In the Hall of the Mountain King

In the Hall of the Mountain King ( Norwegian: I Dovregubbens hall) is an orchestral piece, which Edvard Grieg as the eighth part of his incidental music to Peer Gynt for the sixth scene of Act II in Henrik Ibsen's dramatic poem Peer Gynt, Op 23 between summer 1874 and summer 1875 composed. It Theatre in Christiania (now Oslo) premiered on 24 February 1876 at Christiania.

1888 took over Grieg as the last piece in his Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op 46 Although a performance of the whole piece lasts just under 3 minutes, the easily recognizable theme has helped it gain a cult status in popular culture, where it has since been taken up by many artists.

The play tells how the eponymous Peer Gynt in a dreamlike fantasy the " royal hall of the Old enters from Dovre ( the Mountain King ) ". The scene description continues: " There is a large amount of troll courtiers, gnomes and goblins. The old man sitting on his throne with crown and scepter, surrounded by his children and relatives. Peer Gynt stands before him. There is an enormous uproar in the hall. The first lines of the song are sung. "

Grieg himself wrote about the music for the Hall of the Mountain King: ... done something for the old man of Dovre King's Hall, taken literally I can not stand, so it sounds like cow dung, Norwegertum and complacency! But I also expect that you can feel the irony.

The Music

The famous two phrases of the topic are written in the key of B minor:

The simple theme begins slowly and quietly in the lowest registers of the orchestra. It is played first by the cellos and bassoons, and it describes Peer Gynt slow, careful steps.

After a repetition of the main theme will be changed very easily with a few different ascending notes, but transposed by a fifth in F-sharp major, the dominant ( but with the minor sixth ) and is played by different instruments: these are the King's trolls.

Move the two groups of instruments then to different octaves until they at the same pitch together " collide ", while the trolls peer throwing dirt and hunt around him.

The tempo increases gradually to a prestissimo finale, the music becomes louder and louder and more melodic.

The Mountain King himself thunders onto the stage and runs to peer that runs fast in the other direction; this is shown with long chains of diatonic steps, interrupted by brief moments of silence, in which the mountain king seeks to hiding Peer.

Peers hideout is blown at the end and the music reaches its loudest and fastest point as he runs out of the cave.

A series of crashing cymbals and ecstatic drum rolls breaks out and leaves all other instruments fall silent, while the mountain collapses and the Trolls, which pursued after the fleeing Peer, buries itself.

The piece ends with a return to the tonic and a final B-minor chord, the peers indicates successful escape.

The lyrics of the song

( The troll - courtiers ): Slagt ham! Kristenmands søn har daret. Dovregubbens veneste MO! Slagt ham! Slagt ham! Kill him! The Christian 's son has bewitched most beautiful daughter of the Mountain King! Kill him! Kill him! ( A Troll): Må jeg skjære ham i fingeren? May I chop off his fingers? (Another Troll): Må jeg rive ham i Haret? May I tug him by the hair? ( A troll girl ): Hu, hey, lad mig bide ham i LARET! Hu, hey, let me bite him in the hips! ( A Troll Witch with a wooden spoon ): Skal han lages til sod above sø? Should I cook it in broth? (Another troll witch with a butcher knife ): Skal han på spid eller brunes i web gryde? Shall he roast on a spit or turn brown in the pan? (The Mountain King ): Isvand i blodet! Calm down!

Preview

(Inclusion of Musopen Symphony Orchestra )

Musical interpretations

• Zedd has processed the theme of the work in his electro - house track Dovregrubben.
• The British heavy metal group Witchfynde used the topic at home and outro of the song Cry Wolf on their 1983 released album Cloak and Dagger.
• The U.S. power metal band Savatage has interpreted the piece on their 1987 album released Hall of the Mountain King, under the title " Prelude to Madness " new as purely instrumental.
• The group of Rainbow and Ritchie Blackmore designed the piece of music into a conventional hard rock form; in this context, the White Noise DVD In the Hall of the Mountain King is mentioned.
• In connection with the soundtrack to David Fincher's drama The Social Network Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross arranged the title with new electronic sounds. In the finished film the piece during a rowing regatta is heard
• The Finnish cello rock band Apocalyptica plays the piece also live and can be heard on the album Cult.