© Gunnar Tómasson
20 September 2016
Initial reception by critics
(Toril Moi)
Actors, directors, critics and play-goers have always struggled to figure out what The Master Builder is about. In February 1893, at the height of the „Ibsen wars“, the first London production at the Trafalgar Square Theatre met with puzzled incomprehension, even among Ibsen’s supporters. His enemies had a field day. In the Daily Telegraph, the implacable anti-Ibsenite Clement Scott complained about the „dense mist which enshrouds characters, words, actions and motives“. The experience of watching Ibsen’s „strange dramas“, he wrote, could only be compared to the „sensations of a man who witnesses a play written, rehearsed and acted by lunatics“. The reviewer for the Evening News and Post called The Master Builder a „pointless, incoherent, and absolutely silly piece“. (The Guardian, 3 December 2010)
***
Yesterday’s comments
My father, Tomas Pétursson, was born this day, 19 September 1910.
Many years ago, my wife and I together with another couple saw Henrik Ibsen’s play, Bygmester Solness (Master Builder Solness) performed on stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
In the opening scene, a young woman enters Bygmester Solness’ living room and asks: „Where is the new world that you promised me?“
In the background, a prominent calendar showed the date: 19 September 1910.
The plot of Ibsen’s play has been a matter of much debate.
At the time, it struck me as an imaginative interpretation of the core theme of the Platonic-Augustan-Saga-Shakespeare Authors.
The Play’s Norwegian text.
The original text of the play is posted at https://archive.org/details/bygmestersolnes00ibsegoog. The first inside page bears the stamp of Harvard College Library and the date of 20 September 1898 – 118 years ago today. Today I reviewed, copied and calculated Cipher Values of parts of the texts. It soon became clear that my impression of the play as staged at the Kennedy Center was right on target.
Snorri Sturluson’s Edda
The sole extant reference to Snorri Sturluson as author of Edda is found in a superscript of a manuscript known as Uppsala book. On a visit to Iceland’s National Library many years ago, I reviewed a photocopy of Uppsala book and copied the text of the reference. The Cipher Value thereof is 104431, which is also the Cipher Value of Ibsen’s summary construction of Saga-Shakespeare Myth in section VII below.
***
I. Selected texts and their Cipher Values
(Bygmester Solness)
Personerne:
12174 = Bygmester Halvard Solness.
15331 = Fru Aline Solness, hans hustru.
9544 = Doktor Herdal, huslæge.
27468 = Knut Brovik, forhen arkitekt, nu assistent hos Solness.
13235 = Ragnar Brovik, hans sön, tegner.
18809 = Kaja Fosli, hans sösterdatter, bogholderske.
8367 = Fröken Hilde Wangel.
4175 = Nogle damer.
6492 = Folkemængde pa gaden.
18185 = Handlinger forgar hos bygmester Solness.
133780
19th September
(p. 71)
Hilde
14426 = (nikker flere gange langsomt med hodet).
9570 = Det var for ti ar siden.
6159 = Den 19de September.
30155
Promised Kingdom
(p. 75)
Hilde
14288 = Ryk ud med mit kongerige, bygmester!
6701 = (banker med fingeren.)
8682 = Kongeriget pa bordet!
29671
Min, – min bygmester!
(p. 220)
Hilde
16450 = (ligesom i stille, forvildet triumf).
11637 = Men helt til toppen kom han.
11856 = Og jeg hörte harper i luften.
20732 = (svinger sjalet opad og skriger i vild inderlighed)
7576 = Min, – min bygmester!
68251
II. Hilde as Light of the World
(Construction)
130308
1000 = Light of the World
2131 = Jörð – Earth in Icelandic
30155 = 19th September
29671 = Promised Kingdom
68251 = Min, – min bygmester!
100 = THE END
130308
III. Earth as Stratfordian Shakspeare
(Stratford, Holy Trinity Church)
130308
19949 = STAY PASSENGER WHY GOEST THOU BY SO FAST
22679 = READ IF THOU CANST WHOM ENVIOUS DEATH HATH PLAST
24267 = WITH IN THIS MONUMENT SHAKSPEARE: WITH WHOME
20503 = QUICK NATURE DIDE WHOSE NAME DOTH DECK YS TOMBE
20150 = FAR MORE THEN COST: SIEH ALL YT HE HATH WRITT
21760 = LEAVES LIVING ART BUT PAGE TO SERVE HIS WITT
Shak-Speare´s Fall/Death
Impregnates Earth With
1000 = Light of the World
130308
IV. Earth impregnated with Light as
Stratfordian Vp-start Crow
(Greenes Groatsworth of Witte)
138084
10282 = Yes trust them not:
29160 = for there is an vp-start Crow, beautified with our feathers,
23774 = that with his Tygers hart wrapt in a Players hyde,
25415 = supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse
7638 = as the best of you:
16349 = and count an absolute Iohannes fac totum,
25466 = is in his owne conceit the onely Shake-scene in a country.
138084
V. Take him for all in all
(Ancient Creation Myth)
138084
Saga impregnated Earth/Man
1000 = FIRE/Light of the World
3450 = Þórðr – Burnt Njáll´s grandson
Take him for all in all
(Hamlet about King Hamlet)
12174 = Bygmester Halvard Solness.
15331 = Fru Aline Solness, hans hustru.
9544 = Doktor Herdal, huslæge.
27468 = Knut Brovik, forhen arkitekt, nu assistent hos Solness.
13235 = Ragnar Brovik, hans sön, tegner.
18809 = Kaja Fosli, hans sösterdatter, bogholderske.
8367 = Fröken Hilde Wangel.
4175 = Nogle damer.
6492 = Folkemængde pa gaden.
18185 = Handlinger forgar hos bygmester Solness.
Actions at Master Builder Solness
Metamorphosis
(Matt. 16:17. KJB 1611)
-5975 = Simon Peter
5829 = Simon bar Iona
138084
VI. Bring forth my Kingdom, Master Builder
(Saga Myth, Matt. 1:23, KJB 1611)
29671
Hilde
14288 = Ryk ud med mit kongerige, bygmester!
6701 = (banker med fingeren.)
8682 = Kongeriget pa bordet!
29671
The Kingdom Brought Forth
1000 = Light of the World
3635 = Emmanuel
11359 = Snorri Sturluson
7000 = Microcosmos – Man in God’s Image
6677 = God With Us
29671
VII. Min, – min bygmester!
(p. 220)
104431
Hilde
16450 = (ligesom i stille, forvildet triumf).
11637 = Men helt til toppen kom han.
11856 = Og jeg hörte harper i luften.
20732 = (svinger sjalet opad og skriger i vild inderlighed)
7576 = Min, – min bygmester!
As in:
1825 = Death
7 = Man-Beast of Seventh Day
Saga-Shakespeare Authors
11359 = Snorri Sturluson
9814 = Sturla Þórðarson
5385 = Francis Bacon
7936 = Edward Oxenford
Man-Beast’s
Metamorphosis
-5975 = Simon Peter
5829 = Simon bar Iona
104431
VIII. Characters of the Play
(Bygmester Solness)
104928
12174 = Bygmester Halvard Solness.
15331 = Fru Aline Solness, hans hustru.
9544 = Doktor Herdal, huslæge.
27468 = Knut Brovik, forhen arkitekt, nu assistent hos Solness.
13235 = Ragnar Brovik, hans sön, tegner.
18809 = Kaja Fosli, hans sösterdatter, bogholderske.
8367 = Fröken Hilde Wangel.
104928
As in:
1 = Monad
Platonic Poets
1654 = ION
3412 = Platon
4946 = Socrates
Four Augustan Poets
14209 = Quintus Horatius Flaccus
12337 = Publius Virgilius Maro
11999 = Sextus Propertius
11249 = Publius Ovidius Naso
Vp-start Crow
-5975 = Simon Peter
Builders of Christ´s Church
10773 = Spiritus sanctus
5829 = Simon bar Iona
Saga Poets
11359 = Snorri Sturluson
9814 = Sturla Þórðarson
Shakespeare Poets
5385 = Francis Bacon
7936 = Edward Oxenford
104928
***
Calculator for converting letters to cipher values is at:
http://www.light-of-truth.com/ciphersaga.htm
Gunnar Tómasson
