Edvard Grieg
Olav Trygvason, Op. 50 (1873, rev. 1888-89)
Operatic Fragments in 3 Scenes
Librettist : Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832−1910)
Asbjorn Hansli, and Toril Carlsen with the Oslo Philharmonic Chorus and London Symphony Orchestra doncducted by Per Dreier
Olav Trygvason is a case of “what might have been,” and was a victim of a classic failure of communication. One of Grieg’s dreams was to compose the “Great Norwegian Opera”, and in 1873 he appeared to have the makings of just such a project at hand. Bjørnsterne Bjørnson, the great Norwegian poet and playwright, had developed three scenes of a libretto for an opera on the subject of Olav Trygvason, the revered Norwegian historical figure and King of Norway from about 995 A.D. to 1000 A.D.
Grieg, A Symposium (ed. Gerald Abraham) contains a section by John Horton, on Grieg’s Works for the Stage. Horton tells us,
“Bjørnson seems to have begun Olav Trygvason in 1872. In July of the following year he sent Grieg the first three scenes with a characteristically exuberant note promising the remainder of the work and urging Grieg to have the whole opera ready by the following October. Grieg not unnaturally wanted a synopsis of the plot, or at least to know how the opening scenes were to be related to the whole drama. But Bjørnson had already gone off on a fresh tack; he had begun in the same year to interest himself in writing plays about contemporary life and manners, such as Redaktøren (The Editor) and En Fallit (A Bankruptcy), which in some ways ran on parallel lines to the experiments Ibsen was making at the same period. It is therefore not surprising that Bjørnson found it difficult to drag himself back to historical drama and complete Olav Trygvason; what wasless reasonable was his fury with Grieg for undertaking Peer Gynt in the summer of 1874, therebyshelving Olav for what Bjørnson took to be another opera text. The unedifying dispute dragged on for several years, dramatist and composer accusing each other of procrastination and negligence.
But Bjørnson never sent another line, and Grieg abandoned the work as an opera, letting the sketches lie in his desk until the end of 1889, when he adapted them for concert performance. This cause of estrangement between the two friends led, happily, to an opportunity for reconciliation when Grieg dedicated the concert version of Olav to Bjørnson in warm and generous terms.”