Hall Of The Mountain King

In the Hall of the Mountain King is the most famous piece from Edvard Grieg's incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play "Peer Gynt," composed in 1875. The music accompanies a scene where the protagonist Peer Gynt sneaks into the underground hall of the Mountain King (the troll king) and must escape from the angry trolls who discover him. Originally written for the stage, the piece is now almost exclusively performed as a concert work, extracted from Grieg's two orchestral suites compiled from the complete incidental music.

Grieg composed the music as part of Norway's emerging nationalist movement, creating distinctly Scandinavian classical music that drew on folk traditions. The piece perfectly captures the dramatic tension of Ibsen's scene and has become one of the most recognizable pieces in classical music.