New finding: 'Vandreslåt' by Grieg
It is always exiting, when an old manuscript of a piece of Grieg reappears. This one was kept in a safe-deposit box at Nordea bank in Bergen until most recently. Is it an unknown work? A lost manuscript? Original or copy?
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The new-found manuscript is most probably a copy of the 1872 'Ur-version' of 'Vandreslåt', published in the yearbook of 'Den Norske Turistforening'. The most recent version of this piece has been published much later in 1888, as Nr. 6 'Springdans' in Grieg's Lyric pieces Op. 47. Although the sheet is dated and signed, the style of notation seems not from Grieg's hands. The date, 10 April 1876, indicates that it might be the work of an (amateur) musician, who copied the version printed in the yearbook in lack of a proper edition. Quite interesting is the application of some additional performance marks in Norwegian and Italian language, and not least, the quite expressive dynamics (fff, pp) 'spicing up' the concluding passage of the piece.
Further reading:
Asbjørn Eriksen, "Edvard Griegs klaverstykke «Vandreslått» – gjenoppdagelse av en «urversjon»." Studia Musicologica Norvegica, 32/2006, s.192–201.
Arvid Vollsnes, “Grieg und die Natur – Empfindung und Malerei.” i Ekkehard Kreft (utg.): Kongressbericht Internationaler 4. Deutscher Edvard-Grieg-Kongress, Altenmedingen: Hildegard-Junker-Verlag 2002, s. 68–83.
