ranked ultimately as second to Schubert only; but it is in his later
works that he rises to such heights, not in the earliest ones, in
which he was still a little afraid to rely on his wings."

When it is recalled that Grieg was a pianist of exceptional merit,
the large place occupied by pianoforte pieces--twenty-eight of the
seventy-three opus numbers--it is easily understood. Grieg's piano
pieces are brief, but they are veritable gems. The Jumbo idea in music
still lingers with minor professionals. They shrug their shoulders,
remarks Finck, and exclaim: "Yes, that humming bird _is_ very
beautiful, but of course it can not be ranked as high as an ostrich.
Don't you see how small it is?"

Grieg composed nine works for the orchestra; and here, as in lyric
art-songs and pianoforte pieces, he reveals himself as a consummate
master in painting delicate yet glowing colors. The music which he set
to Ibsen's _Peer Gynt_ brought him the largest measure of fame as an
orchestral composer. Indeed it was more cordially received than the
drama, as is indicated by this criticism by Hanslick: "Perhaps in a
few years Ibsen's _Peer Gynt_ will live only through Grieg's music,
which, to my taste, has more poetry and artistic intelligence in every
number than the whole five-act monstrosity of Ibsen." Among other
notable orchestral and chamber music numbers may be mentioned a
setting of Björnson's _Sigurd the Crusader, Bergliot_, based upon
the sagas of the Norse kings, a suite composed for the two hundredth
anniversary of Ludwig Holberg, and a number of choice chamber music
pieces.

It may be remarked that Edvard Grieg has not only given Norway a
conspicuous place on the map of musical Europe, but that he has