Project: A full-length opera based on Ibsen's Hedda Gabler. The play portrays the dramatic confrontation between the heroine and her inevitable fate. The subject of a woman trying to break out of social, marital and even physical constraints is still as valid today as it was when Ibsen wrote the play in 1890. The drama is a maze of contrasting psychological forces which are pulled centripetally toward the protagonist Hedda Gabler. And the character of Hedda is a complex study of contradictions. She is neither monster nor saint. George Bernard Shaw described her as a woman without conscience or conviction but with plenty of cleverness and personal fascination. The staccato dialogue which is the basis of the whole drama does not diminish the long-winded, lava-like progression which finally engulfs all. This is brought about by Hedda's frantic efforts to break away from boredom and mediocrity which clash head-on with her amorphous and immovable social conformity. Hedda fights passionately to free herself from the male-dominated world. Her struggle, however, ends in defeat. The broadness of the drama's concept allows music to develop and blossom, to build unhurriedly its climaxes and thus amplify the emotional intensity of the drama. The opera, like the play, focuses mainly on Hedda. As much as possible, Ibsen's text is used, though the play has been somewhat shortened. The main characters are: Hedda Gabler, mezzo-soprano; Thea Elvsted, lyric soprano; Mademoiselle Diana, contralto; Tesman, tenor; Lovborg, baritone; and Judge Brack, bass. The orchestra is full symphony size.