cut short by an early death. In modern times the mantle of
Grieg has fallen upon Sinding (1856-still living) whose songs
and poetic pieces for the pianoforte have become household fa-
vorites. In Norwegian music we find the exuberant rhythmic
vitality typical of a people living in the bold and highly colored
scenery of that sun-lit land.[333] Grieg, a born lyric poet sat-
urated with folk-music, has embodied this spirit in his works.
His fame rests upon his songs and descriptive pianoforte pieces;
though in his Pianoforte Concerto, in his Peer Gynt Suite, in the
Violin Sonatas and String Quartet he proved that he was not
lacking in power to handle larger forms. But most of his work
is in miniature—the expression, like the music of Schubert and
Chopin,[334] of moods short and intense. While Grieg’s music
is patterned upon Norwegian folk-dances and folk-melodies it is
something far more. He has evoked from the characteristics of
his native land a bold, original harmony and a power of color
and description thoroughly his own. He might say with de Mus-
set “Mon verre n’est pas grand, mais je bois dans mon verre.”
In his music we feel the sparkling sunshine and the breezes of
the North. In fact, Grieg was the first popular impressionist
and for his influence in humanizing music and freeing it from
academic routine his fame will endure. We have cited in the
Supplement (Nos. 68, 69) one of his most original songs—the
melody of which was used also for the workIm Frühlingfor
string orchestra—and a pianoforte piece which illustrates his
rhythmic life and also in certain measures that melodic line typ-
ical of all Norwegian music: the descent from the leading tone,
i.e., G, F-sharp, D.
[Footnote 332: The best biography in English is that by H.T.
Finck; the work, however, is somewhat marred by fulsome praise.]
[Footnote 333: During the summer solstice it is dark for only
a few hours; and further north, in the land, so-called, of the
Midnight Sun, for a few weeks there is perpetual daylight.]
[Footnote 334: He was called by Bülow the Chopin of the North.]
For a complete appreciation therefore of national music, we must
always take into consideration the traits and environment of the
people from which it sprung. Music, to be sure, is a universal
language, but each nation has used this language in its own way.
The most striking fact in present-day music is the variety gained
from a free expression of nationalism[335] without infringing