Finding a Window Into Home Life of Norway’s Beloved Edvard Grieg

Not long before his death on Sept. 4, 1907, Edvard Grieg was rowing near Troldhaugen, his beloved home. He gazed up at the high cliff and said, “Here I would like to rest.”

The composer was granted his wish. His ashes are buried in a niche cut out of a cliff overlooking the estate. Grieg’s wife, Nina, who lived another 28 years, is also interred there.

Today, as the sun goes down, its rays pause for just a moment to cast a final glow of radiance at the grave of a man who gave the world everlasting melodic beauty. Along with Henrik Ibsen, Grieg was what in today’s parlance would be known as Norway’s favorite son.

Troldhaugen, just a 15-minute car ride from Bergen, where Grieg was born, was a refuge for the composer-conductor from the rigors of travel to the world’s musical centers--London, Paris, Berlin, Leipzig, Prague, Warsaw and Rome. (Although often invited, he never made the trip to conduct in the United States, because he feared he would not survive the transatlantic journey.)

The hideaway was a fixed point in Grieg’s life, a quiet base camp for the hectic travels that dominated his life almost until his death. Each year he would come home, relax a bit and then compose some more.

Grieg and his wife, who was a concert singer and who accompanied him on most of his travels, built the home at Nordasvannet in 1885. The name Troldhaugen means Troll Hill. The name was suggested by Mrs. Grieg because the local people called the ravine that forms one of the boundaries of the site “Troll Valley.”

It was here that the leading men and women of the artistic world met every summer for more than 20 years. Here Grieg’s fellow townsmen marched up with their brass band ringing in the air to honor him on his 60th birthday. And it was such occasions that inspired Grieg to write “Wedding Day at Troldhaugen.”

As might be expected, the Grieg home is one of the stops on all sightseeing tours of Bergen, but visitors can also drive out on their own.

In the main house the tour begins in what in Grieg’s day was the kitchen and pantry. Today it contains a collection of Grieg’s treasures and memorabilia. There is the composer’s well-used trunk.

It was because he lived out of a suitcase for so long that Grieg strongly felt the need to own property. This was home. He could always come back to it. There are also many trophies and ribbons, reminders of his many performances abroad. There are original manuscripts and letters. Grieg’s own conductor’s score for his piano concerto is on display. One entire wall is covered with numerous portraits of the maestro.

There are only two other rooms on the ground floor--the dining room and the living room. They have basically been left untouched, just the way they were when Grieg died. The rooms are filled with the many gifts Greig and Nina received, reminders of the popularity they enjoyed. The Steinway piano, still used for concerts at Troldhaugen, was a gift to the Griegs from their friends in Bergen on their silver wedding anniversary in 1892.

The large Danish landscape above the piano was given to Grieg on his 60th birthday in 1903, as was the chandelier in the living room and the solid silver centerpiece on the dining room table.

A few steps from the main house is the place Grieg went to get away from everybody, a small red one-room cabin. The modest working hut where Grieg did his composing was built by the artist in 1982. He referred to it as “my little workshop.” Several of his compositions were written there, among them a series of “Lyrical Pieces” for the piano.

The exquisite view of the water below makes it not hard to understand how the composer was inspired to write some of his well-known compositions.

But because Grieg bought the property so late in life, his most famous masterpieces--his piano concerto, the Peer Gynt suite, the String Quartet in G minor--were written elsewhere.

The little hut (it is closed to the public but its interior can be viewed through a large glass window) even was used after Grieg’s death. The Danish composer Carl Nielson, when he visited the home as a guest of Grieg’s widow, wrote part of his violin concerto in the hut.

The tiny workshop stands today as it did a century ago with a standup piano and a small desk. On the desk is a Grieg manuscript and a feather pen.

When he went on his travels, Grieg left a message on top of his work, addressed to possible thieves. “Dear thieves,” he started a polite note, and went on to beg any intruders not to remove the papers, as they were of no value to anyone other than himself.

Since 1957 there have been a series of summer recitals at Troldhaugen. The house was able to accommodate an audience of about 90, but in good weather several hundred others could gather in the garden.

Recently a music hall with seating for 250 has been built on the grounds, and concerts are held regularly.

Between the home and the concert hall is a bronze man-size statue of Norway’s greatest composer, who bears a sharp resemblance to Mark Twain.

A look at the statue gives a visitor the distinct feeling that Grieg is still the master of the place.

The museum is open from May 2 to Oct. 1. Entrance fee is 10 krona (about $1.60 U.S.) per person. Bergen sightseeing tours also stop at Troldhaugen. It is a stop, for example, on the three-hour city tour that takes half a day and costs about $20. Entrance to the museum and grounds is included.

Central hotels include the large Norge, where double rooms range from about $127 to $232; the Augustine (from $109 to $120), and the small and pleasant Victoria ($100 to $144). All rooms have bath or shower and include breakfast.

For more information on travel to Norway, contact the Scandinavian National Tourist Offices, 655 3rd Ave., 18th Floor, New York 10017, (212) 949-2333.