Saturdays and Edvard Grieg

Every Saturday between 10-12 am during early childhood is when I would have access to my father. My father was the mystical person, seldom home, and always “very busy”. On Saturday mornings, he would sit in our formal living room and listen to classical music for hours and read the newspaper. I would get a chocolate bar and be invited to sit with him IF I was quiet and gave him peace. He called this “our time”.

I just finished a book that used Norway during the 1890-1940s as a backdrop and Grieg was a character. I decided to play his work as I was reading the book and all those Saturdays washed over me. Sadness for me, that this was my only parental time with one unit.  Grieg’s compositions had been buried deep down in my subconscious. I knew most of them. Actually, I knew all of them.

I suspect that Grieg was on heavy rotation those Saturdays. It would make sense. He was from Western Norway where my father also was raised. He is indeed the musical pride of Norway. But for me, Grieg equates "restricted access" and "conditionally". The small time with my father that was just ours, although completely on his terms.

When I worked at Victoria's Secret in my early twenties, their corporate brand was quiet elegance and as a result they only played classical music in their stores. 24/7. Now I am clear on why I hated it and what it represented.

A man so enthralled by the beauty of music but so closed off to his family is paradoxical to me. How can both things be true?