Summary
Ole Bull, the great virtuoso violinist, known as the "Paganini of the North," had just established the first Norwegian theater in Bergen, and, seeing what a promising young man [Henrik Ibsen] was, engaged him as a "scene instructor," with the condition that he write one play every year. The engagement lasted six years - crucial years in Ibsen's life, during which he learned about the theater from the ground up and was given opportunities to travel to Denmark and Germany to study stagecraft.
Ibsen's last residence is now a museum, offering special tours of the inner sanctum of his and [Suzannah]'s home. Visiting, I was struck by its rich, plush, Victorian-style furniture. Their home, according to the guide, had also been a wonder in terms of modern conveniences, ahead of the Royal Palace with its indoor plumbing, in the study was a large portrait of the Swedish author and dramatist August Strindberg. Asked about it, Ibsen provided a ready answer: "He shall hang there and watch over me because he is my deadly enemy." Suzannah, who survived Ibsen by eight years, is said to have left the apartment only twice after her husband's death, and then only to visit his gravesite.It all seems rather romantic, but the reality was that, for many years, [Edvard Grieg] had to work extremely hard to make ends meet. Relief came when he was awarded an artist's grant in 1874. That same year he was approached by Henrik Ibsen, who asked him to write the music for Peer Gynt, the result of which are two of Grieg's most unforgettable compositions: "Morning Mood" and "The Hall of the Mountain King."See the full content of this document
Extract
In the Footsteps of Ibsen Grieg Munch
MIND PLAY
He was a man of strict habits.Twice every day for ten years, he set out for the Grand Hotel's Reading Room, first at 11:30 am, then at 5:30 PM. He would arrive at the stroke of 12 noon and 6 PM respectively, and stay exactly an hour and a half each time. He was quite a fixture on the Oslo scene, and, as he invariably took the same route down Drammensveijen, passing the Royal Palace and continuing down the capital's main drag, Karl-Johan Street, everybody recognized him. There could be no mistaking those bushy, white whiskers, or the squat 5-foot 3-inch frame - gaining stature from shoes with lifts and from a stovetop hat.The Grands Reading Room was well prepared for his arrival. At his regular table a dram of aquavit waited, as did a tankard of Spatenbräu, a Munich...See the full content of this document
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