Q.1
Oslo (Norway's capital, as we now know it) was in those days called Christiania, but this is not where Grieg grew up or studied; the proud Grieg 'cult' of memorials is, rather and rightly, centred around his hometown elsewhere in Norway ... where?
  • Stavanger
  • Trondheim
  • Bergen
  • Voss
Q.2
Grieg's Piano Concerto is one of the top classics of the genre: it would be unthinkable for it not to come near the top of anyone's 'top 10' along with one each by Beethoven, Mozart, Rachmaninov and probably 'the Schumann', plus (to the writer's mind) the unfairly neglected gem by Moszkowski (not to be confused with Mussorgsky). Schumann and Grieg each chose the same home key; and for this, and reasons of style and period, their two concertos used to appear back-to-back on vinyl recordings. Which is the key?
  • G major
  • A minor
  • E flat major
  • D minor
Q.3
To what age did Grieg live?
  • 59
  • 64
  • 66
  • 67
Q.4
Grieg's ancestors were from Scotland (where the name would be, and still is, usually pronounced 'Gregg' to rhyme with 'leg'). But they travelled 'across the water' ~ somewhat as Handel himself had done, in his case from what is now Germany to Britain ~ so Grieg was, through-and-through, of which nationality?
  • Danish
  • Swedish
  • Norwegian
  • Dutch
Q.5
Apparently Grieg had a strangely similar musical start to another of our featured composers, Modest Mussorgsky, who had been born just 4 years ahead of him. How so?
  • Each of their mothers began giving him piano lessons when their boy was 6 years old
  • Both boys had fathers who regularly played the cello in good-amateur string quartets
  • Both boys had parents who were involved with the town band, and started having instrumental lessons from the bandmaster after sitting-in on a few rehearsals
  • Each boy had an elder brother in the local church choir, who encouraged them to join, initially 'just for fun and pocket-money'
Q.6
Since Grieg lived into the 20th century, there are a few early, scratchy acoustic recordings of him playing his own and other people's piano music. But he also engaged with a parallel technology that enables us to hear his performances reproduced 'live' on an actual instrument in the same room, as your present writer vividly remembers having done. What form did this technology take?
  • Magnetic tape
  • Perforated paper rolls
  • The wire-recorder
  • Optical discs
Q.7
In which decade was Grieg born?
  • 1830s
  • 1840s
  • 1850s
  • 1860s
Q.8
At the age of 15 Grieg crossed the Baltic to begin his studies at the conservatoire in a major 'mainland European' city with a rich musical history stretching back through Mendelssohn (then very recent) to Bach: which city?
  • Vienna
  • Bonn
  • Dresden
  • Leipzig
Q.9
Though always happy at home in Norway, Grieg travelled a great deal (both for, and despite, his poor bronchial health) and met many other musicians whose names you will probably know, with whom he got on personally and musically very well and who were very encouraging and complimentary about what he had written. Which of the following was NEVER such a friend or influence?
  • Franz Liszt
  • Peter Tchaikovsky
  • Percy Grainger
  • Francois Chopin
Q.10
Grieg was (rightly) loved and admired internationally in his lifetime, unlike some composers: among many accolades he was awarded Honorary Doctorates of Music by Cambridge in 1894 and Oxford 12 years later. A typically characterful story related to the Cambridge visit where a full set of academic robes was required, and the only ones available belonged to a Dr Gray, who stood a little over 6ft tall. How tall was Grieg, who then had to process with dignity to, during and from a public ceremony while wearing them?
  • Just under 5ft
  • 5ft and an inch or two
  • 5' 6" or so (say, a full 10% shorter than Gray)
  • Equal in height to Gray, but Gray was a good deal fatter so the robes billowed around him
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