This is also called “Ingrid’s Complaint” and _“Brautraub_,” or the
robbery of the bride. It is the first of the scenes in the drama which
Grieg has rendered into music, and represents one of the earliest
escapades in the life of the hero, when he attended the rustic
festivities of a wedding in the neighborhood, and, seized with a sudden
infatuation for the bride, Ingrid, ran away with her to the mountains,
in the face of the assembled company. The first four measures, marked
“allegro furioso,” suggest the furious movement and delirious excitement
of the flight and pursuit, contrasting ludicrously with the dazed,
helpless astonishment of the disappointed bridegroom.
The following protracted plaintive minor strains embody the complainings
and reproaches of Ingrid, grieving for a life ruined and happiness
destroyed, from which Peer suddenly makes his escape, brutally leaving
her to her fate in the hills; and the first four measures are repeated
at the close, to indicate that the only lasting impression made upon him
by the whole affair was that of the exciting and triumphant moment of
his success.