Presented at the Grieg Conference in Copenhagen August 13, 2011
Lena Haselmann, Germany
Singer
The relationship between Olaus and Agathe Backer Grøndahl and
Edvard and Nina Grieg
or
Hjaertelig Hilsen fra begge til begge
At first, my study on the relationship between the musician couples Grieg and Grøndahl focused on the connection between life and work in the historical context. Particularly in German-speaking countries, it has long been questioned whether biographical research can meet musicological standards. But the strict separation of empirical and aesthetic subject led to biographies of musicians being written to a large extent in the popular literature and thus to a national historiography of heroes. When searching ways to describe the connection between work biography and life biography as a complex conditioning pattern, the question quickly arises of how to treat adequately the sources. Letters are among the most important testimonies, but they are usually used only in excerpts or selectively in the biographical context.
Read the whole paper here
Paper Lena Haselmann 2011