Holberg Suite

Edvard Grieg's Holberg Suite, Opus 40, is a five-movement suite based on eighteenth-century dance forms. It was written in 1884 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Danish-Norwegian playwright Ludvig Holberg. The Holberg Suite was originally composed for solo piano, but a year later Grieg adapted it for string orchestra. The suite consists of an introduction and a set of dances. Although not as famous as Grieg's Peer Gynt incidental music, many critics consider the Holberg Suite to be of equal merit.

Edvard Grieg (1843 – 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is renowned as a nationalist composer, drawing inspiration from Norwegian folk-music. He wrote, "I am sure my music has the taste of codfish in it". (Frommer's Norway: 3rd edition, ISBN 978-0-470-10057-8, page 274, 2007.) Grieg's compositions have been used extensively in media, music education, and popular music.

Among his best known works are the Piano Concerto in A Minor, the Peer Gynt Suites (which include Morning Mood and In the Hall of the Mountain King), the Lyric Pieces, and the Holberg Suite. Grieg wrote many songs, in which he set lyrics by poets Heinrich Heine, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Henrik Ibsen, Hans Christian Andersen, Rudyard Kipling, and others.