Henrik Ibsen by Figueiredo Ivo de

Author:Figueiredo, Ivo de [Figueiredo, Ivo de]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2019-04-01T16:00:00+00:00

IX

ROME – MUNICH – ROME

SCANDAL AMONG THE SCANDINAVIANS

Following the incorporation of the Vatican into the kingdom of Italy in 1870, Rome had finally become a part of the modern age. In 1871 the city became the capital of the country. Two years later the first area development plans were presented, followed by the building of large residential complexes, streets and public buildings. The picturesque banks of the Tiber, where Ibsen had spent his first evening in Rome with Dietrichson in 1864, were developed and walls built to counter the flooding that had plagued the city for centuries.

Yet Rome was still the Eternal City, even if Pope Pius IX felt himself a prisoner, and travellers from the north still arrived to enjoy the wine, the life, the history and the art. Jonas Lie came here in 1872 and stayed for a couple of years, and in January 1874 Bjørnson returned after completing his historical drama King Eystein in Florence. He spent a productive winter and spring in Rome, where he completed those two plays with contemporary settings – The Editor and A Bankrupt – and made a start on several other works. Ole Bull visited Rome at about this time too, broke and newly divorced, but a breath of fresh air as always. Other visitors included Johanne Luise Heiberg, the sculptor Christen Daae Magelssen, the painters Eilif Peterssen, Ernst Josephson (the nephew of Ludvig Josephson) and P. S. Krøyer, and the writers Victor Rydberg and Sophus Schandorph. These and others maintained and refreshed the Scandinavian colony and the Scandinavian Society and kept up traditions such as the eating of a goose on St Martin’s Eve, the Christmas party and the drinking in the city’s taverns.

Rome was certainly changing, and yet there was much that remained the same. Ibsen noted that the rents had risen slightly, but it was still quite cheap to live here, and the wine was as good as it had ever been. The family moved into an apartment at Via Gregoriana 46, not far from the Spanish Steps. In the early days they lived a quiet life. Dinner was brought to the house, and the rest of their meals were provided by the landlord. A few of Ibsen’s old friends were still living in Rome. One was the composer Niels Ravnkilde, another the painter Julius Kronberg, whom he knew from Munich, and Magelssen, a relative of Suzannah’s. Most of the remaining Scandinavians were young and unknown, though he struck up friendships with a couple of them, such as Gunnar Heiberg, and J. P. Jacobsen, an ailing Brandesian. Edvard Brandes paid a fleeting visit and met Ibsen for the first time.

Sigurd at once enrolled at the University of Rome where he studied philosophy, history, international law, constitutional law and economics. After just a short while in the city where he had grown up he spoke fluent Italian. As for Ibsen, he dedicated his time to finishing his latest play. A new sense of purpose seemed to have possessed him, a real commitment to the new play.

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