<P> The English translation of the name is not literal . Dovre is a mountainous region in Norway, and "gubbe" translates into (old) man or husband . "Gubbe" is used along with its female counterpart "kjerring" to differentiate male and female trolls, "trollgubbe" and "trollkjerring". In the play, Dovregubben is a troll king that Peer Gynt invents in a fantasy . </P> <P> The piece is played as the title character Peer Gynt, in a dream - like fantasy, enters "Dovregubben (the troll Mountain King)'s hall". The scene's introduction continues: "There is a great crowd of troll courtiers, gnomes and goblins . Dovregubben sits on his throne, with crown and sceptre, surrounded by his children and relatives . Peer Gynt stands before him . There is a tremendous uproar in the hall ." The lines sung are the first lines in the scene . </P> <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> <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>

In the hall of the mountain king song