Edvard Grieg was a Norwegian composer who began his professional life as a pianist. His mother, an amateur pianist, taught Grieg to play the piano and provided him with his first introduction to music. In 1858 Grieg attended the Leipzig Conservatory, where he studied piano with Plaidy and Wenzel and later with Ignaz Moscheles. He studied theory with E. F. Richter, Robert Papperitz, Moritz Hauptmann and Carl Reinecke. For most of his early career, Grieg was immersed in the atmosphere of German romanticism. His early works are infused with lyric moods related to these influences.
During the mid-1870s, the Norwegian government granted Grieg an annuity of 1,600 crowns, which enabled him to devote most of his time to composing.
Grieg is known as a nationalistic composer, as he often quoted Norwegian folk songs in his works. The Peer Gynt Suite, numerous piano works, and even more vocal-choral compositions remain in the active repertory.
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