Elisabeth Olin
Encyclopedia
Elisabeth Olin (December 1740 – 26 March 1828) 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 (Hovsångare
). She was the first female member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music
(1782). Together with Fredrique Löwen
, she is referred to as the most successful Swedish woman stage artist in the 18th century.
. Her mother Elisabeth Lillström
was one of the first professional native actresses in Sweden, the prima donna
of the troupe and a member in the board of directors that run the theatre of Bollhuset in 1740–1753. Elisabeth Olin debuted as a child-actor on the stage of Bollhuset alongside her mother at the age of seven under the name Betty Lillström in the part of Alfhild in Syrinx in 1747, called Sweden's first native Opera comique
, and was very popular, often described as one of the most valuable members of the staff even though she was not an adult, but in 1753, the theatre was reserved for the French troop hired by the queen, ending the first experiment of a national theater. The parents of Olin then joined the Stenborg Troupe
She received training from the leading Swedish actor, Petter Stenborg
, in singing, and clavecin
training and theory lessons by the court-chapel conductor Ferdinand Zellbell. It was most likely at one of his concerts at Riddarhuset that she made her debut, the date is however lost; she is believed to have been active as a professional concert singer in the late 1750s. In 1760 she married the official Gabriel Olin (1728–1794). The first time she was confirmed as a singer was at a concert by Zellbell in 1761, and she was a popular concert singer in the 1760s. She appeared as a singer in concert in 1769, directed by Francesco Uttini
, leader of the Italian Opera-troupe in Bollhuset of 1754–1767 and Royal orchestra conductor, and was at this point very popular among the nobility and often hired for private concerts. In 1768, she published her own song composition; she was one of the Swedish composers who wrote one composition each for the collection Gustaviade. En hjältedikt i tolv sånger (1768) (English: "Gustaviade. A heroic poem of twelve songs"); Elisabeth Olin was responsible for composition number eight.
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, and after this, the monarch decided to found a native speaking opera and theatre.
The Swedish theatre had been made up of foreign companies and was more or less a matter for the court until this time, (except for a brief experiment from 1737–1753, where her parents was pioneers in the first try to start a native-speaking theatre). It was after this that the King decided to form a Swedish theatre, with Swedish actors, and thereby making theatre open to a public who could not understand the tongues of the foreign companies. Thus, the national Swedish Opera was founded in 1773, and Elisabeth Olin was one of its pioneers. As she was married to an official, a Royal court secretary, it was not considered entirely proper for her to perform professionally, and the King then raised the prestige of the opera company by styling it Royal Swedish Opera
and appointed Elisabeth Olin first court-singer. At the search for talents to the newly founded opera, the direction "hardly dare consider" to think of her, as she was a part of the upper class after her marriage, which gave her a great advantage in the negotiations. After the negotiations about her salary, Gustav III said, "She holds herself very expensive"; she was the highest paid member of the entire Swedish opera, which gave female members higher salary than the male. Her husband is described as always very proud of her.
At the inauguration
of the Royal Swedish Opera
on 18 January 1773, she sang the role of the Sea Goddess Thetis
in Francesco Uttini
's opera Thetis och Pélée, receiving praise both for her voice and her beauty. Her leading man (Pélée) was Carl Stenborg
, the son of her former mentor, Petter Stenborg. She and the young idealistic Carl Stenborg played the lovers in this performance, and very convincingly, joined by her daughter, Betty Olin, who played Amor. She was described as beautiful, with great movements and a voice that engaged and enraptured; he was a beautiful blond youth with a lovely though not strong voice that was pronounced skillfully enough for everyone to hear and giving the Swedish language "a new pleasure". They were, in fact, lovers in real life also. It is said that "everyone knew of the tender relationship he had with Mrs Olin"; this was reputed to be a fact why she had accepted to participate, and the show played twice a week during a period of fourteen weeks for a full house every time. When she at one time was sick, Carl Stenborg was unwilling to play lover to her replacement Charlotte Eckerman
until he was forced to by royal command.
In 1774 she played the part of Mechtild in Birger jarl opposite Stenborg in Rikssalen at the wedding of Duke Charles and Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp. At the opera of Athalie by Racine in 1776, she was persuaded to take on a speaking part, though she had only been hired for singing parts. Her relationship to Carl Stenborg was used to persuade her: director Zibet writes to the King: "She is with no doubt too tender to wish to humiliate her lover by refusing to take part in a performance, in which he could not refuse to participate", which also displayed a social aspect; Olin had a special position as a member of the upper class, while Stenborg had the same terms as an ordinary actor; though Stenborg was the male star, he was not paid as much as Olin in salary either.
She was the celebrated court-singer in the many opera plays in the Royal Court theatre and an actress at the newly-founded opera in Stockholm
. Her sister and her daughter were also employed. After only two years of employment, she managed to raise her salary by threatening to resign, and after five years, she demanded (and subsequently received) full salary as pension whenever she chose to retire. It is most likely, that she received the highest salary any woman ever had been paid at that time in Sweden, regardless of profession. In 1782 she was elected into the Royal Swedish Academy of Music
, and in 1788 she became a member of the academy-committee. She was not only active at the Opera, but also at Stenborg theatre
, the theatre of Carl Stenborg and his father.
in Acis och Galathea by Händel
with Carl Stenborg (1773), Eurydice
in Orfeus and Eurydice
by Glück with Carl Stenborg, Iphigenia in Iphigenia on Tauris by Gluck and Athalie
in Athalie
by Jean Racine
. She played Silvie i Silvie by Berton
and Trial with Carl Stenborg (season 1773–1774), Aline in Aline, drottning av Golconda by Uttini with Carl Stenborg (1775–1776), Procris in Procris och Cephal by Gretry with Carl Stenborg 1777–1778, Clytemnestra in Iphigenie in Aulis by Christoph Willibald Glück
with Carl Stenborg (1778–1779) and Zulma in Cora och Alonzo by Naumann (1782–1783); many times she played opposite her lover Stenborg on stage.
She was described as a beauty with a fine figure and suggestive "snake-eyes", and her musical and dramatic talent is described as temperamental but noble. She hated competition and disliked to be substituted by her rival Lovisa Augusti
, who was her replacement whenever she was sick or bore children - she had six children - and in 1784 she chose to resign. Her daughter, Elisabeth Olin the Younger, became engaged to her former lover Carl Stenborg in 1782, whom she was still in love with, which was traumatic for her, and she refused to compete with the new star of the Swedish Opera, the Danish-born Caroline Frederikke Müller
. The latter was so favoured by the King that he asked her to return to her employment after having fled abroad to escape her creditors and gave her immunity from repaying her debts. Olin therefore retired, officially because of a knee injury, and was replaced by Müller. She turned in her resignation in 1782, but did not leave until 1784; her last performance was as Clytemnestra
in Glück's "Iphigenia in Aulis
". Her daughter and Stenborg did not marry until 1793, according to rumour because she refused to give her consent to the marriage between her daughter and Stenborg.
She remained formally listed as an opera singer until 1803, but in reality only made very few guest-appearances; one in 1797, when she was asked by King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden
to play Svea
at the King's wedding. She was persuaded to give a last performance at a concert in Riddarhuset in 1809, the place where she had made her debut; this was the farewell concert for Carl Stenborg, and also his last performance. Her voice was described as unchanged.
Elisabeth Olin was compared to Francesca Cuzzoni
, Faustina Bordoni-Hasse
and Caterina Gabrieli. She was called "Sweden's first dramatic artist", "The Swedish Mara" (after Gertrud Elisabeth Mara
) and "One of the matriarchs of the Opera".
She was the first singer to be called "The Swedish Nightingale", later a name associated with Jenny Lind
, and it was widely considered that she could have as great a career as any of these singers if she had only wished to tour abroad, but she preferred to stay in Sweden. A couple of weeks before her death in 1828, Elisabeth Olin performed privately for the famous opera singer Angelica Catalani
to demonstrate her voice. It is said that Catalani was deeply impressed.
Her daughter Betty Olin, also called Elisabeth Olin the Younger, (1761–1816) also became a celebrated singer (she debuted at concert in 1770) and toured with her husband in Copenhagen
and Oslo
in 1794–1795.
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...
. She is referred to as the first Swedish Opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
prima donna
Prima donna
Originally used in opera or Commedia dell'arte companies, "prima donna" is Italian for "first lady." The term was used to designate the leading female singer in the opera company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. The prima donna was normally, but not necessarily, a soprano...
. She was a court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
-singer (Hovsångare
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...
). She was the first female member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music
Royal Swedish Academy of Music
The Royal Swedish Academy of Music or Kungl. Musikaliska Akademien, founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden...
(1782). Together with Fredrique Löwen
Fredrique Löwen
Fredrica Löf, also known as Fredrique Löwen was a Swedish stage actress...
, she is referred to as the most successful Swedish woman stage artist in the 18th century.
Background and debut
Her father, Petter Lillström, was a musician, an organist, and played in the theatre orchestra in 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...
. Her mother 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...
was one of the first professional native actresses in Sweden, the prima donna
Prima donna
Originally used in opera or Commedia dell'arte companies, "prima donna" is Italian for "first lady." The term was used to designate the leading female singer in the opera company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. The prima donna was normally, but not necessarily, a soprano...
of the troupe and a member in the board of directors that run the theatre of Bollhuset in 1740–1753. Elisabeth Olin debuted as a child-actor on the stage of Bollhuset alongside her mother at the age of seven under the name Betty Lillström in the part of Alfhild in Syrinx in 1747, called Sweden's first native Opera comique
Opera Comique
The Opera Comique was a 19th-century theatre constructed in Westminster, London, between Wych Street and Holywell Street with entrances on the East Strand. It opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway...
, and was very popular, often described as one of the most valuable members of the staff even though she was not an adult, but in 1753, the theatre was reserved for the French troop hired by the queen, ending the first experiment of a national theater. The parents of Olin then joined the Stenborg Troupe
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...
She received training from the leading Swedish actor, Petter Stenborg
Petter Stenborg
Petter Stenborg was a Swedish actor and theater director who played an important role of the continuation of the native speaking theater in Sweden...
, in singing, and clavecin
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
training and theory lessons by the court-chapel conductor Ferdinand Zellbell. It was most likely at one of his concerts at Riddarhuset that she made her debut, the date is however lost; she is believed to have been active as a professional concert singer in the late 1750s. In 1760 she married the official Gabriel Olin (1728–1794). The first time she was confirmed as a singer was at a concert by Zellbell in 1761, and she was a popular concert singer in the 1760s. She appeared as a singer in concert in 1769, directed by Francesco Uttini
Francesco Uttini
Francesco Antonio Baldassare Uttini was an Italian composer and conductor who was active mostly in Sweden....
, leader of the Italian Opera-troupe in Bollhuset of 1754–1767 and Royal orchestra conductor, and was at this point very popular among the nobility and often hired for private concerts. In 1768, she published her own song composition; she was one of the Swedish composers who wrote one composition each for the collection Gustaviade. En hjältedikt i tolv sånger (1768) (English: "Gustaviade. A heroic poem of twelve songs"); Elisabeth Olin was responsible for composition number eight.
At the opening of parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
in 1772, the troupe of Petter Stenborg appeared before King Gustav III
Gustav 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....
and all the public in Bollhuset after the French troupe had left, and after this, the monarch decided to found a native speaking opera and theatre.
The Swedish theatre had been made up of foreign companies and was more or less a matter for the court until this time, (except for a brief experiment from 1737–1753, where her parents was pioneers in the first try to start a native-speaking theatre). It was after this that the King decided to form a Swedish theatre, with Swedish actors, and thereby making theatre open to a public who could not understand the tongues of the foreign companies. Thus, the national Swedish Opera was founded in 1773, and Elisabeth Olin was one of its pioneers. As she was married to an official, a Royal court secretary, it was not considered entirely proper for her to perform professionally, and the King then raised the prestige of the opera company by styling it Royal Swedish Opera
Royal Swedish Opera
Kungliga Operan is Sweden's national stage for opera and ballet.-Location and Environment:...
and appointed Elisabeth Olin first court-singer. At the search for talents to the newly founded opera, the direction "hardly dare consider" to think of her, as she was a part of the upper class after her marriage, which gave her a great advantage in the negotiations. After the negotiations about her salary, Gustav III said, "She holds herself very expensive"; she was the highest paid member of the entire Swedish opera, which gave female members higher salary than the male. Her husband is described as always very proud of her.
Career
Inauguration
An inauguration is a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of a leader's term of office. An example is the ceremony in which the President of the United States officially takes the oath of office....
of the Royal Swedish Opera
Royal Swedish Opera
Kungliga Operan is Sweden's national stage for opera and ballet.-Location and Environment:...
on 18 January 1773, she sang the role of the Sea Goddess Thetis
Thetis
Silver-footed Thetis , disposer or "placer" , is encountered in Greek mythology mostly as a sea nymph or known as the goddess of water, one of the fifty Nereids, daughters of the ancient one of the seas with shape-shifting abilities who survives in the historical vestiges of most later Greek myths...
in Francesco Uttini
Francesco Uttini
Francesco Antonio Baldassare Uttini was an Italian composer and conductor who was active mostly in Sweden....
's opera Thetis och Pélée, receiving praise both for her voice and her beauty. Her leading man (Pélée) was 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 :...
, the son of her former mentor, Petter Stenborg. She and the young idealistic Carl Stenborg played the lovers in this performance, and very convincingly, joined by her daughter, Betty Olin, who played Amor. She was described as beautiful, with great movements and a voice that engaged and enraptured; he was a beautiful blond youth with a lovely though not strong voice that was pronounced skillfully enough for everyone to hear and giving the Swedish language "a new pleasure". They were, in fact, lovers in real life also. It is said that "everyone knew of the tender relationship he had with Mrs Olin"; this was reputed to be a fact why she had accepted to participate, and the show played twice a week during a period of fourteen weeks for a full house every time. When she at one time was sick, Carl Stenborg was unwilling to play lover to her replacement Charlotte Eckerman
Charlotte Eckerman
Charlotte Eckerman , was a Swedish opera singer and actress. She was also a very well known courtesan during the Gustavian era, and the official royal mistress of Charles XIII of Sweden from 1779 to 1781...
until he was forced to by royal command.
In 1774 she played the part of Mechtild in Birger jarl opposite Stenborg in Rikssalen at the wedding of Duke Charles and Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp. At the opera of Athalie by Racine in 1776, she was persuaded to take on a speaking part, though she had only been hired for singing parts. Her relationship to Carl Stenborg was used to persuade her: director Zibet writes to the King: "She is with no doubt too tender to wish to humiliate her lover by refusing to take part in a performance, in which he could not refuse to participate", which also displayed a social aspect; Olin had a special position as a member of the upper class, while Stenborg had the same terms as an ordinary actor; though Stenborg was the male star, he was not paid as much as Olin in salary either.
She was the celebrated court-singer in the many opera plays in the Royal Court theatre and an actress at the newly-founded opera 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...
. Her sister and her daughter were also employed. After only two years of employment, she managed to raise her salary by threatening to resign, and after five years, she demanded (and subsequently received) full salary as pension whenever she chose to retire. It is most likely, that she received the highest salary any woman ever had been paid at that time in Sweden, regardless of profession. In 1782 she was elected into the Royal Swedish Academy of Music
Royal Swedish Academy of Music
The Royal Swedish Academy of Music or Kungl. Musikaliska Akademien, founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden...
, and in 1788 she became a member of the academy-committee. She was not only active at the Opera, but also at 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...
, the theatre of Carl Stenborg and his father.
Repertoire and judgement
Among her most celebrated performances was GalateaGalatea (mythology)
-Name "Galatea":Though the name "Galatea" has become so firmly associated with Pygmalion's statue as to seem antique, its use in connection with Pygmalion originated with a post-classical writer. No extant ancient text mentions the statue's name...
in Acis och Galathea by Händel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
with Carl Stenborg (1773), Eurydice
Eurydice
Eurydice in Greek mythology, was an oak nymph or one of the daughters of Apollo . She was the wife of Orpheus, who loved her dearly; on their wedding day, he played joyful songs as his bride danced through the meadow. One day, a satyr saw and pursued Eurydice, who stepped on a venomous snake,...
in Orfeus and Eurydice
Orfeo ed Euridice
Orfeo ed Euridice is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck based on the myth of Orpheus, set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the azione teatrale, meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing...
by Glück with Carl Stenborg, Iphigenia in Iphigenia on Tauris by Gluck and Athalie
Athalie
Athalie is the final tragedy of Jean Racine, and has been described as the masterpiece of 'one of the greatest literary artists known' and the 'ripest work' of Racine's genius...
in Athalie
Athalie
Athalie is the final tragedy of Jean Racine, and has been described as the masterpiece of 'one of the greatest literary artists known' and the 'ripest work' of Racine's genius...
by Jean Racine
Jean Racine
Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
. She played Silvie i Silvie by Berton
Pierre Montan Berton
Pierre Montan Berton was a French composer and conductor. He resided primarily in Paris and was an opera director.Pierre's son Henri Montan Berton was also a composer, more famous than Pierre himself....
and Trial with Carl Stenborg (season 1773–1774), Aline in Aline, drottning av Golconda by Uttini with Carl Stenborg (1775–1776), Procris in Procris och Cephal by Gretry with Carl Stenborg 1777–1778, Clytemnestra in Iphigenie in Aulis by Christoph Willibald Glück
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
with Carl Stenborg (1778–1779) and Zulma in Cora och Alonzo by Naumann (1782–1783); many times she played opposite her lover Stenborg on stage.
She was described as a beauty with a fine figure and suggestive "snake-eyes", and her musical and dramatic talent is described as temperamental but noble. She hated competition and disliked to be substituted by her rival Lovisa Augusti
Lovisa Augusti
Lovisa Sofia Augusti, , was a Swedish opera singer. She was a court singer and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.- Biography :...
, who was her replacement whenever she was sick or bore children - she had six children - and in 1784 she chose to resign. Her daughter, Elisabeth Olin the Younger, became engaged to her former lover Carl Stenborg in 1782, whom she was still in love with, which was traumatic for her, and she refused to compete with the new star of the Swedish Opera, the Danish-born Caroline Frederikke Müller
Caroline Frederikke Müller
Caroline Frederikke Müller , also known as Caroline Walther, was a Danish and later naturalized Swedish singer , dancer and actor and principal of the theatre academy Dramatens elevskola...
. The latter was so favoured by the King that he asked her to return to her employment after having fled abroad to escape her creditors and gave her immunity from repaying her debts. Olin therefore retired, officially because of a knee injury, and was replaced by Müller. She turned in her resignation in 1782, but did not leave until 1784; her last performance was as Clytemnestra
Clytemnestra
Clytemnestra or Clytaemnestra , in ancient Greek legend, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Mycenae or Argos. In the Oresteia by Aeschylus, she was a femme fatale who murdered her husband, Agamemnon – said by Euripides to be her second husband – and the Trojan princess...
in Glück's "Iphigenia in Aulis
Iphigénie en Aulide
Iphigénie en Aulide is an opera in three acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck, the first work he wrote for the Paris stage. The libretto was written by Leblanc du Roullet and was based on Jean Racine's tragedy Iphigénie...
". Her daughter and Stenborg did not marry until 1793, according to rumour because she refused to give her consent to the marriage between her daughter and Stenborg.
She remained formally listed as an opera singer until 1803, but in reality only made very few guest-appearances; one in 1797, when she was asked by King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden
Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden
Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden also Gustav Adolph was King of Sweden from 1792 until his abdication in 1809. He was the son of Gustav III of Sweden and his queen consort Sophia Magdalena, eldest daughter of Frederick V of Denmark and his first wife Louise of Great Britain. He was the last Swedish...
to play Svea
Svea
Svea is a Swedish female name. The name was a very popular girls' name during the first half of the 20th century. It may also refer to:*Mother Svea, the Swedish national emblem.*Svea, Svalbard, a mining settlement*Svea, Florida*Svea, Minnesota...
at the King's wedding. She was persuaded to give a last performance at a concert in Riddarhuset in 1809, the place where she had made her debut; this was the farewell concert for Carl Stenborg, and also his last performance. Her voice was described as unchanged.
Elisabeth Olin was compared to Francesca Cuzzoni
Francesca Cuzzoni
Francesca Cuzzoni was an Italian operatic soprano of the Baroque era.-Early career:Cuzzoni was born in Parma. Her father, Angelo, was a professional violinist, and her singing teacher was Francesco Lanzi. She made her debut in her home city in 1714, singing in La virtù coronata, o Il Fernando by...
, Faustina Bordoni-Hasse
Faustina Bordoni
Faustina Bordoni was an Italian mezzo-soprano.-Early career:She was born in Venice and brought up under the protection of the aristocratic brother composers Alessandro and Benedetto Marcello. Her singing teacher was another composer, Michelangelo Gasparini...
and Caterina Gabrieli. She was called "Sweden's first dramatic artist", "The Swedish Mara" (after Gertrud Elisabeth Mara
Gertrud Elisabeth Mara
Gertrud Elisabeth Mara [née Schmeling] was a German operatic soprano.She was born in Kassel, the daughter of a poor musician, Johann Schmeling. From him she learnt to play the violin, and while still a child, her playing at the fair at Frankfurt was so remarkable that money was collected to...
) and "One of the matriarchs of the Opera".
She was the first singer to be called "The Swedish Nightingale", later a name associated with Jenny Lind
Jenny Lind
Johanna Maria Lind , better known as Jenny Lind, was a Swedish opera singer, often known as the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she is known for her performances in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe, and for an extraordinarily...
, and it was widely considered that she could have as great a career as any of these singers if she had only wished to tour abroad, but she preferred to stay in Sweden. A couple of weeks before her death in 1828, Elisabeth Olin performed privately for the famous opera singer Angelica Catalani
Angelica Catalani
Angelica Catalani was an Italian opera singer, the daughter of a tradesman.At Sinigaglia, she was educated at the convent of Santa Lucia at Gubbio, where her soprano voice soon became famous....
to demonstrate her voice. It is said that Catalani was deeply impressed.
Her daughter Betty Olin, also called Elisabeth Olin the Younger, (1761–1816) also became a celebrated singer (she debuted at concert in 1770) and toured with her husband 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 Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
in 1794–1795.
See also
- Hedvig WigertHedvig WigertHedvig Christina Wigert was a Swedish opera singer. She belonged to the famous pioneer group of performers of the Royal Swedish Opera....
- Charlotte SlottsbergCharlotte SlottsbergCharlotte Slottsberg , was a Swedish ballerina-dancer, one of the first native dancers in the Royal Swedish Ballet at the Royal Swedish Opera and one of the most successful ones...
- Christina RahmChristina RahmChristina Rahm, , was a Swedish operatic singer and a dramatic actress. She was employed at the Eriksberg Theatre in Stockholm in 1780-84 and at the Stenborg Theatre 1784-99, and therefter at travelling theatres...
- Henriette WiderbergHenriette WiderbergHenriette Sophie Widerberg was a Swedish opera singer , actor and memoirist. The most famed singer on the Swedish stage of her time, she was counted as the most popular singer in Sweden during the 1810s and 1830s...