Translated by William and Charles Archer
Loosely based on the Norwegian fairy tale of Per Gynt, concerning a hunter from Kvam and has various adventures, this is the most widely performed Norwegian play in Ibsen’s homeland. His last play in poetic form, Peer Gynt was written 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, blending folkloric fantasy and unsentimental realism. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the “cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones”.
On 5 January 1867 Ibsen wrote to Frederik Hegel, his publisher, of his plan for the play, which 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. The first two acts were completed in Rome and the third in Casamicciola on the north of the island of Ischia. In the composition of the play, Ibsen was generally inspired by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen’s collection of Norwegian Fairy Tales, published in 1845. Several of the characters are modelled after Ibsen’s own family, notably his parents Knud Ibsen and Marichen Altenburg.
The play forms a satire of Norwegian egotism and narrowness, sparking widespread hostility from Hans Christian Andersen and other Scandinavian writers at the time of publication. The first edition of 1,250 copies was published on 14 November, 1867 in Copenhagen and quickly sold out, demanding a further re-print of 2,000 copies. Peer Gynt was first performed in Christiania on 24 February 1876, with original music composed by Edvard Grieg, which in itself has since become a highly celebrated work of art.
The play introduces Peer Gynt, the son of the once highly regarded Jon Gynt, who spent all his money on feasting and living lavishly, and had to go from his farm as a wandering salesman, leaving his wife and son behind in debt. Åse, the mother, wished to raise her son to restore the lost fortune of his father, but Peer is soon to be considered useless. He is a poet and a braggart, not unlike the youngest son from Norwegian fairy tales, the “Ash Lad”, with whom he shares some characteristics. As the play opens, Peer provides 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.