Quote by Edvard Grieg: “Artists like Beethoven open windows on heaven and earth simultaneously.”

Great art reaches in two directions at once — upward toward something transcendent or universal, and downward into the concrete, earthly world we actually live in. Grieg is saying that artistic genius does not choose between the spiritual and the real; it holds them together.

Grieg worked during the height of European Romantic nationalism, when music was closely tied to the political project of asserting distinct national identities. Norway was seeking independence from Sweden, and Grieg's use of folk melodies was a deliberate act of cultural assertion.

Norwegian composer and pianist whose music, including the Peer Gynt Suite and his Piano Concerto in A minor, became internationally celebrated expressions of Norwegian national identity. He is the most widely performed Scandinavian composer in the classical repertoire.