Grieg's music in popular culture Grieg's music in popular culture The music of the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg has been used extensively in media, music education, and popular music. For the 150th anniversary of his birth, Norway organized a huge celebration, "Grieg in the Schools", which included programs for children from pre-school to secondary school in 1993. The programs were repeated in 1996 in Germany, and called "Grieg in der Schule", in which over a thousand students participated. There were Grieg observances in 39 countries, from Mexico to Moscow. Further celebrations of Grieg and his music were held in 2007, the 100th anniversary of his
Haugtussa (Grieg) character’s personal story and the mystic spring-like landscape that surrounds her, which may even motivate it. Edvard Grieg read Arne Garborg's "Haugtussa" in May 1895, and was so inspired that he composed twelve songs in a month, four of which he rejected. He then spent three years completing the project. He first conceived it as a larger work with orchestra, but in 1898 decided to set just a cycle of eight songs for voice and piano, and gave them a final polish before they were printed in September that year. Grieg wanted "Haugtussa" to reflect Garborg's poems, but by using