Richard Aaker Trythall Richard Aaker Trythall Richard Aaker Trythall (born July 25, 1939) is an American and Italian composer and pianist of contemporary classical music. Trythall was born on July 25, 1939 in Knoxville, Tennessee, the younger brother of composer Gilbert Harry Trythall. His family, related to composer Edvard Grieg, has Welsh and Norwegian ancestry, and moved to the United States from Norway. He attended Central High School in Knoxville and in 1958 he enrolled at the University of Tennessee, where he studied under David Van Vactor graduating with a Bachelor of Music in 1961. His interest in composition was fostered by Van
Haugtussa (Grieg) the piano. From verse to verse, Grieg gradually changes this passage using different harmonizations. The first to perform the complete cycle of songs in Cristiania was Eva Nansen, wife of the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen, with Grieg's colleague and friend Agathe Backer-Grøndahl at the piano, on 2 November 1899. Grieg was not present at the recital, for he had a concert in Stockholm at the same time. Four of the "Haugtussa" songs were also performed on 22 October 1898 by the Norwegian-born Swedish singer Dagmar Möller, to whom the cycle was dedicated. Haugtussa (Grieg) Haugtussa, Op. 67, or "The Mountain