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= Peer_Gynt =
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Introduction
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'Peer Gynt' (, ) is a five-act play in verse written in 1867 by the
Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. It is one of Ibsen's best known and
most widely performed plays.
'Peer Gynt' chronicles the journey of its title character from the
Norwegian mountains to the North African desert and back. According to
Klaus Van Den Berg, "its origins are Romantic, but the play also
anticipates the fragmentations of emerging modernism" and the
"cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic
scenes with surreal ones." 'Peer Gynt' has also been described as the
story of a life based on procrastination and avoidance.
Ibsen wrote 'Peer Gynt' in deliberate disregard of the limitations
that the conventional stagecraft of the 19th century imposed on drama.
Its forty scenes move uninhibitedly in time and space and between
consciousness and the unconscious, blending folkloric fantasy and
unsentimental realism. Raymond Williams compares 'Peer Gynt' with
August Strindberg's early drama 'Lucky Peter's Journey' (1882) and
argues that both explore a new kind of dramatic action that was beyond
the capacities of the theatre of the day; both created "a sequence of
images in language and visual composition" that "became technically
possible only in film."
Ibsen believed 'Per Gynt', a Norwegian fairy-tale by which the play is
loosely inspired, to be rooted in fact. He also wrote that he had used
his own family--the intertwined Ibsen/Paus family of Skien--and
childhood memories as "some kind of model" for the Gynt family; he
acknowledged that the character of Åse--Peer Gynt's mother--was based
on his own mother, Marichen Altenburg, while Peer's father Jon Gynt is
widely interpreted as based on Ibsen's father Knud Ibsen. He was also
generally inspired by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen's collection of
Norwegian fairy-tales, 'Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn', published in
1845.
The play was written in Italy, and a first edition of 1,250 copies was
published on 14 November 1867 by the Danish publisher Gyldendal in
Copenhagen. Although the first edition swiftly sold out, a reprint of
two thousand copies, which followed after only fourteen days, did not
sell out until seven years later. During Ibsen's lifetime, Denmark and
Norway had a largely identical written language based on Danish, but
Ibsen wrote 'Peer Gynt' in a somewhat modernized Dano-Norwegian that
included a number of distinct Norwegian words.
'Peer Gynt' was first performed in Christiania (now Oslo) on 24
February 1876, with original music composed by Edvard Grieg that
includes some of today's most recognised classical pieces, "In the
Hall of the Mountain King" and "Morning Mood". It was published in
German translation in 1881, in English in 1892, and in French in 1896.
The contemporary influence of the play continues into the twenty-first
century; it is widely performed internationally both in traditional
and in modern experimental productions.
While Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson admired the play's "satire on Norwegian
egotism, narrowness, and self-sufficiency" and described it as
"magnificent", Hans Christian Andersen, Georg Brandes and Clemens
Petersen all joined the widespread hostility, Petersen writing that
the play was not poetry. Enraged by Petersen's criticisms in
particular, Ibsen defended his work by arguing that it "'is' poetry;
and if it isn't, it will become such. The conception of poetry in our
country, in Norway, shall shape itself according to this book."
Despite this defense of his poetic achievement in 'Peer Gynt', the
play was his last to employ verse; from 'The League of Youth' (1869)
onwards, Ibsen was to write drama only in prose.
Act I
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Peer Gynt is the son of the once-highly regarded Jon Gynt, who spent
all his money on feasting and living lavishly and had to leave his
farm to become a wandering salesman, leaving his wife and son behind
in debt. Åse, his wife, wished to raise her son to restore the lost
fortune of his father, but Peer is soon considered to be useless. He
is a poet and a braggart, not unlike the youngest son from the
Norwegian fairy-tale "The Ash Lad", with whom he shares some
characteristics.
As the play opens, Peer gives an account of a reindeer hunt that went
awry, a famous theatrical scene generally known as "the Buckride". His
mother scorns him for his vivid imagination, and taunts him because he
spoiled his chances with Ingrid, the daughter of the richest farmer.
Peer leaves for Ingrid's wedding, scheduled for the following day,
because he may still get a chance with the bride. His mother follows
quickly to stop him from shaming himself completely.
At the wedding, the other guests taunt and laugh at Peer, especially
the local blacksmith, Aslak, who holds a grudge after an earlier
brawl. In the same wedding, Peer meets a family of Haugean newcomers
from another valley. He instantly notices the elder daughter, Solveig,
and asks her to dance. She refuses because her father would
disapprove, and because Peer's reputation has preceded him. She
leaves, and Peer starts drinking. When he hears the bride has locked
herself in, he seizes the opportunity, runs away with her, and spends
the night with her in the mountains.
Act II
========
Peer is banished for kidnapping Ingrid. As he wanders the mountains,
his mother and Solveig's father search for him. Peer meets three
amorous dairymaids who are waiting to be courted by trolls (a folklore
motif from Gudbrandsdalen). He becomes highly intoxicated with them
and spends the next day alone suffering from a hangover. He runs
head-first into a rock and swoons, and the rest of the second act
probably takes place in Peer's dreams.
He comes across a woman clad in green, who claims to be the daughter
of the troll mountain king. Together they ride into the mountain hall,
and the troll king gives Peer the opportunity to become a troll if
Peer would marry his daughter. Peer agrees to a number of conditions,
but declines in the end. He is then confronted with the fact that the
green-clad woman has become pregnant. Peer denies this; he claims not
to have touched her, but the wise troll king replies that he begat the
child in his head. Crucial for the plot and understanding of the play
is the question asked by the troll king: "What is the difference
between troll and man?"
The answer given by the Old Man of the Mountain is: "Out there, where
sky shines, humans say: 'To thyself be true.' In here, trolls say: 'To
thyself be enough.'" Egotism is a typical trait of the trolls in this
play. From then on, Peer uses this as his motto, always proclaiming
that he is himself. He then meets the Bøyg -- a creature who has no
real description. Asked the question "Who are you?" the Bøyg answers,
"Myself". In time, Peer also takes the Bøyg's important saying as a
motto: "Go around". For the rest of his life he "beats around the
bush" instead of facing himself or the truth.
Upon awaking, Peer is confronted by Helga, Solveig's sister, who gives
him food and regards from her sister. Peer gives the girl a silver
button for Solveig to keep and asks that she not forget him.
Act III
=========
As an outlaw, Peer struggles to build his own cottage in the hills.
Solveig turns up and insists on living with him. She has made her
choice, she says, and there will be no return for her. Peer is
delighted and welcomes her, but as she enters the cabin, an
old-looking woman in green garments appears with a limping boy at her
side.
This is the green-clad woman from the mountain hall, and her
half-human brat is the child begotten by Peer from his mind during his
stay there. She has cursed Peer by forcing him to remember her and all
his previous sins, when facing Solveig. Peer hears a ghostly voice
saying "Go roundabout, Peer", and decides to leave. He tells Solveig
he has something heavy to fetch. He returns in time for his mother's
death, and then sets off overseas.
Act IV
========
Peer is away for many years, taking part in various occupations and
playing various roles, including that of a businessman engaged in
enterprises on the coast of Morocco. Here, he explains his view of
life, and we learn that he is a businessman taking part in unethical
transactions, including sending heathen images to China and trading
slaves. In his defense, he points out that he has also sent
missionaries to China, and he treated his slaves well.
His companions rob him, after he decides to support the Turks in
suppressing a Greek revolt, and leave him alone on the shore. He then
finds some stolen Bedouin gear, and, in these clothes, he is hailed as
a prophet by a local tribe. He tries to seduce Anitra, the chieftain's
daughter, but she steals his money and rings, gets away, and leaves
him.
Then he decides to become a historian and travels to Egypt. He wanders
through the desert, passing the Colossi of Memnon and the Sphinx. As
he addresses the Sphinx, believing it to be the Bøyg, he encounters
the keeper of the local madhouse, himself insane, who regards Peer as
the bringer of supreme wisdom. Peer comes to the madhouse and
understands that all of the patients live in their own worlds, being
themselves to such a degree that no one cares for anyone else. In his
youth, Peer had dreamt of becoming an emperor. In this place, he is
finally hailed as one -- the emperor of the "self". Peer despairs and
calls for the "Keeper of all fools", i.e., God.
Act V
=======
Finally, on his way home as an old man, he is shipwrecked. Among those
on board, he meets the Strange Passenger, who wants to make use of
Peer's corpse to find out where dreams have their origin. This
passenger scares Peer out of his wits. Peer lands on shore bereft of
all of his possessions, a pitiful and grumpy old man.
Back home in Norway, Peer attends a peasant funeral and an auction,
where he offers for sale everything from his earlier life. The auction
takes place at the very farm where the wedding once was held. Peer
stumbles along and is confronted with all that he did not do, his
unsung songs, his unmade works, his unwept tears, and his questions
that were never asked. His mother comes back and claims that her
deathbed went awry; he did not lead her to heaven with his ramblings.
Peer escapes and is confronted with the Button-molder, who maintains
that Peer's soul must be melted down with other faulty goods unless he
can explain when and where in life he has been "himself". Peer
protests. He has been only that, and nothing else. Then he meets the
troll king, who states that Peer has been a troll, not a man, most of
his life.
The Button-molder says that he has to come up with something if he is
not to be melted down. Peer looks for a priest to whom to confess his
sins, and a character named "The Lean One" (who is the Devil) turns
up. The Lean One believes Peer cannot be counted a real sinner who can
be sent to Hell; he has committed no grave sin.
Peer despairs in the end, understanding that his life is forfeit; he
is nothing. But at the same moment, Solveig starts to sing--the cabin
Peer built is close at hand, but he dares not enter. The Bøyg in Peer
tells him "go around". The Button-molder shows up and demands a list
of sins, but Peer has none to give, unless Solveig can vouch for him.
Then Peer breaks through to Solveig, asking her to forgive his sins.
But she answers: "You have not sinned at all, my dearest boy."
Peer does not understand--he believes himself lost. Then he asks her:
"Where has Peer Gynt been since we last met? Where was I as the one I
should have been, whole and true, with the mark of God on my brow?"
She answers: "In my faith, in my hope, in my love." Peer screams,
calls for his mother, and hides himself in her lap. Solveig sings her
lullaby for him, and he presumably dies in this last scene of the
play, although there are neither stage directions nor dialogue to
indicate that he actually does.
Behind the corner, the Button-molder, who is sent by God, still waits,
with the words: "Peer, we shall meet at the last crossroads, and then
we shall see if... I'll say no more."
Analysis
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Klaus van den Berg argues that 'Peer Gynt' ... is a stylistic
minefield: Its origins are romantic, but the play also anticipates the
fragmentations of emerging Modernism. Chronicling Peer's journey from
the Norwegian mountains to the North African desert, the cinematic
script blends poetry with social satire, and realistic scenes with
surreal ones. The irony of isolated individuals in a mass society
infuses Ibsen's tale of two seemingly incompatible lovers - the deeply
committed Solveig and the superficial Peer, who is more a surface for
projections than a coherent character. The simplest conclusion one may
draw from 'Peer Gynt', is expressed in the eloquent prose of the
author: "'If you lie; are you real?'"
The literary critic Harold Bloom in his book 'The Western Canon' has
challenged the conventional reading of 'Peer Gynt', stating: Far more
than Goethe's Faust, Peer is the one nineteenth-century literary
character who has the largeness of the grandest characters of
Renaissance imaginings. Dickens, Tolstoy, Stendhal, Hugo, even Balzac
have no single figure quite so exuberant, outrageous, vitalistic as
Peer Gynt. He merely 'seems' initially to be an unlikely candidate for
such eminence: 'What is he', we say, 'except a kind of Norwegian
roaring boy?' - marvelously attractive to women, a kind of bogus poet,
a narcissist, absurd self-idolator, a liar, seducer, bombastic
self-deceiver. But this is paltry moralizing - all too much like the
scholarly chorus that rants against Falstaff. True, Peer, unlike
Falstaff, is not a great wit. But in the Yahwistic, biblical sense,
Peer the scamp bears the blessing: More life.
Writing process
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On 5 January 1867 Ibsen wrote to Frederik Hegel, his publisher, with
his plan for the play: it would be "a long dramatic poem, having as
its principal a part-legendary, part-fictional character from
Norwegian folklore during 'recent' times. It will bear no resemblance
to 'Brand', and will contain no direct polemics or anything of that
kind."
He began to write 'Peer Gynt' on 14 January, employing a far greater
variety of metres in its rhymed verse than he had used in his previous
verse plays 'Brand' (written 1865) or 'Love's Comedy' (written 1862).
The first two acts were completed in Rome and the third in
Casamicciola on the north of the island of Ischia.
During this time, Ibsen told Vilhelm Bergsøe that "I don't think the
play's for acting" when they discussed the possibility of staging the
play's image of a casting-ladle "big enough to re-cast human beings
in." Ibsen sent the three acts to his publisher on 8 August, with a
letter that explains that "Peer Gynt was a real person who lived in
Gudbrandsdal, probably around the end of the last century or the
beginning of this. His name is still famous among the people up there,
but not much more is known about his life than what is to be found in
Asbjørnsen's 'Norwegian Folktales' (in the section entitled 'Stories
from the Mountain')." In those stories, Peer Gynt rescues the three
dairy-maids from the trolls and shoots the Bøyg, who was originally a
gigantic worm-shaped troll-being. Peer was known to tell tall tales of
his own achievements, a trait Peer in the play inherited. The
"buck-ride" story, which Peer tells his mother in the play's first
scene, is also from this source, but, as Åse points out, it was
originally Gudbrand Glesne from Vågå who did the tour with the
reindeer stag and finally shot it.
Following an earthquake on Ischia on 14 August, Ibsen left for
Sorrento, where he completed the final two acts; he finished the play
on 14 October. It was published in a first edition of 1,250 copies a
month later in Copenhagen.
Background
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Ibsen's previous play, 'Brand', preached the philosophy of "All or
nothing." Relentless, cruel, resolute, overriding in will, Brand went
through everything that stood in his way toward gaining an ideal.
'Peer Gynt' is a compensating balance, a complementary color to
'Brand'. In contrast to Brand, with his iron will, Peer is willless,
insufficient, and irresolute. Peer "goes around" all issues facing
him.
'Brand' had a phenomenal literary success, and people became curious
to know what Ibsen's next play would be. The dramatist, about this
time, was relieved of financial worry by two money grants, one from
the Norwegian government and the other from the Scientific Society of
Trondhjem. This enabled him to give to his work an unfettered mind. He
went with his family to Frascati, where, in the Palazzo rooms, he
looked many feet down upon the Mediterranean, and pondered his new
drama. He preserved a profound silence about the content of the play,
and begged his publisher, Hegel, to create as much mystery about it as
possible.
The portrayal of the Gynt family is known to be based on Henrik
Ibsen's own family--the intertwined Ibsen/Paus family of Skien--and
childhood memories; in a letter to Georg Brandes, Ibsen wrote that his
own family and childhood had served "as some kind of model" for the
Gynt family. In a letter to Peter Hansen, Ibsen confirmed that the
character Åse, Peer Gynt's mother, was based on his own mother,
Marichen Altenburg. The character Jon Gynt is considered to be based
on Ibsen's father Knud Ibsen, who was a rich merchant before he went
bankrupt. Even the name of the Gynt family's ancestor, the prosperous
Rasmus Gynt, is borrowed from the Ibsen's family's earliest known
ancestor. Thus, the character Peer Gynt could be interpreted as being
an ironic representation of Henrik Ibsen himself. There are striking
similarities to Ibsen's own life; Ibsen himself spent 27 years living
abroad and was never able to face his hometown again.
Grieg's music
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Ibsen asked Edvard Grieg to compose incidental music for the play.
Grieg composed a score that plays approximately ninety minutes. Grieg
extracted two suites of four pieces each from the incidental music
(Opus 46 and Opus 55), which became very popular as concert music. One
of the sung parts of the incidental music, "In the Hall of the
Mountain King", was included in the first suite with the vocal parts
omitted. Originally, the second suite had a fifth number, "The Dance
of the Mountain King's Daughter", but Grieg withdrew it. Grieg himself
declared that it was easier to make music "out of his own head" than
strictly following suggestions made by Ibsen. For instance, Ibsen
wanted music that would characterize the "international" friends in
the fourth act, by melding the said national anthems (Norwegian,
Swedish, German, French and English). Reportedly, Grieg was not in the
right mood for this task.
The music of these suites, especially "Morning Mood" starting the
first suite, "In the Hall of the Mountain King", and the string lament
"Åse's Death" later reappeared in numerous arrangements, soundtracks,
etc.
Other Norwegian composers who have written theatrical music for 'Peer
Gynt' include Harald Sæverud (1947), Arne Nordheim (1969), Ketil
Hvoslef (1993) and Jon Mostad (1993-4). Gunnar Sønstevold (1966) wrote
music for a ballet version of 'Peer Gynt'.
Notable productions
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In 1906, scenes from the play were given by the Progressive Stage
Society of New York. The first US production of 'Peer Gynt' opened at
the Chicago Grand Opera House on October 24, 1906, and starred the
noted actor Richard Mansfield, in one of his very last roles before
his untimely death. In 1923, Joseph Schildkraut played the role on
Broadway, in a Theatre Guild production, featuring Selena Royle, Helen
Westley, Dudley Digges, and, before he entered films, Edward G.
Robinson. In 1944, at the Old Vic, Ralph Richardson played the role,
surrounded by some of the greatest British actors of the time in
supporting or bit roles, among them Sybil Thorndike as Åse, and
Laurence Olivier as the Button Molder. In 1951, John Garfield
fulfilled his wish to star in a Broadway production, featuring Mildred
Dunnock as Åse. This production was not a success, and is said by some
to have contributed to Garfield's death at age 39.
On film, years before he became a superstar, the seventeen-year-old
Charlton Heston starred as Peer in a silent, student-made, low-budget
film version of the play produced in 1941. 'Peer Gynt', however, has
never been given a full-blown treatment as a sound film in English on
the motion picture screen, although there have been several television
productions, and a sound film was produced in German in 1934.
In 1957, Ingmar Bergman produced a five-hour stage version of 'Peer
Gynt', at Sweden's Malmö City Theatre, with Max von Sydow as Peer
Gynt. Bergman produced the play again, 34 years later, in 1991, at
Sweden's Royal Dramatic Theatre, this time with Börje Ahlstedt in the
title role. Bergman chose not to use Grieg's music, nor the more
modern Harald Sæverud composition, but rather traditional Norwegian
folk music, and little of that either.
In 1993, Christopher Plummer starred in his own concert version of the
play, with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra in Hartford, Connecticut.
This was a new performing version and a collaboration of Plummer and
Hartford Symphony Orchestra Music Director Michael Lankester. Plummer
had long dreamed of starring in a fully staged production of the play,
but had been unable to. The 1993 production was not a fully staged
version, but rather a drastically condensed concert version, narrated
by Plummer, who also played the title role, and accompanied by Edvard
Grieg's complete incidental music for the play. This version included
a choir and vocal parts for soprano and mezzo-soprano. Plummer
performed the concert version again in 1995 with the Toronto Symphony
Orchestra with Lankester conducting. The 1995 production was broadcast
on Canadian radio. It has never been presented on television nor
released on compact disc. In the 1990s Plummer and Lankester also
collaborated on and performed similarly staged concert versions of 'A
Midsummer Night's Dream' by William Shakespeare (with music by
Mendelssohn) and 'Ivan the Terrible' (an arrangement of a Prokofiev
film score with script for narrator). Among the three aforementioned
Plummer/Lankester collaborations, all received live concert
presentations and live radio broadcasts, but only 'Ivan the Terrible'
was released on CD.
Alex Jennings won the Olivier Award for Best Actor 1995/1996 for his
performance in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of 'Peer
Gynt'.
In 1999, Braham Murray directed a production at the Royal Exchange
Theatre in Manchester with David Threlfall as Peer Gynt, Josette
Bushell-Mingo as Solveig and Espen Skjønberg as Button Moulder.
In 2000, the Royal National Theatre staged a version based on the 1990
translation of the play by Frank McGuinness. The production featured
three actors playing Peer, including Chiwetel Ejiofor as the young
Peer, Patrick O'Kane as Peer in his adventures in Africa, and Joseph
Marcell as the old Peer. Not only was the use of three actors playing
one character unusual in itself, but the actors were part of a
"color-blind" cast: Ejiofor and Marcell are black, and O'Kane is
white.
In 2001, at the BBC Proms, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and BBC
Singers, conducted by Manfred Honeck, performed the complete
incidental music in Norwegian with an English narration read by Simon
Callow.
In 2005, Chicago's storefront theater The Artistic Home mounted an
acclaimed production (directed by Kathy Scambiatterra and written by
Norman Ginsbury) that received two Jeff Nominations for its dynamic
staging in a 28-seat house. The role of Peer was played by a single
actor, John Mossman.
In 2006, Robert Wilson staged a co-production revival with both the
National Theater of Bergen and the Norwegian Theatre of Oslo, Norway.
Ann-Christin Rommen directed the actors in Norwegian (with English
subtitles). This production mixed both Wilson's minimalist (yet
constantly moving) stage designs with technological effects to bring
out the play's expansive potential. Furthermore, they utilized
state-of-the-art microphones, sound systems, and recorded acoustic and
electronic music to bring clarity to the complex and shifting action
and dialogue. From April 11 through the 16th, they performed at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music's Howard Gilman Opera House.
In 2006, as part of the Norwegian Ibsen anniversary festival, 'Peer
Gynt' was set at the foot of the Great Sphinx of Giza near Cairo,
Egypt (an important location in the original play). The director was
Bentein Baardson. The performance was the centre of some controversy,
with some critics seeing it as a display of colonialist attitudes.
In January 2008, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis debuted a new
translation of 'Peer Gynt' by the poet Robert Bly. Bly learned
Norwegian from his grandparents while growing up in rural Minnesota,
and later during several years of travel in Norway. This production
stages Ibsen's text rather abstractly, tying it loosely into a modern
birthday party for a 50-year-old man. It also significantly cuts the
length of the play. (An earlier production of the full-length play at
the Guthrie required the audience to return a second night to see the
second half of the play.)
In 2009, Dundee Rep with the National Theatre of Scotland toured a
production. This interpretation, with much of the dialogue in modern
Scots, received mixed reviews. The cast included Gerry Mulgrew as the
older Peer. Directed by Dominic Hill.
In November 2010, Southampton Philharmonic Choir and the New London
Sinfonia performed the complete incidental music using a new English
translation commissioned from Beryl Foster. In the performance, the
musical elements were linked by an English narrative read by actor
Samuel West.
From June 28 through July 24, 2011, La Jolla Playhouse ran a
production of 'Peer Gynt' as a co-production with the Kansas City
Repertory Theatre, adapted and directed by David Schweizer.
The 2011 Dublin Theatre Festival presented a new version of 'Peer
Gynt' by Arthur Riordan, directed by Lynne Parker with music by Tarab.
The ''Peer Gynt'' Festival
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At Vinstra in Gudbrandsdalen (the Gudbrand valley), Henrik Ibsen and
Peer Gynt have been celebrated with an annual festival since 1967. The
festival is one of Norway's largest cultural festivals, and is
recognized by the Norwegian Government as a leading institution of
presenting culture in nature. The festival has a broad festival
program with theatre, concerts, an art exhibition and several debates
and literature seminars.
The main event in the festival is the outdoor theatre production of
'Peer Gynt' at Gålå. The play is staged in 'Peer Gynt's' birthplace,
where Ibsen claims he found inspiration for the character Peer Gynt,
and is regarded by many as the most authentic version. The play is
performed by professional actors from the national theater
institutions, and nearly 80 local amateur actors. The music to the
play is inspired by the original theatre music by Edvard Grieg - the
"Peer Gynt suite". The play is one of the most popular theater
productions in Norway, attracting more than 12,000 people every
summer.
The festival also holds the Peer Gynt Prize, which is a national
Norwegian honor prize given to a person or institution that has
achieved distinction in society and contributed to improving Norway's
international reputation.
''Peer Gynt'' Sculpture Park
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'Peer Gynt' Sculpture Park (Peer Gynt-parken) is a sculpture park
located in Oslo, Norway. Created in honour of Henrik Ibsen, it is a
monumental presentation of 'Peer Gynt', scene by scene. It was
established in 2006 by Selvaag, the company behind the housing
development in the area. Most of the sculptures in this park are the
result of an international sculpture competition.
Adaptations
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In 1912, German writer Dietrich Eckart adapted the play. In Eckart's
version, the play became "a powerful dramatisation of nationalist and
anti-semitic ideas", in which Gynt represents the superior Germanic
hero, struggling against implicitly Jewish "trolls". In this racial
allegory the trolls and Great Bøyg represented what philosopher Otto
Weininger – Eckart's hero – conceived as the Jewish spirit. Eckart's
version was one of the best attended productions of the age with more
than 600 performances in Berlin alone. Eckart later helped to found
the Nazi Party and served as a mentor to Adolf Hitler; he was also the
first editor of the party's newspaper, the 'Völkische Beobachter'. He
never had another theatrical success after 'Peer Gynt'.
In 1938, German composer Werner Egk finished an opera based on the
story.
In 1948, the composer Harald Sæverud made a new score for the
nynorsk-production at "the Norwegian Theatre" (Det Norske Teatret) in
Oslo. Sæverud incorporated the national music of each of the friends
in the fourth act, as per Ibsen's request, who died in 1906.
In 1951, North Carolinian playwright Paul Green published an American
version of the Norwegian play. This is the version in which John
Garfield starred on Broadway. This version is also the 'American
Version', and features subtle plot differences from Ibsen's original
work, including the omittance of the shipwreck scene near the end, and
the 'Buttonmolder' character playing a moderately larger role.
In 1961, Hugh Leonard's version, 'The Passion of Peter Ginty',
transferred the play to an Irish Civil War setting. It was staged at
Dublin's Gate Theatre.
In 1969, Broadway impresario Jacques Levy (who had previously directed
the first version of 'Oh! Calcutta!') commissioned The Byrds' Roger
McGuinn to write the music for a pop (or country-rock) version of
'Peer Gynt', to be titled 'Gene Tryp'. The play was apparently never
completed, although, as of 2006, McGuinn was preparing a version for
release. Several songs from the abortive show appeared on the Byrds'
albums of 1970 and 1971.
In March 1972 Jerry Heymann's adaptation, called 'Mr. Gynt, Inc.', was
performed at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club.
In 1981, Houston Ballet presented 'Peer Gynt' as adapted by Artistic
Director Ben Stevenson, OBE.
In 1989, John Neumeier created a ballet "freely based on Ibsen's
play", for which Alfred Schnittke composed the score.
In 1998, the Trinity Repertory Company of Providence, Rhode Island
commissioned David Henry Hwang and Swiss director Stephan Muller to do
an adaptation of 'Peer Gynt'.
In 1998, playwright Romulus Linney directed his adaptation of the
play, entitled 'Gint', at the Theatre for the New City in New York.
This adaptation moved the play's action to 20th-century Appalachia and
California.
In 2001, Rogaland Theatre produced an adaptation titled 'Peer
Gynt-innen?', loosely translated as "Peer the Gyntess?". This was a
one-act monologue performed by Marika Enstad.
In 2007, St. John's Prep of Danvers, Massachusetts, won the MHSDG
Festival with their production starring Bo Burnham.
In 2008, Theater in the Open in Newburyport, Massachusetts, produced a
production of 'Peer Gynt' adapted and directed by Paul Wann and the
company. Scott Smith, whose great-great-grandfather (Ole Bull) was one
of the inspirations for the character, was cast as Gynt.
In 2009, a DVD was released of Heinz Spoerli's ballet, which he had
created in 2007. This ballet uses mostly the Grieg music, but adds
selections by other composers. Spoken excerpts from the play, in
Norwegian, are also included.
In Israel, poet Dafna Eilat (:he:דפנה אילת) composed a poem in Hebrew
titled "Solveig", which she also set to music, its theme derived from
the play and emphasizing the named character's boundless faithful
love. It was performed by Hava Alberstein (see ).
In 2011, Polarity Ensemble Theatre in Chicago presented another
version of Robert Bly's translation of the play, in which Peer's
mythic journey was envisioned as that of America itself, "a 150-year
whirlwind tour of the American psyche."
On an episode of 'Inside the Actors Studio', Elton John spontaneously
composed a song based on a passage from 'Peer Gynt'.
The German a cappella metal band Van Canto also made a theatrical
adaptation of the story, naming it 'Peer Returns'. The first episode
that has been released called "A Storm to Come", appears on the band's
album 'Break the Silence'.
American composer Mary McCarty Snow (1928-2012) composed music for a
Texas Tech University production of 'Peer Gynt'.
Will Eno's adaptation of Ibsen's 'Peer Gynt', titled 'Gnit', had its
world premiere at the 37th Humana Festival of New American Plays in
March 2013.
In 2020, a new audio drama adaptation of 'Peer Gynt' by Colin Macnee,
written in verse form with original music, was released in podcast
form.
Films
=======
There have been a number of film adaptations including:
* 'Peer Gynt (1915 film)', an American film directed by Oscar Apfel
and Raoul Walsh
* 'Peer Gynt (1919 film)', a German film directed by Richard Oswald
* 'Peer Gynt (1934 film)', a German film directed by Fritz Wendhausen
* 'Peer Gynt (1941 film)', notable for being the film debut of
Charlton Heston
* 'Peer Gynt (1971 film)', a German language TV film starring Edith
Clever
* 'Peer Gynt (1979 animated film)', Russian animation studio
Soyuzmultfilm animated film "Пер Гюнт".
* 'Peer Gynt (1981 film)', a French TV film directed by Bernard Sobel
* 'Peer Gynt (1988 film)', a Hungarian TV film directed by István Gaál
* 'Peer Gynt (2006 film)', a German TV film directed by Uwe Janson
* 'Peer Gynt (2017 film)', a Belgian short film directed by Michiel
Robberecht
Sources
======================================================================
* Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. 'The Cambridge Guide to Theatre.'
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. .
* Brockett, Oscar G. & Franklin J. Hildy. 2003. 'History of the
Theatre'. 9th international edition. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. .
* Farquharson Sharp, R., trans. 1936. 'Peer Gynt: A Dramatic Poem'.
Henrik Ibsen. Edinburgh: J.M. Dent & Sons / Philadelphia, PA: J.B.
Lippincott. [
https://archive.org/details/peergyntdramatic00ibseuoft
Available in online edition].
* McLeish, Kenneth, trans. 1990. 'Peer Gynt'. Henrik Ibsen. Drama
Classics ser. London: Nick Hern, 1999. .
* Meyer, Michael, trans. 1963. 'Peer Gynt'. Henrik Ibsen. In 'Plays:
Six'. World Classics ser. London: Methuen, 1987. 29-186. .
* ---. 1974. 'Ibsen: A Biography'. Abridged. Pelican Biographies ser.
Harmondsworth: Penguin. .
* Moi, Toril. 2006. 'Henrik Ibsen and the Birth of Modernism: Art,
Theater, Philosophy'. Oxford / New York: Oxford University Press. .
* Oelmann, Klaus Henning. 1993. 'Edvard Grieg: Versuch einer
Orientierung'. Egelsbach Cologne New York: Verlag Händel-Hohenhausen.
.
* Schumacher, Meinolf. 2009. "Peer Gynts letzte Nacht: Eschatologische
Medialität und Zeitdehnung bei Henrik Ibsen". 'Figuren der Ordnung:
Beiträge zu Theorie und Geschichte literarischer Dispositionsmuster'.
Ed. Susanne Gramatzki and Rüdiger Zymner. Cologne: Böhlau. pp.
147-162. [
https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/download/1860170/2913729
Available in online edition].
* Watts, Peter, trans. 1966. 'Peer Gynt: A Dramatic Poem'. By Henrik
Ibsen. Harmondsworth: Penguin. .
* Williams, Raymond. 1966. 'Modern Tragedy'. London: Chatto &
Windus. .
* ---. 1989. 'The Politics of Modernism: Against the New Conformists'.
Ed. Tony Pinkney. London and New York: Verso. .
* ---. 1993. 'Drama from Ibsen to Brecht'. London: Hogarth. .
External links
======================================================================
*
[
http://kreusch-sheet-music.net/eng/index.php?action=search&page=show&order=op&query=Peer+Gynt
Free Scores of piano arrangements of the two suites].
* [
https://runeberg.org/peergynt/ 'Peer Gynt'] , freely available at
Project Runeberg
*
* [
https://archive.org/details/peergyntdramatic00ibseuoft 'Peer Gynt:
a dramatic poem'], Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lippincott, 1936. Color
illustrations by Arthur Rackham via Internet Archive.
* [
https://www.visitnorway.com/places-to-go/eastern-norway/peer-gynt/
'The Peer Gynt Festival'],
* [
https://historisketurtips.no/peer-gynt-parken/ Sculpture walk in
the Peer Gynt park]
License
=========
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Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_Gynt
