Hella Brock – paper 2000

Presented at the Grieg Conference in Bergen May 26, 2000

Hella Brock, Germany
Professor Emeritus, Leipzig

Griegs Articles on Music and Musicians – Reflection of his Personality
We may regret that Edvard Grieg did not write a complete autobiography. He often was asked to do it, most urgently by the German publisher Albert Langen, who finally succeeded in encouraging Grieg to write his autobiographic sketch „My first  Success“. This sketch, however, only deals with his school-time in Bergen and his years of study in Leipzig.  The American writer Henry Finck, at least, succeeded in Grieg`s writing his famous and weighty letter about his songs , about their genesis and their contents. And Henry Hinrichsen, Grieg’s publisher in Peters-Verlag Leipzig, may perhaps have contributed to Grieg`s intensifying his entries in his diary during his last years; in 1903 Hinrichsen writes to Grieg  that he should note episodes from his eventful life, and he adds:
„[… ] I cannot think of something more interesting than to publish leaves of Grieg`s diary […] and:  „I am absolutely sure, this would be the finest Grieg-biography.“

Download the whole paper here
Hella Brock paper 2000

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