Charlotta Seuerling
Encyclopedia
Charlotta Seuerling or Charlotte Seuerling (Antoinette Charlotte) (1782/84–25 September 1828), was a blind
Swedish
concert singer, harpsichordist
, composer
and poet
, known as "The Blind Song-Maiden". She was active in Sweden, Finland
and Russia
. Her last name is also spelled as Seijerling and Seyerling. Her first name was Charlotta Antoinetta (or Antonia), but in the French fashion of the time, she was often called Antoinette Charlotte. She was the author of the popular song "Sång i en melankolisk stund".
, actors and directors of a travelling theatre company. She became blind at the age of four due to an incompetent smallpox
vaccination. Four years later, at the age of eight, she really got the smallpox, and the scars made people consider her ugly, which made her shy.
As a child, she contributed to the household by singing songs she had composed herself to the music of the harp
in her parents theatre, widely advertised as a wonder; the singing and music-making blind child. She also played the guitar
. Her father was very ambitious and upheld a high standard in the plays, often performing famous plays from the continent, such as plays by Shakespeare, and her mother was a good actress who became the first Swedish speaking Julia in Romeo and Juliet
in Norrköping
in 1776. They toured in both Sweden and Finland, and even performed at the Swedish court on at least one occasion. They were popular among the public, but often had financial difficulties and problems with irregular staff - during periods of staff-shortage they were forced to use dolls on stage. Charlotta's sister Carolina Fredrika Seuerling was also an actress, but she married a vicar in 1789 and retired.
, where the competition was small, to tour as the director of her troupe. She sent her daughter to Stockholm
to have an eye-operation by the famous doctors Rislachi and af Bjerkèn, that was promised to give her eyesight back. The operation, however, failed, and as Seuerling did not have the money to join her mother in Finland. She was thereby forced to stay in a boardinghouse for poor women.
Her musical talent was discovered in 1806 by Per Aron Borg
, who taught the poor women in the boardinghouse piano playing. He was so impressed that he took her as his private student in to his family and his home and taught her Musical theory (1807). Impressed by her ability to learn, he added more subjects, and soon, she excelled in nature sciences and languages. She also composed her own poems, and created a device by which she could write her poems down. Borg invented a blind-writing, by which she could learn to read notes, German and French.
She was uninterested in subjects traditionally given to her gender, and Borg published a pamphlet where he argued that women was capable to learn subjects from which they were banned. Borg also taught her medicine; also in this subject, she was so successful that he argued that women would be equally and even better as medical doctors than men.
Inspired by her ability to learn, Borg founded the first Institute for blind and deaf in Sweden (1808). Seuerling was his first student, and she is sometimes regarded as the first blind student of her country.
In 1808, Borg held a demonstration during which Seuerling displayed her abbility and talent in reading and writing, playing the harp and claviacord, read notes, speak French and German, as well as weaving, sewing and knitting. During this time period in history, blind and deaf people were often suspected to be unable to educate, and the demonstration of Charlotta Seuerling was of great help to the institute. Her abbility attracted attention, and a lot of the support of the newly founded institute is attributed to her.
On 5 July 1809, Borg held a public exam for his pupils in front of five hundred guests; among them the queen, Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp. Charlotta Seuerling performed her own song :"I, who does not enjoy the pleasure to see the treasured Queen". Upon this, the queen complimented her, and Charlotta, entirely in the taste of the time, dropped her harp and fainted with happiness. She won a great success. The scene was described in a poem by Gustaf Snoilsky: Upon this the blind songmaiden was moved / and by her gratitute stagger..., which made her known as the "Songmaiden".
After this, the Queen became the protector of the institute, and it was also given government support.
Seuerling wrote the song "Sång i en melankolisk stund" (English: Song in a moment of melancholy) for harp music. The song was very popular in Sweden during the entire 19th century. It teemes depression, suicide and betrayal, but also of the happiness of friendship and the hope it gives, interpretated as her own feelings when she was given tuition by Pär Aron Borg and her life changed. It begins: No ray of light shine from above, the night was terrifying and darkness surrounded me..., and ends : ...then as the first ray of dawn a light broke through the mist and friendship came; and with its radiance calm and joy filled my heart.
In 1810, Charlotta joined her mother in Finland, which was now a part of Russia
, and performed in her mother's theatre troupe. In 1811, her mother met with financial difficulties. They were then both put under the protection of the Russian empress dowager, Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg), who had heard of Seuerlings reputation as a harpist, and each received a pension of 600 rubles. Charlotta moved to Russia, where she assisted in the development of Valentin Haüy
s Institute for the Blind in Saint Petersburg
, where she received a position.
Seuerling returned to Sweden in 1823, and died five years later.
, kept at Kungliga biblioteket.
Her song "Sång i en melankolisk stund" was published anonymously many times after 1828, and with her name in the song book "Miniaturvisbok" (1852) alongside work by J O Wallin, Fredrika Bremer
and Gunnar Wennerberg
.
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
concert singer, harpsichordist
Harpsichordist
A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord.Many baroque composers played the harpsichord, including Johann Sebastian Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, George Frideric Handel, François Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau...
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, known as "The Blind Song-Maiden". She was active in Sweden, 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...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Her last name is also spelled as Seijerling and Seyerling. Her first name was Charlotta Antoinetta (or Antonia), but in the French fashion of the time, she was often called Antoinette Charlotte. She was the author of the popular song "Sång i en melankolisk stund".
Childhood
Charlotta Seuerling was the daughter of Carl Gottfried Seuerling and Margareta SeuerlingMargareta Seuerling
Margareta 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...
, actors and directors of a travelling theatre company. She became blind at the age of four due to an incompetent smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
vaccination. Four years later, at the age of eight, she really got the smallpox, and the scars made people consider her ugly, which made her shy.
As a child, she contributed to the household by singing songs she had composed herself to the music of the harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
in her parents theatre, widely advertised as a wonder; the singing and music-making blind child. She also played the guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
. Her father was very ambitious and upheld a high standard in the plays, often performing famous plays from the continent, such as plays by Shakespeare, and her mother was a good actress who became the first Swedish speaking Julia in Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
in Norrköping
Norrköping
Norrköping is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County. The city has a population of 87,247 inhabitants in 2010, out of a municipal total of 130,050, making it Sweden's tenth largest city and eighth largest...
in 1776. They toured in both Sweden and Finland, and even performed at the Swedish court on at least one occasion. They were popular among the public, but often had financial difficulties and problems with irregular staff - during periods of staff-shortage they were forced to use dolls on stage. Charlotta's sister Carolina Fredrika Seuerling was also an actress, but she married a vicar in 1789 and retired.
Adulthood
After the death of her father in 1795, her mother took sole charge of the theatre and moved to FinlandFinland
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...
, where the competition was small, to tour as the director of her troupe. She sent her daughter to 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...
to have an eye-operation by the famous doctors Rislachi and af Bjerkèn, that was promised to give her eyesight back. The operation, however, failed, and as Seuerling did not have the money to join her mother in Finland. She was thereby forced to stay in a boardinghouse for poor women.
Her musical talent was discovered in 1806 by Per Aron Borg
Per Aron Borg
Pär Aron Borg was a Swedish pedagogue and a pioneer in the education for the blind and deaf.Borg was a teacher. After having seen a play where a deaf boy communicated by gestures, he was inspired to create a manual alphabet...
, who taught the poor women in the boardinghouse piano playing. He was so impressed that he took her as his private student in to his family and his home and taught her Musical theory (1807). Impressed by her ability to learn, he added more subjects, and soon, she excelled in nature sciences and languages. She also composed her own poems, and created a device by which she could write her poems down. Borg invented a blind-writing, by which she could learn to read notes, German and French.
She was uninterested in subjects traditionally given to her gender, and Borg published a pamphlet where he argued that women was capable to learn subjects from which they were banned. Borg also taught her medicine; also in this subject, she was so successful that he argued that women would be equally and even better as medical doctors than men.
Inspired by her ability to learn, Borg founded the first Institute for blind and deaf in Sweden (1808). Seuerling was his first student, and she is sometimes regarded as the first blind student of her country.
In 1808, Borg held a demonstration during which Seuerling displayed her abbility and talent in reading and writing, playing the harp and claviacord, read notes, speak French and German, as well as weaving, sewing and knitting. During this time period in history, blind and deaf people were often suspected to be unable to educate, and the demonstration of Charlotta Seuerling was of great help to the institute. Her abbility attracted attention, and a lot of the support of the newly founded institute is attributed to her.
On 5 July 1809, Borg held a public exam for his pupils in front of five hundred guests; among them the queen, Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp. Charlotta Seuerling performed her own song :"I, who does not enjoy the pleasure to see the treasured Queen". Upon this, the queen complimented her, and Charlotta, entirely in the taste of the time, dropped her harp and fainted with happiness. She won a great success. The scene was described in a poem by Gustaf Snoilsky: Upon this the blind songmaiden was moved / and by her gratitute stagger..., which made her known as the "Songmaiden".
After this, the Queen became the protector of the institute, and it was also given government support.
Seuerling wrote the song "Sång i en melankolisk stund" (English: Song in a moment of melancholy) for harp music. The song was very popular in Sweden during the entire 19th century. It teemes depression, suicide and betrayal, but also of the happiness of friendship and the hope it gives, interpretated as her own feelings when she was given tuition by Pär Aron Borg and her life changed. It begins: No ray of light shine from above, the night was terrifying and darkness surrounded me..., and ends : ...then as the first ray of dawn a light broke through the mist and friendship came; and with its radiance calm and joy filled my heart.
In 1810, Charlotta joined her mother in Finland, which was now a part of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, and performed in her mother's theatre troupe. In 1811, her mother met with financial difficulties. They were then both put under the protection of the Russian empress dowager, Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg), who had heard of Seuerlings reputation as a harpist, and each received a pension of 600 rubles. Charlotta moved to Russia, where she assisted in the development of Valentin Haüy
Valentin Haüy
Valentin Haüy - 19 March 1822 in Paris) was the founder, in 1784, of the first school for the blind, the Royal Institution for the Young Blind in Paris . In 1819, Louis Braille entered this school....
s Institute for the Blind in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, where she received a position.
Seuerling returned to Sweden in 1823, and died five years later.
Legacy
The harp of Charlotte Seuerling is kept at Musikmuseet; also letters and poems written by her hand is kept. Among her writings are also kept a writing test, which is the oldest expample of blind text in Sweden, written with a writing device constructed for the blind before BrailleBraille
The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two...
, kept at Kungliga biblioteket.
Her song "Sång i en melankolisk stund" was published anonymously many times after 1828, and with her name in the song book "Miniaturvisbok" (1852) alongside work by J O Wallin, Fredrika Bremer
Fredrika Bremer
Fredrika Bremer was a Swedish writer and a feminist activist. She had a large influence on the social development in Sweden, especially in feminist issues.-Background:...
and Gunnar Wennerberg
Gunnar Wennerberg
Gunnar Wennerberg , Swedish poet, composer and politician. His niece Sara Wennerberg-Reuter was also a well-known musician; she was an organist and composer....
.