Brief description
Norma or A Politician's Love was written in Christiania in the course of ten days at the end of May 1851. At that time Ibsen was one of three editors – the other two were Paul Botten-Hansen and A. O. Vinje – of the weekly Andhrimner or «Manden» («The Man») as it was called to begin with. Andhrimner aimed at being a Norwegian equivalent of the Danish Corsaren («The Corsair»), a literary and politically independent satirical paper. Ibsen wrote both theatre reviews and topical contributions.
On 20 May 1851 Christiania Theater had the first night of Vincenzo Bellini's opera «Norma». Ibsen saw the performance and reviewed it in Andhrimner on 25 May. But he was also inspired to write a dramatic parody, in which the characters in Bellini's opera are shown as central figures in the political situation in Norway at the time. lbsen describes how this came about in the preface of the play:
The other day I was in the Gallery of the Storting (Parliament). The matter under discussion was of the same nature as most, so I can no longer remember what it was about. When Schydtz happened to speak, so that I had nothing to pay attention to, I gave rein to my imagination and abandoned myself to that pleasant floating, half in the sphere of reality and half in that of unreality, to which we like to abandon ourselves when the mind is tired or the world around us makes the usual soporific impression. I thought: in these 106 heads, some with, some without wigs, there is the quintessence of all the excellence, of all the intellectual gifts that dear old Norway can demonstrate from the North Cape to Lindesnes, from Svinesund to Stavanger (which Natvig represents). Here Genius, Eloquence, Patriotism, Liberality are compressed in a compact mass. Of all these excellent qualities even the rarest forms are represented, for example a certain touch of genius in Skjerkholdt, ditto of eloquence in Parneman, and so on and so forth. The gift of lyricism is naturally expressed in Natvig, who thus in a way forms a link between poetry and politics.
I continued my reflections in this direction for a few hours until Schydtz had finished and my undisturbed flight of thought was broken.
In the evening I saw «Norma», and I was suddenly enlightened: «Stortinget is a dramatically gifted body!»
Ibsen continues the Preface by identifying a selection of politicians from the Government and Storting with individual characters in Bellini's opera.
Norma or A Politician's Love is an odd job of only marginal interest among Ibsen's works. But there are two aspects of the play that deserve attention: it shows a coming dramatist's first attempt in the genre of political satire, and there are elements in the play that point to The League of Youth, which Ibsen wrote almost two decades later.
Norma or A Politician's Love was published anonymously in Andhrimner of 1 and 8 June 1851. The play is extremely short, consisting of only thirteen columns. The exact circulation of the paper at this time is not known, but the number of subscribers was under one hundred. Andhrimner was never a success and ceased publication for financial reasons (it was published in the period 5 January – 28 September 1851).
The play was never published again in Ibsen's lifetime. In 1909 it was included in the first volume of Ibsen's Efterladte Skrifter («Posthumous Works») (published by Halvdan Koht and Julius Elias).
Norma or A Politician's Love is described as a «Musical tragedy in three acts». In the last paragraph of the preface to the play Ibsen wrote:
It was these reflections that led me to arrange the opera «Norma or a Politician's Love», the text of which follows, and which I hereby offer to the Storting for performance on some festive occasion or other. The music must be provided by the Storting itself, as it includes virtuosi on every possible instrument from trumpet to drum to bassoon, so this will not be difficult. Of course I know that «for the time being» the Storting has plenty to do, but it may not be impossible that His Majesty might fear dangerous consequences of these excessive efforts, especially in the dog days. So if one fine day the Storting were to be granted a holiday, it would be good for it to have a useful and pleasant pastime with which to amuse itself.
Unfortunately no Storting has ever taken this seriously, and the play was never staged in Ibsen's lifetime (it was not written for the stage either). But in November 1994 it had its first performance ever (the youngest and most recent first performance of an Ibsen play) – and this was in Trondheim. It was produced in an adapted version by the Students' Internal Theatre at the Students' Union there. The production was done as a comment on the debate regarding Norwegian membership of the European Union, and formed the cultural part of a meeting on this subject. The director was Marit Moum Aune.
(From ibsen.net)
Read Norma (in Norwegian)
In the online version of the official Ibsen edition (HISe), you can read Norma in various formats. This content is currently only available in Norwegian. Follow the links below to read the play:
Introduction to the work (in Norwegian)
The online version of the official Ibsen edition (HISe) offers extensive information about Norma in Norwegian. Follow the links below to read about various aspects connected to the play.