Edvard Grieg: What Price Immortality?

• 1999
• 1 hr 11 mins
• NR

• Watchlist

This documentary chronicles the life and work of renowned Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. The story is told through the eyes of Grieg as an older man, with music performed by pianist Staffan Scheja and narration by Derek Jacobi. The video details the legendary musician's early days as a schoolboy at the Leipzig Conservatory where he studied music, as well as his struggle to support himself and his family while working as a music teacher, a choir and orchestra conductor, and of course a performer. The success of the famed composer is also a focus of the program. When Grieg was awarded an annual artists' grant, he was finally able to concentrate on creating music. Grieg's struggle to perfect both form and content coincided with a great period of depression, in which he conceived some of his most acclaimed compositions.