Grieg "I Love Thee" - Easy Piano Arrangement

Edvard Grieg: "I Love Thee" ("Jeg elsker Dig"), from Melodies of the Heart, Op. 5 No. 3

PDF Sheet music, piano solo
Simple Solutions piano arrangement by Henrik Kilhamn

Approximate Grade: 4-
Scale 1 - 8: Beginner - Advanced

Key: C major, same as original

This is the perfect way of proclaiming one’s love musically, which Edvard Grieg did in an engagement present to his fiancée Nina with four Melodies of the Heart, Op. 5. Written in a full romantic style, the original piano part is actually quite substantive, shadowing the voice for much of it as well as providing the harmonic foundation in repeated chords. This arrangement has kept a trace of the shadow in LH for one bar before settling into easier chord positions and letting RH take over the melody. Because of its brevity it’s commonly played da capo; here a repeat is inserted which goes immediately into the second time, fusing the melody with the original piano part “echo” to avoid too much repetition.

This arrangement is included in Simple Solutions Volume 5 - A Burning Desire (Intermediate ~ Grade 3-5)

ABOUT SIMPLE SOLUTIONS

The Simple Solutions series came from the idea that even not-professionally trained pianists should be able to enjoy the feeling of playing great music from the piano repertoire with their own hands. This is possible with some clever rearranging of the musical material: reducing the range of independent voices and jumps while preserving core ideas of melody and rhythm. In this easier setting, you will instead have enough time on your hands (literally!) to bring the music to life and care about those aspect that often otherwise come second: phrasing, articulation, dynamics, and balance. This will help you develop your over-all musicality, which will be of great value in all other pieces as well.

In the end, if you feel ready for a challenge and want to go forward with proper piano studies that requires years of practice – you can always move on to more advanced arrangements or original piano compositions. They will always be there. In the meantime, these arrangements will bring you close to the same enjoyment as the full versions, because all musical ideas are carefully conserved.

They are just a little bit easier.