Edvard Grieg(1845-1907)'s works are based on the folk music of Norway in large part. And there are also a wide variety of folk elements in Piano Sonata, Op. 7(1865), which is the only piano sonata by Grieg. But just a few studies have ever examined th...
Edvard Grieg(1845-1907)'s works are based on the folk music of Norway in large part. And there are also a wide variety of folk elements in Piano Sonata, Op. 7(1865), which is the only piano sonata by Grieg. But just a few studies have ever examined this work, and this work isn't well known among performers. This work makes it possible to experience various forms of music since it represents folk elements in diverse and unique ways and is outstanding in terms of artistry as well. In the perspective of musical interpretation, it is rated as music that is difficult to perform. As there aren't sufficient research data that investigated this composer in terms of both nationalist orientation and performing methods, sustained research efforts should be made in the future to shed light on the composer in terms of the two. The purpose of this study was to examine the folk music elements of Piano Sonata, Op. 7 by Grieg, which has rarely been researched so far, and to discuss how to perform it in a manner to play up the folk elements. It's basically meant to seek a way of performing it by highlighting the folk elements without using difficult performing techniques in order to make a contribution to the successful performance of this music.
Before this music was analyzed, European music of the late 19th century was investigated by focusing on romanticism and nationalism, and the cultural background of Norway including history, language and environments was briefly described to make a profound analysis of the music. After Grieg's life and works were analyzed, the musical nature, flow and characteristics of his music were investigated, and then each movement of the piano sonata was analyzed in terms of sound materials (scale, model, tonality, melody and interval), rhythm(mode, stress, beat, tempo) and form to determine its folk elements to describe how to perform it in a way to play up the ethnic color. As for the folk music elements of this piano sonata, Sequences was found in the music, which stemmed from folk songs, and a pentatonic scale was used, which put emphasis on modal sound. The chromatic progression, bold skipping melody, the open fifth chord and Augment Second interval contributed to heightening the unique Norwegian sense of color, and the use of Norwegian dance rhythm such as Gargar, Halling and Springdangs also served to highlight the unique Norwegian sense of color. These dance rhythm brought about a sudden change to beat and served to strike a balance among rhythm of different beat. And diverse forms of rhythm appeared due to the utilization of syncopated rhythm, dotted rhythm and a group of notes. Thus, there were ceaseless changes in the rhythm of this piano sonata, and the composer made use of his own unique musical language and linked fragmentary phrases and passages together to create a unique musical color instead of merely sticking to the law of harmony. In this study, several performing methods were presented to represent the folk elements in an effective manner, which were related to fingering, pedaling, rhythm thump, dynamics, tempo, rotation of the forearms and upper arms, and movement of wrist and arms.
The 4th movement was excluded in this study, since there were few more folk music elements in the other three movements than those found in the 1st movement, and analysis of the 1st movement was sufficient enough to figure out this piano sonata.