Bergen, Norway
July 18–20, 2023
The Nutshell tour lived up to its reputation, and after a very long day we made it to our hotels in Bergen. We may have met up with Torrey and Christopher for supper or we may have just crashed. When you travel with me or with Lee or with Torrey or with Christopher, you will experience a number of wild goose chases, some intentional, some not, and many serendipitous, but not all. With the four of us together and giving conflicting directions, you can't expect me to recall where all we went and when.
Tuesday the 18th was the one full day that the four of us would have together in Bergen, so I booked us for the tour to Edvard Grieg's summer home, including a piano concert of his music. That and the Nutshell trip were the two givens for my Norway travels.
Grieg survived two serious respiratory illnesses and suffered ill health the rest of his life. It is remarkable that he was able to maintain the level he did of composing and performing. He was a native of Bergen, but of Scottish Clann Ghriogair extraction (making him kin to the MacGregors, and either kin to or an enemy of or both of Torrey's ancestors). He made many friends including many famous people, and was admired by other famous composers. He did receive hate mail from anti-Semites in France.
Grieg's wife Nina outlived him by 28 years. She was a celebrated singer, and they did many concerts together. The photo below shows her in old age, and I think the portrait above is from when she was young.
I can't recall the significance of the large painting over the piano. If you know, I'll pass the information along here.
Here Torrey is looking into the cabin that Grieg used for composing. It had a magnificent, and I bet inspiring, view.
The tour concluded with a wonderful program of Grieg's piano music, played beautifully by a young Asian woman.
Lee and I had front-row seats, so that is the view I had for the concert.
