<P> Grieg himself wrote "For the Hall of the Mountain King I have written something that so reeks of cowpats, ultra-Norwegianism, and' to - thyself - be-enough - ness' that I can't bear to hear it, though I hope that the irony will make itself felt ." The theme of "to thyself be...enough"--avoiding the commitment implicit in the phrase "To thine own self be true" and just doing enough--is central to Peer Gynt's satire, and the phrase is discussed by Peer and the mountain king in the scene which follows the piece . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Part 2 of the theme </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> Part 2 of the theme </Td> </Tr> <P> The piece is in the overall key of B minor . The simple theme begins slowly and quietly in the lowest registers of the orchestra, played first by the cellos, double basses, and bassoons . After being stated, the main theme is then very slightly modified with a few different ascending notes, but transposed up a perfect fifth (to the key of F - sharp major, the dominant key, but with flattened sixth) and played on different instruments . </P>

Peer gynt suite no. 1 in the hall of the mountain king