Nina Grieg, née Hagerup (24 November 1845 – 9 December 1935) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

–

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

lyric soprano.

Early life and family

Nina Hagerup was born in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. She was the

first cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, " ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...

, whom she married.

Career

The couple often performed concerts together in Europe; on 6 December 1897, they performed some of his music at a private concert at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

for

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

and her court. Her husband Edvard considered her the best performer of his songs, and her performances usually received rave reviews. However, one of Victoria's courtiers called her singing "passée". She was featured as a soloist in

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...

's ''

Elijah Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books of ...

'' with ''

Musikselskabet Harmonien The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is a Norwegian orchestra based in Bergen. Its principal concert venue is the Grieg Hall. History Established in 1765 under the name ''Det Musicalske Selskab'' (The Musical Society), it later changed its name t ...

'' (later known as the

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is a Norwegian orchestra based in Bergen. Its principal concert venue is the Grieg Hall. History Established in 1765 under the name ''Det Musicalske Selskab'' (The Musical Society), it later changed its name t ...

) in 1866.https://www.nb.no/items/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2010062508025 Haavet, Inger Elisabeth (1998): ''Nina Grieg: kunstner og kunstnerhustru'', p. 65 The English composer

Frederick Delius Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius ( 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934), originally Fritz Delius, was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted atte ...

dedicated two sets of songs to her in the years 1888–1890. Nina Grieg never recorded professionally, but two amateur recordings made on

wax cylinders Phonograph cylinders are the earliest commercial medium for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity (c. 1896–1916), these hollow cylinder, cylind ...

have been preserved (in quite poor condition) and have been issued on the Simax label.

Personal life and death

She married her first cousin, Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, on 11 June 1867, in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. Nina and Edvard identified as Unitarians. After his death in 1907, she moved to Denmark. In Copenhagen, she attended a Unitarian church. She died in 1935 at the age of 90. She was cremated and her ashes were placed with her husband's' ashes in a mountain tomb near

Troldhaugen Troldhaugen is the former home of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg and his wife Nina Grieg. Troldhaugen is located in Bergen, Norway and consists of the Edvard Grieg Museum, Grieg's villa, the hut where he composed music, and his and his wife's g ...

, outside

, where the couple had shared a home for most of their married years.

Literature

*Haavet, Inger Elisabeth (1998): ''Nina Grieg. Kunstner og kunstnerhustru.'' H. Aschehoug & Co. (W. Nygaard), Oslo. . (Digital copy in Norwegian, available for Norwegian IP addresses only, at the Norwegian National Library's website.)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grieg, Nina 1845 births Norwegian Unitarians 1935 deaths 19th-century Norwegian women singers Musicians from Bergen

Nina Grieg Nina Grieg, née Hagerup (24 November 1845 – 9 December 1935) was a Danish–Norwegian lyric soprano. Early life and family Nina Hagerup was born in Bergen, Norway. She was the first cousin of composer Edvard Grieg, whom she married. Car ...

Norwegian expatriates in Denmark

Early life and family

Career

Personal life and death

Literature

See also

References