interstellar Overdrive'."

Rumors circulated by fans of the rock group King Crimson speculate that the name of the group's debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, was taken from this classical composition.

San Francisco psychedelic rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company performed the song on public television station KQED-TV for the program "Come up the Years" in April 1967.

The Michigan-based band SRC recorded a cover of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" on their 1969 album Milestones.

The phrase "the hall of the mountain king" appears in "Spill The Wine" by Eric Burdon and War. "Spill The Wine" peaked at #3 on the Hot 100 on 22 August 1970.

The Italian progressive rock band Buon Vecchio Charlie incorporated "In the Hall of the Mountain King" in the track "Venite giù al fiume" on their only album, recorded in 1971.

The British Band Apollo 100 used "In the Hall of the Mountain King" as inspiration for their version "Mad Mountain King" on their 1972 album Joy.

Electric Light Orchestra made a version on their 1973 album On the Third Day.

Norwegian progressive rock band Aunt Mary made a version of the track in 1971, appearing on The Best Of Aunt Mary (1974), and the 2002 reissue of the 1972 album Loaded.

Progressive rock band Egg used the melody in their "Symphony No. 2" on their 1970 debut album.

Progressive rock keyboardist Rick Wakeman introduced the piece in a part of his album Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1974), with some bars of the piece appearing at the end of the album.

A fragment of the tune was used in "Enter the Exterminator" on the album Nail (1985) by Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel.

The British band Erasure covered the piece "In the Hall of the Mountain King" in their second album The Circus (1987).

PIG used a fragment of this piece in the song "Find It, Fuck It, Forget It" off 1993's The Swining.

New Wave of British Heavy Metal band Witchfynde utilizes a riff based on "In the Hall of the Mountain King" around the beginning of "Cry Wolf" from their 1983 album Cloak and Dagger.

The progressive metal group Savatage includes an instrumental piece called "Prelude To Madness" on the Hall of the Mountain King album that is based on themes of this piece.

Another progressive rock group Saga included a version on their 1998 album Detours.

Dutch symphonic metal band Epica covered the song on their live album The Classical Conspiracy.

The song was used in German Eurodance duo Captain Jack's song "Dream A Dream" from their 1999 album The Captain's Revenge.

On the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's album Night Castle, the riff is used in the song "The Mountain".

Heavy metal guitarist Wolf Hoffmann covered the piece many times in live performances with his band Accept, including their live album Staying a Life (Track: "Guitar Solo Wolf" ) and also as a studio version on his solo album Classical.

German heavy speed metal band Helloween covers the theme in the interlude of their song "Gorgar" in their first studio album, Walls of Jericho.

The Disco Biscuits have been known to occasionally cover this song as well in live concert.

Brian Setzer did a swing adaptation of the piece, entitled "One More Night With You", for his 2007 album Beethoven's Big Night Out.

Zedd, a German electronic dance music producer and DJ, created a remix of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" titled "Dovregubben" in 2011.

A chopped and screwed freestyle rap was recorded to the piece by DJ Screw on his album Da Funk is on Your Mind.

A riff is used at the beginning of the 1966 garage rock song, Stormy, by The Jesters of Newport.

In 1998 Ska-P recorded a version of this piece in their album, Eurosis. The title is "Simpatico Holgazan".

It was used by Vintersorg as an interlude in his song "För Kung och Fosterland" ("For King and Fatherland") on his album Till fjälls.

The theme was heard in demo recordings made by the Norwegian heavy metal band TNT before their 1984 album Knights of the New Thunder. However, at the time of writing the song it was used in has never been released on any official album.

Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett plays a short part of it during a show in San Diego in '92 on the Live Shit DVD box.

Marillion used the main theme from the song in their live piece called "Margaret".

Princess, a Hungarian violin-playing orchestra has also played this piece. Hungarian title: "A hegykirály barlangjában" (exact meaning: "in the cave of the mountain king")

mc chris rapped over the song for his unreleased track called "peer gynt".

The German psychobilly band Mad Sin added a bridge including the theme in their song "Brand New Gun (Bang Boom Bang)".

Film and TV

The first known use in film is when it was played in the background in one of the scenes in D. W. Griffith's movie The Birth of a Nation from 1915.

In the Henley Regatta scene of The Social Network (2010), a version interpreted by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is used when the Winklevoss brothers compete before discovering that Facebook reaches both Europe and video live streaming.

The song also was used in the opening promo for WWE's Vengeance 2001

The song also appears during the teaser trailer of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Beetlejuice, Funny Games, Bride Wars, Rat Race, Friday After Next, Burning Palms, The Borrowers, Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian, Needful Things and Dead Snow.

It was also used in the 2001 film Rat Race.

The song is the theme music for Dr. Ivo Robotnik and his henchmen in the animated series, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Part of the song can also be heard in the opening theme.

in the 1957 made-for-TV film The Pied Piper of Hamelin the theme is heard several times, most notably when the Piper (Van Johnson) plays it on his flute (joined by the full orchestra) as he leads the rats out of Hamelin and to their doom in the River Weser.

The semi-fictional characters Tristan Farnon and James Herriot in the BBC televised series All Creatures Great and Small perform the piece drunkenly with their dates at a pub.

It is also played over the end credits of the Woody Allen film Scoop.

A young boy is seen playing "In the Hall of The Mountain King" as a piano practice piece in an episode of Mad Men entitled "The Mountain King".

In the final episode of Beavis and Butthead, "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is being played when Principal McVicker has flashbacks to their antics.

In the Courage the Cowardly Dog episode, entitled "Farmer-Hunter, Farmer Hunted", the song can be heard several times.

"In the Hall of the Mountain King" is also featured in the intro of the television series The Dudesons.

The vampires in The Lost Boys: The Tribe whistle the tune to this song.

Lamberto Bava's 1985 horror film Dèmoni (aka Demons) includes a title theme by Claudio Simonetti that incorporates the melody of "In the Hall of the Mountain King".

Fragments of the piece are heard in the BBC Oscar-winning documentary Man on Wire in a re-enactment where Philippe Petit and an accomplice herd the infamous tightrope wire up the stairs, past a guard on duty. Thought not played in full, the song is listed in the film's musical credits.

It was used as the three brothers theme on the Garfield and Friends spin-off Orson's Farm.

It is played when the antiestablishment Mozzie enters the FBI offices in USA Network's White Collar (season 2, episode 4, 2010).

In Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers Pete's song "Petey's King of France" is sung to the tune of this song.

It is the theme song of the French author Bernard Werber's short film La Reine de Nacre.

It served as a basis for the theme of the Inspector Gadget animated series.

It served as a basis for the theme of The Gravediggers Squad animated series.

A version of the song is used during a scene featuring a game of charades in a 2010 episode ("Chuck Versus the Leftovers") of Chuck. Scenes immediately following this one then work cues of In the Hall of the Mountain King into the show's original score.

It is used in the movie trailer of Dinner for Schmucks.

It was used in the sixth episode of the second season of Misfits (TV series).

It was used in "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" during a graphing of Steve Wiebe's world record attempt.

It was also played in the opening scenes of the Norwegian movie Død Snø (Dead Snow).

It was played in the 2011 movie Hanna by Grimm as one of her first introductions to music.

It is used in Young Einstein (1988) by Yahoo Serious in the scene where Albert and his father drink more and more beer, which as-of-yet has no bubbles in it, the consumption of which yields Albert to invent the first articifial beer with bubbles in it by ways of splitting the beer atom (with a chisel, nonetheless).

It is played in the end credits of the 2011 film, Johnny English Reborn, as Johnny English prepares dinner in his colleague's kitchen.

It is played in the end credits of the The Troll Hunter (Norwegian: Trolljegeren) a 2010 Norwegian dark fantasy film.

It is lightly referenced in the episode "Luna Eclipsed" of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

In U.S. Acres, it's used as a theme song for Orson's evil brothers.

The main theme is used in the Little Einsteins episode "The Dragon Kite", as the musical ensemble for the episode.

The song plays in an episode of the internet Flash series International Moron Patrol.

The song is used in a brief scene in the US TV series Supernatural, episode 8,05 "Blood Brother" (fragment with song)

Russian version is sung in 1997 Russian animated film Dunno on the Moon, with changed Russian lyrics (fragment with song)

Video games

Grieg's music was a main part of the 1983 game Mountain King, released for the Atari 2600 and 5200 and the Commodore 64. In the game, the player character must search for the crown of the Mountain King and then escape the mountain with it; "Anitra's Dance" is played as the character searches, its volume indicating the crown's nearness, and "In the Hall of the Mountain King" plays as the character attempts to escape with the crown.

It was used as the title music for the classic Apple 2 platform game Lady Tut.

"In the Hall of the Mountain King" was also featured in the 1995 video game Return Fire, in which the piece would play as the background music when the player used the Armored Support Vehicle.

The 1983 ZX Spectrum computer game Manic Miner uses "In the Hall of the Mountain King" as in-game music.

Also the 1987 C64 computer game Doriath released by Virgin Interactive Entertainment uses "In the Hall of the Mountain King" as in-game background music.

The 1989 PC game Midnight Rescue! uses "In the Hall of the Mountain King" for in-game background music.

In Porky Pig's Haunted Holiday, a game released for the Super Nintendo, part of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is used in the music to the Abandoned Mines level.

In the game 10 Pin: Champions Alley, a more upbeat version of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is used as the background music in one of the levels.

The formative strategy wargame Empire: Wargame of the Century used "In the Hall of the Mountain King" as its intro music.

Much of the music for the N64 game Yoshi's Story was based on "In the Hall of the Mountain King", especially the song "Baby Bowser's Lullaby".

The Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex song "Atmospheric Pressure" is heavily based on "In the Hall of the Mountain King".

Pump It Up Fiesta EX presents a classical crossover by BanYa based on "In the Hall of the Mountain King" called "The Devil".

A rendition of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is played when the player achieves 10 times score multiplier in the 2010 iPod and 2011 PlayStation network game Pix'n Love Rush.

"In the Hall of the Mountain King" appears in the 1993 space trading simulator multi-platform game Frontier: Elite II as a selectable in-game song.

"In the Hall of the Mountain King" is also featured in Music Memory 2013.

The piece is featured in the dwarf bastion in The Book of Unwritten Tales.

In Borderlands 2 the character Salvador will sometimes hum "In the Hall of the Mountain King" while using his "Gunzerking" skill.

Advertisement

The Staffordshire theme park Alton Towers has adopted "In the Hall of the Mountain King" as its unofficial theme music, and it is heard in the vast majority of their advertisements, as well as around the park.

Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 debuted on October 11, 2010, with two ads, one of them using "In the Hall of the Mountain King" as its theme.

Burger King used parts of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" piece sped up for a few of their commercials involving their mascot.

In the mid 1990s, a commercial for the animated series The Adventures of Batman and Robin provided Batman-themed lyrics to "In the Hall of the Mountain King."

In the late 1990s and early 2000s Nabisco, an American baked snacks company, featured "In the Hall of the Mountain King" on many of their commercials, including for Ritz Crackers.

In Britain, the song was used in a peanut butter advert, in which the phrase "yum" was set to the music.

Literature

The piece is mentioned in John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces, in which Toole likens Ignatius's sexual climax to the piece's finale.

"The Death of Åse"

The tune was used as the melody for A Mother's Lament, sung by a grieving mother searching for her child, who does not know that the Piper has led away the children in the 1957 made-for-TV musical The Pied Piper of Hamelin. Lyrics were by Hal Stanley and Irving Taylor; the song was sung by Kay Starr.

Extracts from "Aase's Death" are played in The Simpsons episode "Coming to Homerica", while the Norwegian workers are forced to leave their poverty-stricken town and emigrate to Springfield.

In 1974, the Dutch progressive rock band Trace adapted this piece of music and renamed it "Death of Ace".

In 1992, German film director Werner Herzog used the piece in his film Lektionen in Finsternis during an aerial shot of Baghdad.

An fast version of "The Death of Åse" is the background music for level 8 of the video game Descent (1995).

In 1999, the British electronic music group Hybrid used extracts from this piece on their album "Wide Angle", in the track "Altitude (Red Square Reprise)".

In 2008, Dutch politician Geert Wilders released a short and very controversial film which featured "The Death of Åse" as background music. The film, "Fitna," is very critical of the religion of Islam

"Solveig's Song"

The American metal group Kamelot used the melody of "Solveig's Song" in "Forever", from its album Karma.

The Norwegian metal group Midnattsol also used it in their song "Tapt Av Håp", as did the Faroese metal group Týr in their song "Valkyrjan".

The French hip-hop producer Wax Tailor used a looped sample of the melody in the song "Sometimes" from the album Hope & Sorrow.

Jane Birkin used the melody for "Lost Song" of the 1987 album of the same name.

"Anitra's Dance"

"Anitra's Dance" serves as background music in the game Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness.

"Anitra's Dance" plays a large role in the 1983 game "Mountain King".

"Morning Mood"

Main article: Morning Mood

"Morning Mood" is also used in Katsuhiro Otomo's animated short film Construction Cancellation Order, a segment of the 1987 anime anthology film Neo Tokyo (aka Mani Mani Labyrinth Tales).

It can also be heard in two episodes of Phineas and Ferb.

"Morning Mood" was also used in a television commercial for Hardee's/Carl's Jr. in the late 90s and early 2000s.

It was used at the beginning of the theatrical trailer to Monsters vs. Aliens.

It also features in the opening of the computer games Peggle and Day of the Tentacle.

It was also played in the Family Guy episode "The Man with Two Brians".

It was also played in the Beavis and Butt-head episode, "Beavis and Butt-head Are Dead".

The composition features in The Simpsons episode "Bart Carny".

It can be also heard in the Fairy Tail episode "The Cursed Island"

In The Big Bang Theory Season 3 Episode 15, Sheldon tries to persuade Leonard to take him to Switzerland by making him breakfast and serving in bed. Before he serves Leonard the breakfast, he plays the song with a flute.

It was also used briefly in the motion picture Soylent Green during the death scene for Edward G. Robinson: another classical work begins the scene, with Morning Mood finishing it.

Norwegian Dances

The Norwegian Dance No. 2 (Op.35) was used as the signature tune for the second series of The Adventure Game.

Piano Sonata

The motion picture The First Legion used Grieg's Piano Sonata in E minor as a way to introduce a Jesuit priest's prayer. The priest, Father Fulton, plays the sonata as a way of connecting himself to the other Jesuits, when "forced to revise their standards of belief after experiencing first a makeshift and later a 'real' miracle."

Piano Concerto

The first movement of Grieg's Piano Concerto is used in Adrian Lyne's 1997 film Lolita.

The British comedy duo Morecambe and Wise featured the Piano Concerto in a sketch involving Andre Previn.

It also can be heard extensively on Rick Wakeman's (keyboardist with British rock group Yes) album Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

The Simpsons used this piece as well.

The video game Sid Meier's Civilization V uses the Piano Concerto when a European civilization is selected.

It is also cited in comedian Bill Bailey's musical comedy routines focusing on "Cockney music" as an example of cockney-themed classic music.

"Brothers, Sing On!"

The folk song "Brothers, Sing On!" ( EG 170 - in the original Norwegian "Sangerhilsen") was written by Grieg with lyrics by Sigv. Skavlan, with English language lyrics by Herbert Dalmas and/or Howard McKinney. The Mohawk-Hudson Male Chorus Association (MHMCA) presented a massed concert, with 90 male singers, at the historic Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on May 3, 2008, entitled "Brothers, Sing On!", with the titular song, which was also adopted as the organization's theme song in 1974. They had previously performed the same song in the same venue in 2002.

The University of Northern Iowa has gone so far as to name its web site and to start every concert with this song:

What if all men, everywhere in the world, could get together and sing? If there was just one song that could be sung, in a true spirit of peace and brotherhood, "Brothers, Sing On!" by Edvard Grieg would be it. "Brothers, Sing On!" is the timeless gem in many men’s choral repertoire. It has been called the ‘international anthem’ of men’s choral singing. For nearly 50 years, "Brothers, Sing On!" has been the mainstay of our Glee Club’s repertoire. We have sung it from the top of Mount Vesuvius; a glacier in the Tyrolean Alps; the ancient castles and underground slate mines of Wales; the deck of a ship on the tossing Irish Sea; the Coliseum in Rome, and a great many places in between. We salute the many excellent men’s choirs throughout the world, especially the collegiate men’s glee clubs, those ‘wandering troubadours’ whom we hope will inspire future generations of singers.

— the Brothers, Sing On! web site,

Other pieces

The musical Song of Norway, based very loosely on Grieg's life and using his music, was created in 1944 by Robert Wright and George Forrest and a film version was released in 1970. The 1957 made-for-TV movie musical The Pied Piper of Hamelin uses Grieg's music almost exclusively, with "In the Hall of the Mountain King" being the melody that the Piper (Van Johnson) plays to rid the town of rats.

See also

• Ásatrú
• Finnish Paganism
• Germanic neopaganism
• List of compositions by Edvard Grieg
• Neo-Medieval
• Grieg Academy