Composer's hut
'If anyone should break in here, please leave the musical scores, since they have no value to anyone except Edvard Grieg.' These are the words the now legendary Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg would leave on his writing desk every time he left his lakeside composer's hut. At the end of a day's work or whenever he went out of town, he would place this handwritten note in case of intruders.
The composer who created the music for Henrik Ibsen's epic poem Peer Gynt had this hut built near his villa in Troldhaugen, Norway, in 1891. Plagued by constant visitors and noises from the kitchen in his home, Grieg would lock himself in his hut every day in an attempt to be alone with his music.
Sometimes, however, even that wouldn't work. He was easily distracted, and even the slightest sound or happening on the lake would take his mind off what he was doing. It's good to hear that even genuises have trouble focusing.
Photos: courtesy Edvard Grieg Museum Troldhaugen KF
2007 May 5
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