| As a music-producing part of Europe between 1843--1957 Scandinavia is well known through composers such as Jean Sibelius (1865--1957), Carl Nielsen (1865--1931) and especially Edward Grieg (1843--1907).; Grieg is still a national hero in his home country and was immensely popular during his lifetime in Europe as his piano music found its way into the homes of the average music lover.; Sweden, the biggest Scandinavian country, has as rich a cultural heritage as Norway, a tremendous treasure of folk music, and a highly important political and historical influence over Scandinavia. Why didn't it have a composer during this time to put Sweden on the international landscape? In this dissertation, I will attempt to answer this question.; I will compare Grieg with Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871--1927) who was a remarkable Swedish composer and pianist and the major composer of piano music in Sweden during this time. I will start by giving a brief history of Grieg's and Stenhammar's lives and careers as well as examples of how they expressed themselves through the piano. In chapter three and four, I will discuss facts and circumstances that have been to Sweden's disadvantage in developing a musical atmosphere that could have been seen in other countries as something typically Swedish. |
