This article presents an analysis of Grieg's lyric piece ‘Takk’ (‘Gratitude’), focusing on the B section of the piece. In that section Grieg makes use of a harmonic progression that is difficult to explain vertically (i.e. in terms of functional harmony). However, it may be explained as a result of play with chromatic voice‐leading patterns. The progression in question – which is saturated with half‐diminished chords – shares several formal characteristics with the well‐known omnibus progression. It is thus argued that ‘Takk’ features a deformation of this chromatic voice‐leading schema. The progression in question (called x) has the same sequential possibilities as the omnibus, which helps reveal an underlying logic in the complex structure of the piece's B section. Grieg's omnibus deformation in ‘Takk’ is an excellent example of how he chose to structure formal sections based on underlying systematic linearity. A comparison of ‘Takk’ with other lyric pieces sheds light on some regularities regarding systematic linearity in Grieg's music, for instance in the form of schematic deformation.

Bjørnar Utne-Reitan (born 1994) is currently engaged as a scientific assistant at the Grieg Research Centre. He holds a master's degree in applied music theory from the Norwegian Academy of Music and a bachelor's degree in musicology from the University of Oslo. In 2016 he was invited to give a paper at the seminar 'Sketches and Exercises: History and Theory of Compositional Writing' , arranged by the Grieg Research Centre.

Bjørnar Utne-Reitan (b. 1994) is currently a doctoral research fellow at the Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo. He holds degrees in musicology and music theory from the University of Oslo and the Norwegian Academy of Music respectively. Currently, he is writing a PhD dissertation on the history of music theory education in Norway. Utne-Reitan has previously studied Edvard Grieg's music theory exercises from his time as a student at the Leipzig Conservatoire. This is his second published article in Studia Musicologica Norvegica.

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What characterized conservatory music theory pedagogy in nineteenth-century Europe? This article discusses the traditions of music theory pedagogy associated with the conservatories in Paris, Vienna, and Leipzig, specifically focusing on the middle of the nineteenth century (ca. 1830–70). In the first section, the characteristics of the three individual traditions are discussed separately. The second section compares these traditions from three perspectives: theoretical framework, pedagogical approach, and historical legacy. Although the traditions are different on several central points (e.g., ties to Italian partimento pedagogy in Paris, to Ramellian fundamental bass in Vienna, and to Weberian Roman numeral analysis in Leipzig), they also have some fundamental similarities that drew the borders—the defining limits—of conservatory music theory. The author argues that in the nineteenth century the idea of music theory as a primarily written discipline (centered on textbooks and written exercises and largely separated from musical performance) became a central element of these general characteristics of music theory pedagogy that would be taken for granted and accepted as self-evident across institutional traditions.