Zweig MS 35

Autograph full score. Written in ink on systems of up to 18 staves. Contains the four numbers first performed by Grieg at Kristiania, 14 Nov. 1891, but with the revised ending to no. 3. As follows: ff. 3v-8r. ‘Der Brautraub (Ingrids Klage)’, tempo directions ‘Allegro furioso - Andante - Allegro furioso - Andante doloroso - Allegro furioso - Andante - Allegro furioso’. ff. 9r-14r. ‘Tanz der Bergkönigs Tochter’, tempo directions ‘Allegretto alla burla - Allegro molto (Doppio movimento)’; f. 9r is a title-page, though the titles are repeated above the beginning of the music on f. 9v. ff. 15r-27v. ‘Per Gynts Heimkehr. (Stürmischer Abend an der Küste)’, tempo direction ‘Allegro agitato’; ‘attacca’ at end, to lead to next no. ff. 28r-31r. ‘Solvejgs Lied’, tempo directions ‘Andante’ [preceded by ‘Poco’ partially erased from the page] - Allegretto tranquillamente - Andante (Tempo 1mo) - Allegretto tranquillamente - Andante (Tempo 1mo)’; details of violin fingering and of strings to be used, all of which appear in the published score, are added in a darker ink, as is the foot-note ‘sehr weich, die Sechzehntel nicht zu kurz.’ (f. 29r). In all numbers extensive corrections and revisions have been made by almost completely erasing the earlier version from the page and writing over it. Title-page (f. 1r) also in Grieg’s hand: ‘Zweite Orchestersuite / aus der Musik zu ‘Per Gynt’ / (Dramatische Dichtung von Henrik Ibsen) / von / Edvard Grieg. / op. 55 / Partitur.’; f. 3r serves as a contents list, giving in Grieg’s hand the titles of all four numbers in German and Norwegian. Titles at the head of each number are given in German first and then in Norwegian, again both in Grieg’s hand. Cue letters are marked in, apparently by the composer, as a separate series for each number, as in the published score. Metronome markings and titles in French at the beginning of each number have been added in pencil in another hand or hands; there are a few textual annotations in pencil, perhaps also in another hand. With engraver’s markings in pencil in all numbers, giving a running series of page numbers from 3-43. Old fly-leaf (f. i) has ‘Wie Vorlage’ and the number ‘78448’ in blue crayon at the top, with ‘7672’ added in pencil below.

Benestad and Schjelderup-Ebbe relate that Grieg completed the Suite with the same four movements as are found in this manuscript in September 1891, and conducted the first performance in Kristiania the following November. In the subsequent correspondence with his publisher C.F. Peters and others which they then quote, Grieg expresses dissatisfaction with the form of the Suite. In March 1892 he writes that he has added an ‘interlude’ to the end of ‘Peer Gynt’s Homecoming’ so that it and ‘Solveig’s Song’ can be played without interruption (the form in which the two numbers appear in this mansucript), and that he has re-orchestrated one more movement (‘Arabian Dance’) for possible inclusion. ‘Arabian Dance’ subsequently became the second number, with ‘Dance of the Mountain King’s Daughter’, the original no. 2, moved to the end. The Suite was printed in this form, but by February 1893 Grieg had already decided that ‘Solveig’s Song’ was the right ending and that ‘Dance of the Mountain King’s Daughter’ should be dropped. No further copies of the five-movement form were issued, and the abandoned number is not included in vol. xii of Samlede Verker. Zweig MS 35 appears to have served as the Stichvorlage for the numbers it contains; the page breaks indicated by the engraver’s markings in nos. 1, 3 and 4 are those of the first edition, though only the page numbers marked there in no. 1 (pp. 3-11) agree with those in the printed score; no copy of the initial five-movement printing is available in the British Library for comparison, but Benestad and Schjelderup-Ebbe state that in it ‘Dance of the Mountain King’s Daughter’, as no. 5, is paginated 58-67. The number pencilled at the foot of f. i of Zweig MS 35 is the plate number of the first edition. In the critical commentary to his edition of the complete Peer Gynt music in the Samlede Verker Benestad deals with the other sources for the ‘Dance of the Mountain King’s Daughter’ and states that the first edition in full score of 1908 follows the text from the suppressed first printing; this must therefore represent the first proper publication of the piece in the form found in this manuscript. It is possible that the disbound state of Zweig MS 35 was the result of the reordering of the numbers in the publishing house; the separation of leaves in what must originally have been gatherings begins at the start of ‘Dance of the Mountain King’s Daughter’. The editors of the Complete Works were not aware of the existence of Zweig MS 35.