Songfacts®:

• This comes from Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg's solo Lyric Pieces (Norwegian: Lyriske stykker), a collection of 66 small-to-medium sized pieces for solo piano. The works were published across ten volumes between 1867 and 1901. This piece in Book VIII bears the name Opus 65, No.6.
• Originally called "Gratulanterne kommer" (The well-wishers are coming), Grieg wrote this happy-sounding celebration of marital bliss in 1896 as a 25th anniversary present for his soprano wife, Nina. The anniversary celebration had been held in the Fossli Hotel near the Vøringsfossen waterfall four years earlier. Grieg gave the work its final title the following year when he compiled Book VIII of his Lyric Pieces.
• Grieg married his cousin Nina Hagerup on June 11, 1867. A concert singer, she helped to make his music known throughout Europe. Nina was the inspiration for many of the Norwegian composer's best songs.
• Troldhaugen was the home of Edvard Grieg, located in his hometown, Bergen The couple first moved into their new home in 1885. It was Nina Grieg's suggestion that he called it Troldhaugen ("The Hill of the Trolls").
• The ashes of Grieg and his wife both rest inside a mountain tomb near their Troldhaugen villa.