The Master Builder BD14870_.GIF (420 bytes) 1892

The Master Builder
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From Act II

HILDE (again cheerful).
It was so wonderfully thrilling! It didn’t seem possible to me that any Master Builder in the whole world could build such a tremendously high tower. And then to see you up there yourself – right at the very top – as large as life! And to know that you weren’t in the least bit dizzy – that was what made one so – dizzy to think of.

Transl. by Eva la Gallienne.

 The middle aged master builder Hallvard Solness has a successful career, but at a price. His breakthrough came when he got his hands on a large plot of land to develop, after  his wife's childhood home, burned down. Mrs Solness suffered from a fever for a long time after the fire, and her baby twins got sick and died. One of Solness' employees, Ragnar Brovik, is the son of his old mentor. Ragnar would like to start his own business, and for this he needs a letter of recommendation. But Solness fears youth. The young girl Hilde Wangel has admired Solness since childhood, and she insists that she has now come to him because Solness once kissed her and promised her a kingdom. She wants to stay with Solness and inspire him to reach new heights. Spurred on by his meeting with Hilde, Solness decides that he himself will place the wreath at the topping out ceremony on the tall tower of his new building. When he falls down and is killed, Hilde watches in a kind of ecstacy, while everyone else reacts with disbelief.
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