Peer Gynt/Morning Mood

Morning Mood (Norwegian: Morgenstemning) is a composition belonging to Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt, Op. 23, written in 1875 as incidental music to Henrik Ibsen’s play of the same name, and was also included as the first of four movements in Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46. The melody in the piece is alternating between flute and oboe.

The piece depicts the rising of the sun during Act IV, Scene 4, of Ibsen’s play, which finds the eponymous hero stranded in the Moroccan desert after his companions took his yacht and abandoned him there while he slept. The scene begins with the following description:

A grove of palms and acacias at dawn. PEER GYNT is up a tree, protecting himself with a broken-off branch from a swarm of apes.

As the Peer Gynt suites take their pieces out of the original context of the play, Morning Mood is not widely known in its original setting, and images of Grieg’s Scandinavian origins more frequently spring to the minds of its listeners than those of the desert it was written to depict.

Opus 23, Peer Gynt. Incidental Music/Scenemusic to Ibsens drama (1874-1875).
No. 1, Prelude til 1. akt: I Bryllupsgården / At the Wedding
No. 2, Halling
No. 3, Springdans
No. 4, Prelude til 2. akt: Bruderovet – Ingrids Klage / The Abduction of the Bride
No. 5, Peer Gynt og Sæterjentene / Peer Gynt and the Herd Girls
No. 6, Den grønklædde / The Woman in Green
No. 7, På ridestellet skal storfolk kjennes / You can tell great men by the style of their mounts
No. 8, I Dovregubbens Hall / In the Hall of the Mountain King
No. 9, Dans av Dovregubbens Datter / Dance of the Mountain King’s Daughter
No. 10, Peer Gynt jages av trollene / Peer Gynt Hunted by the Trolls
No. 11, Bøygen / The Bøyg
No. 12, Åses Død / The Death of Aase
No. 13, Prelude til 4. akt: Morgenstemning / Morning Mood
No. 14, Tyven og mottageren / The Thief and the Receiver
No. 15, Arabisk Dans / Arabian Dance
No. 16, Anitras dans / Anitra’s Dance
No. 17, Peer Gynts Serenade
No. 18, Peer Gynt og Anitra / Peer Gynt and Anitra
No. 19, Solveigs Sang / Solveig’s Song
No. 20, Peer Gynt ved Memnonstatuen / Peer Gynt at the Statue of Memnon
No. 21, Peer Gynts hjemkomst / Peer Gynt’s Homecoming
No. 22, Skipsforliset / The Shipwreck
No. 23, Solveigs sang i hytten / Solveig’s Song in the Hut
No. 24, Nattscene / Nightscene
No. 25, Kirkefolk / Whitsun Hymn
No. 26, Solveigs vuggevise / Solveig’s Cradle Song