Other editions of book The Master Builder 1905

Written in 1892, later in Ibsen's life, "The Master Builder," or "Bygmester Solness," is a 3-act play that explores the conflicted thoughts and feelings of the hardened and powerful artist Halvard Solness. He is an older architect who painstakingly worked his way to professional distinction at the cost of his personal life. As he reflects on his career, Halvard is frustrated with his ambition and dreams of achieving genuine satisfaction in his life. At the same time, he fears being surpassed by a younger generation of talent, including by his own son, a younger member of the firm. A symbolic and semi-autobiographical play, "The Master Builder" portrays a creative man's confusion and downfall.

The play was published by Gyldendal AS, Copenhagen, in 1892 and its first performance was on 19 January 1893 at the Lessing Theatre, Berlin, with Emanuel Reicher as Solness. It opened at the Trafalgar Theatre, London on the 20th of the following month, with Herbert H. Waring in the name part and Elizabeth Robins as Hilda. The English translation was by the theatre critic William Archer. Productions in Oslo and Copenhagen were coordinated to open on 8 March 1893. In the following year the work was taken up by Théâtre de l'Œuvre, the international company based in Paris, and they mounted productions in Paris, London and other European capitals. The first U.S. performance was at the Carnegie Lyceum, New York, on 16 January 1900, with William Pascoe and Florence Kahn.

Halvard Solness is the middle-aged Master Builder of a small town in Norway who has become a successful architect of some distinction and local reputation. One day while having a visit from his friend Doctor Herdal, Solness is visited by Hilda Wangel, a young woman of twenty-three from another town whom Doctor Herdal happens to recognize from a recent trip that he had taken. The doctor leaves, Solness is alone with Hilda, and she reminds him that they are not strangers

he Master Builder by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, is regarded as one of Ibsen's most significant and revealing works. Halvard Solness is the middle-aged Master Builder of a small town in Norway who has become a successful architect of some distinction and local reputation. One day while having a visit from his friend Doctor Herdal, Solness is visited by Hilde Wangel, a young woman of twenty-four from another town whom the doctor promptly recognizes from a recent trip. Soon after the Doctor leaves and Solness is alone with Hilde, she reminds him that they are not strangers and that they had previously met in her home town ten years ago when she was fourteen years of age. When Solness does not respond to her quickly enough she reminds him that at one point he had made advances upon her, offered a romantic interlude, and promised her "castles in the sky" during their encounter, which she believed. He denies this and she gradually convinces him, however, that she can assist him with his household duties and he takes her into his home.