Peer Gynt

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Peer Gynt ( Norwegian : [ ˈpeːr ˈɡʏnt ]) is a dramatic poem written in 1867 by Henrik Ibsen .

History of origin

Peer Gynt was created on the basis of Norwegian fairy tales by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen . They were published between 1845 and 1848 under the title Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn . In his work Ibsen took a critical look at the romantic nationalism in Norway of his time. He created it during his voluntary exile in Italy , especially in Ischia and Sorrento .

Peer Gynt was not originally written for the stage. A few years after its completion, however, Ibsen changed his mind and began to rework the poem, which had previously been very successful in the reading version, which also has features of a picaresque novel , into a stage version, which resulted in some cuts. For this project Edvard Grieg created the 26-part incidental music Peer Gynt . The first performance of the stage version together with Grieg's music took place on February 24, 1876 in the Christiania Theater in Christiania . In 1888 and 1891, Grieg put together his two Peer-Gynt-Suites from his incidental music .

Today there is broad consensus that the national romantic music of Grieg fits very poorly with Ibsen's modern drama. Grieg said several times in letters that Ibsen's Peer Gynt would never win his sympathy. The Danish fairy tale poet Hans Christian Andersen even thought the work was the most terrifying thing he had ever read. After the Second World War, Harald Sæverud was commissioned to compose new, more modern incidental music, which was first performed in conjunction with the piece in 1948. In contemporary theater productions, Grieg's music is either no longer used at all or only used ironically. Despite this unity in the devaluation of Grieg's composition, the film version from 2006 uses it without irony and proves that it even fits a modern reading of the drama.

Translations into German exist by Ludwig Passarge , Christian Morgenstern and Hermann Stock , among others .

action

The main character is the young farmer's son Peer Gynt, who tries to escape reality with stories of lies. In this way he suppresses the fact that his father, the once highly respected Jon Gynt, lost his farm and possessions to mismanagement and numerous alcoholic capades. In Peer's Fantasy World, however, the shabby dwelling is still a shining palace. He also transfigured his own uselessness into heroism. So he describes his mother Aase a breakneck ride on a “goat” over a ridge, possibly the Besseggen above the Gjendesees in the Norwegian mountains Jotunheimen .

Peer is overprotected and glorified by his mother, but he should always share her version of life. In search of love and adventure, he soon finds himself in a world of trolls and demons. He kidnaps Ingrid, someone else's bride, but leaves her shortly after the kidnapping. At the same time he falls in love with Solvejg, who comes from a Pietist family, who does not hear him at first, but later joins him and waits for his return in a wooden house in the forest.

After a leap in time of about 30 years, the peer, who has now become rich through slave trade, finds himself in the fourth act in Morocco. There, business partners stole his ship with all its riches. After a prayer, the ship sinks. Peer comes to terms with his poverty and turns to God. A monkey attack drives him into the desert, where he saves himself in an oasis. From the virgins living there he chooses Anitra, who, however, steals his last belongings. Peer experienced the low point of his life in the madhouse in Cairo, which was headed by the German doctor, Doktor Wissenfeldt.

Peer Gynt returns home old and impoverished, where the envoy of the “master”, who calls himself the button caster, appears and he has to fight for his soul. In one famous scene, Peer compares himself to an onion that has many skins but no core. In the final scene on a Pentecost morning, however, Solvejg, who has been waiting for her lover to return all her life, protects him and saves him. Because Peer's ideal self has lived in Solvejg's heart all along (“In my faith, in my hope and in my love”), he is forgiven.

Vinstra and the Peer Gynt Festival

The life of Peder Olsen Hågå, who lived on the Nordgardhågå farm in the village of Sødorp near Vinstra from 1732 to 1785 , formed the narrative basis for Ibsen's drama. In the old church cemetery in Sødorp there is a memorial stone for Peer Gynt. The Peer Gynt farm, Hågå, consists of 15 old houses and is now open to the public. In addition, the Peer-Gynt-Weg (“Peer Gyntveien”) via Gålå to Gausdal and the Peer-Gynt-Almweg via the Rondablick (Rondaneblikk) to Kvam begin in Vinstra .

The Peer Gynt Festival is a 10-day cultural festival that starts every year in August in Sør-Fron in Gudbrands Valley . The event includes the theater performance “Peer Gynt” on the open-air stage by Lake Gålåvatnet and the mountain concert in Kvamsfjellet.

The first festival took place in 1928. Ibsen's drama has been performed annually since 1967 as a homage to the local Peer Gynt. Since 1989 the performances have taken place in the open-air theater by Lake Gålåvatnet. From 1993 to 2013 the play was accompanied by Edvard Grieg's music. The theater performance is attended by over 12,000 spectators annually. The annual concert "Am Rondane" takes place in the concert arena in Kvamsfjellet. From 2006 to 2012 there was also a dance performance in Fryajuvet during the event. The Årets Peer Gynt (Peer Gynt Prize) award will be presented during the festival. The festival is organized and hosted by Peer Gynt AS from Vinstra. The festival is viewed as a central hub and in addition to the three major events already mentioned, larger and smaller cultural and nature arrangements are also offered during the duration of the festival.

Peer Gynt in Gålå

From 1988 to 2013 the play was directed by Svein Sturla Hungnes , who played the lead role as Peer Gynt himself from 1995 to 2007. Per Tofte played the leading role from 1989 to 2004, until Dennis Storhøi then took on the leading role as Peer in 2008. Edvard Grieg's music was played by an orchestra accompanied by a choir until 2013. The theater performance has received international attention, so that, among other things, a concert version was organized in New York's Central Park in October 2006 .

In 2014, a whole new theater performance was presented, directed by Erik Ulfsby. This version is performed in collaboration with professional actors and 80 amateur actors. Kjetil Bjerkestrand wrote the music for this new version of the play. The music, inspired by Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite, has a more modern direction and is played by seven professional musicians.

Literature seminar and debates

In addition to the festival program, literary seminars and debates are also held. Smaller international theater groups showed excerpts of their interpretation of the Peer Gynt play, lectures on Peer Gynt fine arts, Peer Gynt as folk poetry, Ibsen and Gudbrandsdalen valley and much more. There were also debates in plenary. In the later years seminars were held at Peer Gynt farm Hågå in Vinstra.

Concerts

Mountain concert in Kvamsfjellet with a view of Rondane National Park : a number of concerts are held during the Peer Gynt Festival. The concert "Morgenstemning" ("Morgenstemning") takes place in front of the doors of the open-air stage by Lake Gålåvatnet. In 2014, the concert by Ingrid Olava and Frida Ånnevik created the morning mood and goose bumps. The church concert during the festival will take place in Sør – Fron church. In 2014 Arve Tellefsen, Knut Buen and Håvard Gimse played with the theme “Life and Music of Ole Bull”. In 2012 Alexander Rybak was a guest at Sør – Froner Church.

Art exhibition

An art exhibition has been taking place during the festival since 1971. In 2014, the works of the artist Arve Nøst, who is also the set designer for the new theater performance by Lake Gålåvatnet, were exhibited. Based on the story of Peer Gynt, Ståle Blæsterdalen presented its exhibition in 2013.

Annual Peer Gynt Prize

The “Peer Gynt Annual Honor Award” (Årets Peer Gynt) was donated in 1971 by the Peer Gynt Festival, with Einar Gerhardsen as the first winner. Since 1973 the representatives of the Norwegian Parliament (“ Stortinget ”) have chosen the annual winner. People or institutions are elected who have made a positive contribution to community life in Norway or who have made Norway known as a nation abroad.

Award winners

Important productions

Film adaptations

literature

  • Uwe Englert: "Peer Gynt", in: Ibsen's dramas. Reclam, Stuttgart 2005, [Reclam Interpretations, RUB 17530], ISBN 3-15-017530-5 , pp. 7-40.
  • Meinolf Schumacher : “Peer Gynts last night. Eschatological mediality and time expansion in Henrik Ibsen ”, in: Figures of Order. Contributions to the theory and history of literary disposition patterns, ed. by Susanne Gramatzki and Rüdiger Zymner. Böhlau, Cologne a. a. 2009, ISBN 978-3-412-20355-9 , pp. 147-162 ( digital copy ).
  • Brigitte Fochler: The Narcissus Peer Gynt. A psychological consideration of Ibsen's poem and its dramaturgical implementation through the Claus Peymann production at the Vienna Burgtheater. Diplomatica-Verlag GmbH, ISBN 978-3-8366-5739-6 .

Web links

Commons : Peer Gynt  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Uwe Englert: "Peer Gynt", in: Ibsen's Dramen . Reclam, Stuttgart 2005, p. 35
  2. ^ Christian Nowak, Rasso Knoller: Baedeker Travel Guide Norway , p. 206
  3. ↑ The Peer Gynt route Lillehammer - see and do
  4. ^ Matthias Heilmann: Leopold Jessner - Intendant of the Republic . Ed .: Walter de Gruyter. Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen 2005, p. 421 .
  5. ↑ Peer Gynt - 23/03/2016 - Schedule - DeutschesSchauSpielHausHamburg. Retrieved April 28, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Peer Gynt (1919) at filmportal.de