Anna Sofia Sevelin, born Thunberg (23 July 1790 - 25 February 1871), was a Swedish opera singer (alto

Alto

Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...

). She was a court singer

Hovsångare

Hovsångare , literally Court Singer, is a title awarded by the Swedish monarch to a singer who, by their vocal art, has contributed to the international standing of Swedish singing. The formal title was introduced by King Gustav III of Sweden in 1773, with the first recipients being Elisabeth Olin...

 and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts

Royal Swedish Academy of Arts

The Royal Swedish Academy of Arts or Kungl. Akademien för de fria konsterna, founded in 1773 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden...

.

Sevelin was the daughter of Olof Thunberg, who worked as a parish clerk. She was a student at Dramatens elevskola

Dramatens elevskola

Dramatens elevskola, i.e. Kungliga Dramatiska Teaterns Elevskola, or in Eng: The Royal Dramatic Theatre's acting school, was the acting school of Sweden's national stage, The Royal Dramatic Theatre, and for many years seen as the foremost theatre school and drama education for Swedish stage actors...

 in 1806, and contracted at the Royal Swedish Opera

Royal Swedish Opera

Kungliga Operan is Sweden's national stage for opera and ballet.-Location and Environment:...

 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 1813-1837. In 1817, she was elected into the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. She also made guest appearances abroad, as in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 and in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

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She was considered a great singer, but in lack of dramatic capacity, and it was said that she always sang at the stage as if she performed on a concert

Concert

A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...

. Her voice is described as a deep alt, which changed to a soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

 with time. Her voice was destroyed by overexhaustion under the demands from the direction, and from 1833, she was no longer active. She married the ballet dancer Per Erik Sevelin in 1813.