Ibsen Celebration in Nepal
An international centennial commemoration of the famous playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) is being marked all over the world during 2006.
The celebration is taking place in Nepal too.
Various events linked with literature, art, music and even fun sports is being organised here by the Norwegian Embassy to mark the celebration.
On 23rd of May, a collage of creative people from Norway and Nepal will be coming together in Kathmandu at the Birendra International Convention Centre (BICC) to celebrate Henrik Ibsen, his work, his art and his contagious creative spirit.
A back to back programme of Art exhibition and Poetry recitals containing art and poems inspired by Ibsen followed by a Jazz ensemble on Ibsen's 'Peer Gynt' - composed by Edvard Grieg will be performed. The ensemble will feature noted Norwegian and Nepali musicians.
Peer Gynt is a classic Ibsen play which was 1st published in 1867. (details on Peer Gynt and the Composition – is attached herewith)
Known to the world as the "theatre Poet" Ibsen created a new form of Drama from which an entire generation of modern thinkers and playwrights have sprouted all over the world. His principles and ethics were the mortar of his school of thought and it is said that every other school of thought that was introduced to the world after his became his debtor.
The entry to the 23rd May event at BICC will only be through invitations.
However, considering the wider appeal of the programme, an additional concert will also be organised at Basantapur Durbar Square (Shiva Parvati Dabali) on the 24th of May at 4:30 and will be open to public for free.
The Norwegian Ambassador to Nepal, Tore Toreng says: “This is an exciting continuation of the current music collaboration between Norway and Nepal. Ensemble concerts have rarely taken place in Kathmandu, and this will be a milestone when it comes to jazz entering the Nepalese capital”.
This event is a part of the Norwegian Embassy’s commemoration of the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen( 1828-1906). The event is being organized in association with Rikskonsertene (Norway), Music Nepal, Jazzmandu, and nepa-laya.
Enclosed :
- list of contributing / performing artists, poets and musicians.
- info on Ibsen's Peer Gynt and the composition
Participating Artists
Artists and Poets
Ragini Upadhaya, Laya Mainali, Hridaya Balav, Eirina Tamrang, Sunila Bajracharya, Asha Dangol, Vidata K.C., Rajendra Shalabh, Manjul, Benju Sharma, Shubha Shrestha, Geeta Karki, Suluochana Manandhar, Momila, Bimla Tumkehewa, Dinesh Adhikari, Buddhi Sagar Chapai, Kumar Ale, Geeta Tripathi.
Musicians to perform 'Peer Gynt'
Participating from Nepal:
Brig. Gen. Shuva Bahadur Sunam (alto saxophone), Amul Karkidhali (tenor saxophone), Mariano (baryton saxophone), Nabin Singh and Deependra (trumpets), Raju Pariyar and Sukrajung Ghale (trombones), Rajat Rai (guitar), Navin Chettri (drums).
Participating from Norway:
Åslaug Klingen (saxophone), André Kassen (saxophone), Morten Øya (bass), Steinar Løberg Værnes (trumpet). All are students at the Agder University College. Øyvind Mathisen (trumpet) is studying music at the Vågsbygd Secondary School. Håvard Kittilsen (trombone) has graduated from Agder University College, Jørn Øien (keyboard and assisting Artistic Director), Frode Nymo, (Artistic Director), Dag Olaf Aastebøl (sound technician) and Eva Hannisdahl Bjørn-Hansen (Tour Manager).
Peer Gynt - Introduction
Peer Gynt is a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen and is perhaps his best-known. It was written in 1867, and first performed in Oslo (then called Christiania) on 24 February 1876, with incidental music by the composer Edvard Grieg. Ibsen wrote Peer Gynt while traveling in Rome, on Ischia and in Sorrento. It was first published on November 14, 1867, in Copenhagen. The first edition comprised 1,250 copies. It was followed by a re-print of 2,000 copies after 14 days. The large sales were mostly due to the success of Ibsen's previous play, Brand. Unlike Ibsen's other later plays, Peer Gynt is written in verse. This is because it was originally intended to be a written drama, not for stage performance. Difficulties due to rapid and frequent change of scene (including an entire act in pitch darkness) render the play troublesome to perform. It is also unlike Ibsen's later plays in that it is a fantasy rather than a realistic tragedy.
Peer Gynt can be considered as a bittersweet play about a Norwegian anti-hero. Peer Gynt is the son of the once-highly-regarded Jon Gynt. Jon Gynt had become a drunkard and lost all his money. This left Peer and his mother Åse to live in poverty. Peer wants to restore the honour and wealth his father had lost, but he gets lost in daydreams, and wanders around doing mostly nothing. He is involved in a fight and later becomes an outlaw. He then flees from the parish. During his flight he meets three amorous dairy-maids who are waiting to be courted by trolls. Later he comes across a woman clad in green who is the daughter of the troll mountain king, whom he is expected to marry since she has had an illigitimate child by Peer (Mirroring Ibsen's own struggles with the child he had out of wedlock). One of the most interesting characters is the Bøyg; a creature who has no real description.
Solveig, whom Peer met at a wedding and with whom he fell in love, comes to his cabin in the forest to live with him, but in time he leaves her and goes on with his travels. He 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. He wanders through the desert, passes the Memnon and the Sphinx. He also becomes a Bedouin chief and a prophet. He tries to seduce Anitra, daughter of a Bedouin, and ends up confined in a madhouse in Cairo. There he is hailed as an emperor. Finally, on his way home as an old man, he is shipwrecked. Among those on board he has met the Strange Passenger, considered by some scholars to be the ghost of Lord Byron. The Strange Passenger wants to make use of Peer's corpse to find out where dreams have their seat.
Back home in Norway, Peer Gynt attends a peasant funeral, and an auction, where he offers for sale everything from his earlier life. Peer meets the Button-moulder, 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", and a character named the Lean One (who is probably the Devil), who believes he cannot be accounted a real sinner who can be sent to hell.
Peer, in great despair, finally reaches Solveig. She had been waiting for him in the cabin ever since he left. She tells him that he has always been himself in her belief, hope and love. With her love, Peer finds redemption and contentment at long last.
Grieg's music
Ibsen asked Edvard Grieg to compose incidental music for the play. As Ibsen's long play is quite an undertaking to put on stage, and since Grieg's incidental music had an ineffable quality that destined it to become an all-time classic, this music started to lead a life of its own: Grieg extracted two suites of four pieces each from the incidental music (Opus 46 and Opus 55), which became very popular as concert music. Only one of the sung parts of the incidental music ended up in these suites (the last part of 2nd suite, Solveig's Song, the solo part now played by violin rather than sung).
Later the music of these suites, especially the Morgenstemning (“Morning Mood”) starting the first suite, In the Hall of the Mountain King, and the string lament Aase's Death reappeared in numerous arrangements, soundtracks, etc.
