In 1880, Edvard Grieg composed twelve songs based on the poetry of A.O. Vinje. Two of those he arranged for string orchestra as Two Elegiac Melodies. Four years later Grieg composed a five-piece suite to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Ludvig Holberg, the Norwegian-born writer who played a major role in the founding of Danish literature. Originally written for piano, Grieg soon arranged From Holberg?s Time for string orchestra. Nearly one hundred years later, Kathryn Forbes? novel, Mama?s Bank Account, was published, recounting the tale of a Norwegian family living in San Francisco in the early Twentieth Century. Forbes? book inspired a number of dramatic presentations, Broadway and Hollywood productions. Most relevant to ?Two By Grieg,? however, was Mama, a TV series CBS launched in 1949 that ran for eight years. This weekly half-hour program used two Grieg compositions as themes: ?Sarabande? from Holberg Suite and ?The Last Spring? from Two Elegiac Melodies. For many viewers, this was the first time they had ever heard these beautiful songs, and the two melodies have been forever linked thereafter. ?Sarabande? and ?The Last Spring? are the compositions that comprise ?Two By Grieg.? This arrangement is based on Grieg?s string orchestration and stays as close as possible to the original. Completed in 2016, this arrangement runs about 7 minutes, 3 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, will be happy to provide substitute parts (for example, treble clef baritone for trombone) at no charge; contact him directly at lessmith61@bellsouth.net. For more arrangements by Les, enter "Sweetwater Brass Press" (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.

Song List: I'll Fly Away (Albert E Brumley) Because He Lives (Wm & Gloria Gaither) To Be Used of God (Audrey Mieir) El-Shaddai (J Thompson/M Card) Let's Just Praise the Lord (William Gaither) Thou Art Worthy (Pauline Mills) I'll Tell the World That I'm A Christian (Bock) Healer of Broken Hearts (Bock) He Is with Me (Bock) He Touched Me (Bock) I Believe in A Hill Called Mt. Calvary (Bock) Over the Sunset Mountains (Bock) Plenty of Room in the Family (Bock) How Great Thou Art (Stuart K Hine) In This Very Room (Ron and Carol Harris) Jesus Loves Me (Bradbury/Debussy) Happiness Nearer, My God, to Thee (S. Adams) What A Friend We Have in Jesus (C Converse) This Is My Country (Raye/Jacobs) Love Lifted Me (J. Rowe/H. Smith) Savior, Like A Shepherd Lead Us (W. Bradbury) I've Got Peace Like A River Greater Is He That Is in Me (Lanny Wolfe) Day by Day (C Berg/O Ahnfelt) I Am A Promise (Wm. & Gloria Gaither) Joy Comes in the Morning (Wm. & Gloria Gaither) I Cannot Fail the Lord (Doris Akers) He's Everything to Me (R Carmichael) When He Shall Come (A J Pearce) Sweet, Sweet Spirit (Doris Akers) Oh, I Never Shall Forget the Day (R Carmichael) Sweeter As the Years Go by (Mrs. C H Morris) Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (Don Wyrtzen) My Heart Is Filled with Jesus' Love (D Akers) Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul (John Peterson) Love At Home (Wm Driggs, Jr.) Thank God for the Promise of Spring (Wm Gaither) God Leads His Dear Children Along (G Young) Even So, Lord Jesus, Come (Wm. Gaither) Jesus Is Coming Again (J Peterson) He'll Never Let You Fall (R Carmichael) Go Tell It On the Mountain Amen Precious Memories LOVE OF GOD, THE (FREDERICK H LEHMAN) BLOOD WILL NEVER LOSE ITS POWER, THE (A. CROUCH) CHURCH TRIUMPHANT, THE (WM GAITHER) UNVEILED CHRIST, THE (N B HERRELL) MIRACLE OF GRACE, THE (R CARMICHAEL)