answered: Peer Gynt, Op. 23 by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg is

  

Peer Gynt, Op. 23 by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg is the incidental music to Henrik Ibsen’s 1867 play of the same name that tells the story of Peer Gynt, a Norwegian peasant anti-hero, who is constantly drunk, getting in and out of trouble, and experiences real and imaginary adventures, including the one portrayed in this piece.
Over a decade after composing the full incidental music for Peer Gynt, Grieg extracted eight movements to make two four-movement suites: Suite No. 1, Op. 46 (1888), and Suite No. 2, Op. 55 (1891). The Peer Gynt suites are among his best-known works.
The last of the four pieces in Suite No. 1, Op. 46 is titled “In the Hall of the Mountain King.” In the play, Peer Gynt, in a dream-like fantasy, enters the hall of the Mountain King. Ibsen’s introduction to the scene continues: “There is a great crowd of troll courtiers, gnomes and goblins. Dovregubben (the Mountain King) sits on his throne, with crown and scepter, surrounded by his children and relatives. Peer Gynt stands before him. There is a tremendous uproar in the hall.”
“In the Hall of the Mountain King” from the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 (2:51)
Your task in this assignment is to:
Listen attentively and identify each occurrence of the theme.
Chose the point of view of a different type of listener—casual, referential, critical, or perceptive—to comment on each of those entries. For example, pretend to be a casual listener in one case, and a perceptive listener in another.
Address the following questions in your descriptions :
1) How does Grieg use dynamics, timbre, pitch, and tempo to achieve unity and variety in the piece?
Dynamics: Are dynamic (volume) changes gradual or abrupt in this piece? Are there any specific places where abrupt changes happen? What effect do you think Grieg is trying to achieve?
Timbre: Identify the points where one instrument or instruments takes over from another. At what points do these changes happen?
Pitch: At what points is the theme played at a different register, i.e., higher or lower than the previous time it happened? At what points does it stay at the same pitch level?
Tempo: At what point does the tempo start getting faster (accelerando)? Does the piece get slower again?
2) List the specific connotation(s) that this piece might have for a perceptive listener.
Below are two sample answers (comments) to serve as a general guideline for the completion of this assignment:
A referential listener could describe the first entry of the theme in the following way: “The low pitch and slower tempo of this reminds me of the “Inspector Gadget” cartoon I used to watch. It has a mysterious aspect to it.”
A critical listener may describe another entry of the theme in the following way: “The lack of variety in this piece makes it boring and predictable. The composer is trying to add variety through the tempo changes, pitch, and timbre of the instruments but the lack of the musical ideas in this piece make it impossible to keep me interested.”