Hedda Hjortsberg (15 June 1777 – 3 October 1867) was a 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....

 ballerina

Ballerina

A ballerina is a title used to describe a principal female professional ballet dancer in a large company; the male equivalent to this title is danseur or ballerino...

 who starred for the Royal Swedish Ballet

Royal Swedish Ballet

The Royal Swedish Ballet is one of the oldest ballet companies in Europe. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, King Gustav III founded the ballet in 1773 as a part of his national cultural project in response to the French and Italian dominance in this field; he also founded the Royal Swedish Opera and the...

. She was the sister of the Swedish actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 Lars Hjortsberg

Lars Hjortsberg

Lars Hjortsberg was a Swedish actor. He is often called the greatest male actor in his country in the 19th century; he and Emilie Högquist are the best known Swedish actors from the first half of that century.- Biography :...

.

Biography

Hjortsberg's father Laurentius (Lars) was employed at the Swedish court and her mother, Maria Lovisa Schützer, was an opera singer; of their six children, two sons and two daughters were employed at the theatre or the opera, and two became famous: Hedda as a dancer, and Lars as an actor.

In 1786, at age nine, Hedda became a student of French balletmaster Louis Gallodier

Louis Gallodier

Louis Gallodier was a French ballet dancer and choreographer who spent the majority of his career in Sweden, were he was to have a great importance for the development of the ballet in Sweden as the ballet master of the Royal Swedish Ballet.- Biography and career:Louis Gallodier was born in France...

. Upon graduation in the season of 1790–1791, she was considered one of the great native artists who starred with the Royal Swedish Ballet, which was long dominated by foreign dancers.

Between 1791 and 1806 she was a premier-dancer of the Royal Swedish Ballet 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...

. The writer Marianne Ehrenström

Marianne Ehrenström

Marianne Ehrenström, née Pollet , was a Swedish writer, singer, painter, pianist, culture personality, memorialist, principal and lady-in-waiting...

 called her the delightful darling of the audience, and describes her as gracious as a nymph

Nymph

A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;...

: "une taille de nymphe, pétrie de graces, Terpsicore soulovée par les Zephirs".

When the Royal Swedish Opera reopened in 1809 after it had been closed since 1806, she performed with her five-year-old daughter in the ballet Dansvurmen, and in 1810 she performed the part of Honor in Gustavs dröm at the Opera.

In 1804 Hjortsberg married the businessman Erik Samuel Koersner, who died shortly afterward. She married Abraham Hülphers in 1811, and after that, she performed only as a guest-artist.

Repertoire

She danced the parts of Lucile in the pantomime

Pantomime

Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...

 ballet Det dubbla giftermålet by Jean Marcadet with Margaretha Christina Hallongren, Carl Dahlén

Carl Dahlén

Carl Dahlén was a Swedish ballet dancer and choreographer, active first at the Royal Swedish Ballet at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, and second at the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen at the Royal Danish Theatre in Denmark. He belonged to the first male Swedish stars at the Royal Swedish...

, Joseph Saint-Fauraux Raimond and Carlo Uttini the season of 1790-1791, Leonore in Enleveringen by Louis Deland

Louis Deland

Louis Joseph Marie Deland was a Swedish ballet dancer, singer, actor, choreographer and ballet master in the Royal Swedish Ballet...

 with him, Hallongren, Uttini, Luigi Taglioni and Charles Jean Ambrosiani and Diana in Diana och Kärleken by Deland with Johan Fredrik Björkstrand, Deland, Hallongren, Casagli and Hedvig Elisabeth Casagli in 1800-1801; she also did the part of Venus

Venus

Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...

 in Venus och Adonis by Deland with H. Björkman, Casagli, Giovanni Battitsta Ambrosiani and Hallongren 1801-1802, and as Frosine in Dansvurmen (Dance Craze) by Gardel with Deland, Filippo Taglioni

Filippo Taglioni

Filippo Taglioni was an Italian dancer and choreographer and personal teacher to his own daughter, the famous Romantic ballerina Marie Taglioni. He is the son of Carlo and father of both Marie and Paul...

, Anna Christina Löfborg, Anders Ekholm, Raimond and Ambrosiani the season 1803-1804.