The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-24
HESRiM IHsEN DEaR
Norwegian Uvama'ist whosr piats taUsed
seeat stIF m the WaFtd

spscfii Csas urts1ieh ~ rHt srS
CHnIrtfASiG. Norway, May "a Henrik
il,acn, tho Norwegian %dramati-t. died a.
7sN o'clock this afternoon
Ibran had been very III With n heart
malady for many months. AZ Iona q
~ lar, Octoter he was pronounced 10 be
dying, hut h. afterward rallied.
Ioapn vas unconscious aincs laat night
His wife, aon and other relatives we're NJ his
lad-ide. King Haaken and Queen Maud
frequently inquired concerning his con.
dition and ssnt condolences M aoon a. they
learned 81 his death. Many Eurofean
soverrigns, exalted percentages and hter-
airy mon and women rave aent kilograms
II coincidence.
Henrik Ibsen was born at Skien, a small
town in Norway, on March 20, 1929, He
was the son Of Knud Ibsen. a member Of
the well to do class Of the place. n the
hoy was carefully brought up, From his
mother. who was a German. he learned her
native language thoroughly. When Henrik
was 4 years old his father failed and they
we're compelled to take refuge on a barren
farm. He continued, however, to go TO
school. and after receiving a good general
education took UP tho study Of medicine.
His tastes did not run in that direction,
and when he entered the school of Helt-
berg at Christiania he devoted almost all
his time to the classics. Bjornstjerne
Bjornson, then but II years old. was his
schoolfellow. 1t was at this time that
Ibsen's play THE Warriors Tomb" was
accepted and produced in the Christiania
Theatre. Before that he had written a
- l.. IA T...l.-n ~ H. l@.N
but it was not then produced, and when it
was printed only thirty copies were stricken
off.
1t was during his student days that he
met Ole Bull, the amous vio'inist, and II
was through him that he was appointed
director of the National Theatre at Bergen.
While holding this post he mana ged to find
of these were produced later in C~hristiania
they were received with the utmost enthusi-
asm. In 1851 Ibsen was appointed dire ctor
OF the newly founded Norwegian Theatre
ried a stepdaughter, of Magdelena Thore-
son, the poetess, and one son was born to
them, Sigurd Ibsen, who Is now a physician
in Christiania and who married a daughter
Of Bjornst jerne Biornson.
In 1884 Henrik 1bsen iourneved to Rome,
where he lived for several years: Upon his
return to the north he esta blished a home
in Christia mia, where he had lived ever
since. Before he went to Rome business
at his theatre had dropped of and the
institution finally beolme bankrupt. The
only inoome on which he could depend was
the POO crowns paid him as the liter lry
adviser of the Christian mia Theatre. The
public treasury refused an appeal for help
from him and his financial circumstance be-
came so straitened that his friends tried
to get him a place in the Custom House.
Finally the Depa rtment OF Education gave
him enough money for the trip to Rome.
Travellers who have visited C%hristiania
have written much about the peoulia rites
of the great dramatist. He was a lonely
man and a sombre man and one whom very
few knew personally. His domestic life,
it is said, wal far from being happy. few
yea rs ago he was stricken with partial paral-
ysis of the la rynxand he pra ctically lost his
voice, being able to utter but a few words.
His general health was also impaired and he
was Obliged to walk with q cane; His prin-
cipal plays are: "C%atiline," The Hero's
Mound Madame Ingegard Of oestrat.''
"The Feast at Solhaug,' "The Warriors at
Helgeland, Loves Comedy" The Pro-
tenders, ""Brand, ""Peer Gynt ""The Lea que
of Youth" Emperor and Galilean, and the
social dramas, The Pillars Of Society"
the People, +The Wild Duck, "Rosmers-
holm, " The Lady OF the Sea- and "Hedda
Ga bier"