GRIEG, Edvard [1843-1907]: Autograph letter with place, date and signature Bergen, Norwegen d., 12. Juli 1887.. 4 pages on brown paper with the printed initials at the head. Paper recto somewhat faded, smaller creases. Small missing part at lower fold with no loss of text.

Severe criticism by Grieg of the "Gewandthausgeschmack". Beautiful, content-rich letter to the Leipzig publisher Ernst Wilhelm Fritzsch (1840-1902) in German: "Dear Fritzsch! Herewith follows the Correctur. The French text is often quite wrongly underlaid, which I have always indicated by NB. and dashes, and I now ask the engraver to proceed with the greatest care. Hopefully, correction will soon follow on the orchestral parts, on the organ part, which is still missing, and on the choral parts. What you wrote to me about the string quartet pleased me immensely. I do not easily forget how the work was treated by the press after the first Leipzig performance, and I am not modest enough not to feel that I was wronged then. Should more liberal views now be represented in the Leipzig press, then Brodsky, the artist so sympathetic to me, would be the right man. However, I am not a Sangoinik in this respect, after my Holberg Suite [op. 40], an occasional work in pigtail style, where every trace of one's own personality appears carefully concealed, met with success that was as comical as it was characteristic of Gewandhaus taste. Hopefully Brodsky himself suggested the performance of the quartet!? I had a bad time. My health troubled me so much for a long time that I felt nothing less than stimulated to compose. At the end of this year - at the latest - I hope to be able to welcome you in Leipzig. Yours sincerely, Edvard Grieg. P.S. I have gratefully received the 75 Marks mentioned in your letter". The work to be corrected is op. 20 "Vor der Klosterpforte" for women's choir with orchestral accompaniment, whose score, orchestral, solo and choral parts had already been published by Fritzsch in 1876. Grieg dedicated the work to Franz Liszt at that time. In November 1888, the first edition of the piano reduction was published by Fritzsch. Grieg addresses Fritzsch about the G minor String Quartet, which the publisher brought out in 1879, after it had been rejected by Dr. Abraham of Peters-Verlag. Performed at the Gewandhaus on November 30, 1878, the G minor quartet was completely torn apart by the critic Bernsdorf, as the A minor concerto had been 6 years earlier. The importance of the work, however, was clear to Franz Liszt, who praised it as an "unusual and excellent work." Russian violinist Adolf Brodsky premiered Grieg's C minor Sonata at the New Gewandhaus on Dec. 10, 1887, and it was a great success. In February 1888, the Brodsky Quartet performed the G minor String Quartet, and this time it was a great triumph for the composer. - Such long and content-rich letters are a real rarity with Grieg. Enclosed is an oval portrait of Grieg (16x12 cm).