Petter Stenborg
Encyclopedia
Adolf Frederick of Sweden
Adolf Frederick or Adolph Frederick was King of Sweden from 1751 until his death. He was the son of Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin and Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach....
, he kept the Swedish-speaking theatre alive during the 1750s and 1760s, and thus was the link between the closure of the first Swedish theatre in Bollhuset in 1753, and the opening of the first lasting theatre/opera in 1773.
Early career
Originally a soldier in the Royal guard, he became a member of the first troupe of Swedish actors at the theater of BollhusetBollhuset
Bollhuset, also called ', ', and ' at various times, was the name of the first theater in Stockholm, Sweden; it was the first Swedish theater and the first real theater building in the whole of Scandinavia. The name "" means "The Ball House", and it was built in 1627 for ball sports and used in...
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
in 1746. In the Bollhus Theater he performed in Syrinx by Lars Lalin or Peter Lindhal, composed by Johan Ohl, opposite Elisabeth Lillström
Elisabeth Lillström
Lisa or Elise Lillström, née Söderman was a Swedish stage actor and opera singer, one of the first professional native female actors in Sweden, mother of Elisabeth Olin, née Lillström...
in 1747-48, (also the debut for Elisabeth Olin
Elisabeth Olin
Elisabeth Olin was a Swedish opera singer and a music composer. She is referred to as the first Swedish Opera prima donna. She was a court-singer . She was the first female member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music...
), were called one of the most valuable of the theater's actors by the director Charles Langlois in 1748 and is believed to have had the leading role in Slafve-ön (The Slave island) by Marivaux in 1749-50, though the details of his occupation in Bollhuset are unclear.
Director
When the Swedish troupe, active on the theater since 1737, was fired in 1753 and replaced with a French troupe, the Du Londel TroupeDu Londel Troupe
The Du Londel Troupe was a French 18th-century theatre troupe. From 1753 to 1771, it was active as the French Theatre of Sweden, where it played a great part in that country's theatre history....
, half of the staff left for the country side to work as a travelling theater company under Peter Lindahl
Peter Lindahl
Peter Lindahl , was a Swedish stage actor and theatre director. He belonged to the most known of the pioneer generation of actors at the first Swedish theatre....
and Johan Bergholtz. After an attempt to be an inkeeper, Petter Stenborg applied and was given permission to lead a theater company in the city of Stockholm, and between 1758 and for twenty years forward, he performed as the director of a troupe of native actors
Stenborg Troupe
The Stenborg troupe was a Swedish Theatre Comedy troupe, active in Sweden and Finland in the 18th century. It was also called Stenborgska skådebanorna , Svenska komeditruppen and Svenska Comedien or Svenska Teatern...
in both Stockholm, in temporary locals, and touring the country, mostly in Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, in companionship with the tight-rope-walker von Carl Fredrik von Eckenberg; when the troupe visited Åbo
Turku
Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...
in 1761, it was probably the first time a theatre troupe visited this part of the country.
He is most known for his activity in Stockholm, where he preserved a Swedish speaking theater, just as the theater company of Peter Lindahl did in the country side, during a period when the French culture otherwise dominated the Swedish stage. His theater company did not have a very good reputation; the actors were from: "jail, soldiers, alcoholized lawyers, servants and washing-women", the costumes was from ragshops and the music from public-houses, (were they often performed) and the plays was described as vulgar. This judgements, however, was given by members of the upper classes, who preferred the French Theatre in Bollhuset, but the Stenborg Company was appreciated by the public, who could not understand the French troupe at Bollhuset, and they represented a native speaking theater in the 1750s and 1760s. They are also perhaps the first troupe to have performed in Finland, though this was only temporary.
Among his actors were Adolph Fredrik Neuman, former tailor Jean Löfblad, the Harlekin of the troupe; Johanna Catharina Enbeck, earlier active both at Bollhuset and the Lindahl troup, who was to be active at the Stenborg troup until the 1790s and thereby one of the Swedish 18th century actors active longest in her profession - and the prima donna Christina Catharina Lindberg, also earlier active in Bollhuset.
Later career
In 1771, King Gustav III of SwedenGustav III of Sweden
Gustav III was King of Sweden from 1771 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Adolph Frederick and Queen Louise Ulrica of Sweden, she a sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia....
fired the French theater company, and the Swedish actors, led by Petter Stenborg, saw their chance and asked to perform a play at the opening of the parliament of 1772, asking the monarch in his letter to protect the native speaking theatre. At the opening of parliament in 1772, the troupe of Petter Stenborg appeared before King Gustav III and all the public in Bollhuset after the French troupe had left it, in which play the son of Stenborg, Carl, again asked for protection for the native theatre. After this, the monarch decided to found a native speaking opera and theatre, though not with the Stenborg troupe.
In 1773, the troupe, whose biggest problem was the difficulty to get locations, and had to move from one place to the next over the years, finally found a good place to perform; the so called Humlegårdsteatern, the theater in Humlegården, where they performed every summer until 1780. This was described as a sort of pavilion in the garden of Humlegården, where they played simple comedies in the native language, sometimes caricatures of the solemn performances in Bollhuset
Bollhuset
Bollhuset, also called ', ', and ' at various times, was the name of the first theater in Stockholm, Sweden; it was the first Swedish theater and the first real theater building in the whole of Scandinavia. The name "" means "The Ball House", and it was built in 1627 for ball sports and used in...
, and was a very popular part of the city's summer life; the opera-performances Thetis och Phelée became Petis och Nasenblom; Acis och Galathea became Kasper och Dorotea.
Petter Stenborg was the father of the famous Swedish singer and actor Carl Stenborg
Carl Stenborg
Carl Stenborg was a Swedish opera singer, actor, composer and theatre director. He is considered the first great male opera singer in Sweden and one of the pioneers of the Royal Swedish Opera.- Biography :...
; his wife Anna Sara Krüger had been a housekeeper in the house of count Adam Horn, and through her contacts, his children was given a much better education than himself, and Carl was accepted at the theater of Bollhuset where he became a star. Carl was thereby forbidden to perform in his father's company, but he advised him. In 1780, Petter Stenborg retired, and his company was taken over by his son, who immediately searched for a real house for the troupe, where they could perform all year. He found one at Eriksberg, thereby called the Eriksberg Theatre, but it was badly placed outside town. In 1784, he found the final location for the company at Munkbron, called the Munkbro Theater but commonly referred to as Stenborg Theatre
Stenborg Theatre
The Stenborg theatre, also called Svenska Komiska Teatern, Komiska Teatern and Munkbroteatern, was a historical Swedish 18th century theatre, active between 1784 and 1799 in Gamla stan in Stockholm. It was the second theatre of Stockholm during the Gustavian age...
, who were the second most important theatre in Stockholm until the monopoly of the Royal Dramatic Theater closed it down in 1799.
See also
- Martin NürenbachMartin NürenbachMartin Nürenbach, or Nurembach , was a German acrobat, actor, dancer, tight-rope-dancer and theatre director, active in Sweden, Norway and Finland...
- Margareta SeuerlingMargareta SeuerlingMargareta Seuerling, née Lindahl, , was a Swedish actress and Theatre director in a travelling theatre company, perhaps the most known travelling actress of her time in Scandinavia, active in both Sweden and Finland...
- Karl Gustav BonuvierKarl Gustav BonuvierKarl Gustav Bonuvier, , was a Swedish actor and theatre director, active in Sweden and Finland. He is remembered for having founded the first theatre house in Finland.- Biography :...
- Åbo Svenska TeaterÅbo Svenska TeaterÅbo Svenska Teater is a Finland-Swedish theatre in the city of Turku in Finland and the oldest theatre in the country, founded in 1839. The building itself is also the oldest still functioning theatre house in Finland...
External links
- http://books.google.se/books?id=A9JkIiD-z0IC&pg=PA66&lpg=PA66&dq=bollhuset+1737&source=web&ots=DwNzToAB5E&sig=_nFCjn9XC82GN3vy4WUuEeDWaM4&hl=sv#PPA66,M1