Two Elegia Melodies Op. 34

In 1880, Edvard Grieg arranged two songs from his Op. 33, “Twelve Songs after poems by Vinje” for string orchestra and entitled it “Two Elegiac Melodies”. Grieg’s lush romantic orchestrations of both “Wounded Heart” and “The Last Spring” take advantage of the large range and many colour possibilities of the string orchestra while still preserving the strong vocal character of the melodies. All of the original articulation markings and phrasing from Grieg’s score for strings are retained in the trombone parts, in an effort to evoke bowings and pizzicatos from the brass articulation. Also, mutes and textural variety are employed to simulate Grieg’s registral shifts and contrasts of orchestration.