Edvard Grieg was born in 1843 in Bergen, Norway and died there in 1907.

Grieg did not like having to go to school as a boy and was not very complimentary of the education he received at the Leipzig Conservatory as a teenager. Despite this, Grieg became famous as a concert pianist and toured the world giving recitals of his own compositions.

Arabian Dance is from the second suite of pieces that Grieg created from incidental music written for Peer Gynt. Grieg uses two piccolos to imitate the ney, a type of flute originating in the Middle East.

Grieg is revered by citizens of Norway, and he is so highly regarded around the world that a large crater on the planet Mercury has been named after him.