f Anitra, the unaccustomed
charm which induced her victim to yield so easily to her the things he
most valued. To come down from the realm of poetry to the barren
facts, it is simply a sort of quick waltz or mazurka, and the
connection of Mr. Ibsen's Anitra with it is purely imaginary.

The fourth of these tone pictures is entitled "In the Hall of the
Mountain King." It relates to an episode in Peer Gynt's life when, in
exploring the mountain, he came upon one of the original owners of the
country, quite in the manner that happened later to Rip Van Winkle in
the Catskills of New York. The gnome took him into the cavern in the
mountain where his people had their home, and it is the queer and
uncanny music of these humorous and prankish people that Grieg has
brought out in this closing movement of the suite. It is a rapid,
dance-like movement which, in the orchestral arrangement, is extremely
grotesque in the tone coloring; even on the piano, when sufficiently
well done, much of this quality appertains to it.

More closely examined, this suite of Grieg's has a certain resemblance
to a sonata. The first movement is somewhat elaborately worked out,
the second movement a slow one, the third in the manner of a scherzo,
and the fourth a sort of grotesque finale. The order of the keys,
however, is different from what would be considered correct in a
sonata. The first piece is in the key of E major, the funeral march in
B minor, Anitra's dance in A minor, and the finale in B minor
again--the whole very pleasing and poetic.

In the collection of pieces called "Aus dem Volksleben," or "Sketches
of Norwegian Life," the national coloring is still more marked. This
work contains three pieces, the first entitled "On the Mountain," the
second a "Norwegian Bridal Procession," and the third "Carnival." "On
the Mountain," after an opening of a soft chord or open fifth in A
minor, commences with a bass melody in unison, as if played by basses
and 'cellos. The rhythm is that of a strongly-marked peasant dance, as
is shown by the emphatic half-note at the end of the phrase, as if here
the peasant put down his foot solidly. In the sixth measure of this
melody another Norwegian peculiarity appears in the minor seventh of
the key. This melody, after having been delivered in unison by the
basses, is taken up by the sopranos and continued with accompaniment.
Later on a soft and rather sweet middle piece in A major comes in,
after w