Lisette Stenberg
Encyclopedia
Caroline Lisette Stenberg, (23 October in Stockholm
or Gothenburg 1770 – 18 June 1847 in Vänersborg
) was a Swedish actor and musician. She was a well known and popular actor in 18th century Stockholm, and a star of the Stenborg Theatre
(founded by Petter Stenborg
, different spelling). She was not only an actor but also a singer and a musician, a pianist
, and played piano forte between the acts.
The Stenborg Theatre, which had been founded as a continuation of the old Stenborg Troupe
of Petter Stenborg
, was categorized as a boulevard
theater by foreigners. It was less solemn then the Royal Dramatic Theatre
and popular among the public, though not among the aristocracy.
She debuted at the Stenborg Theatre 2 April 1789, in a so called Harlequinade
, Arlequin Favirot-sultaninna (The favourite sultaness of Harlequin) at the age of nineteen. Her debut was a success. The paper asked who the new actress was (as a debutant, her name, according to the custom, was not in the program) and demanded to see her again. The same year, she played the part of Countess Clainville in Det oförmodade vadet (The unexpected bet), by Sedaine; she was to play the piano during this play, and surprised the audience by playing a claviacord sonata accompanied by a violin
from the orchestra. This made her recognized as a musician, and her musical performance was repeated for the rest of the season. In 1794, she debuted as a concert singer at a concert at Riddarhuset, which was also a success.
She played music and sang in operettas and performed both melodrama
, tragedy
and "higher comedy
". She played Franciska in Minna von Barnhelm
by Lessing in (1793), and was the first in Sweden to play Cherubin
in The Marriage of Figaro (play)
(1792). She played Orgon
in Tartuffe
, Zemir in Zemir och Azor by Gretry
, the main part inRosalie and the seductor in Den förförda ynglingen (The Seduced Youth) by Didrik Björn, and was among the first Swedish female actors, whos names are kept, to have performed a breeches role
when she played the part of Count Razilli in 1790.
G.A. Silfverstolpe called her "one of the greatest actors the world have seen"; she was very popular among the audience and had a lot of admirers, but she was often in trouble with the police. As a person, she was described as a confidant and strong young woman. It was said that "her fame as an actress grew in parallel with her extravagance". In 1797, a performance was given in benefit of "one of the actresses, who has always had the fortune to enjoy the flattering admiration from the audience as well as the proof of its support": her name was not revealed, as she at that point was bankrupt.
This relieved her of her creditors but not her debts, and she was arrested three times in 1796 for having pawned borrowed objects.
This had no effect on her great popularity. In 1798, Lisette Stenberg was welcomed back from Copenhagen
with great relief.
and Norrköping
in 1800 in the Lindqvist theatre troupe. Some of the actors from Stenborg Theatre where hired at the Royal Dramatic Theatre
, and it is thought that the reason for way Lisette Stenberg was not, despite her fame and unquestioned talent as an artist, was because of her scandals.
She received great praise in Gothenburg for her voice, her mimique, her posture and gesture by the critics, who claimed that "there is no possibility for any actress to perform the part better." It was said that she deserved all the applause she received in the capacity of a singer.
Her last recorded performance was in 7 May 1800, in Norrköping. After this, she lived an adventurous life.
In 1813, Stenborg was in Hamburg
, Germany as a nurse to the French army of Napoleon. In 1816, she was in Paris in France under unclear circumstances. She was arrested for stealing clothes from Lagerbjelke along with one of the servants to the Swedish ambassador in Paris, Lagerbjelke, who was known to be a spy of the French police, were arrested for stealing clothes from Lagerbjelke. Stenberg was released.
She returned to Sweden in the 1820s and lived in Vänersborg
under a French name, Madame Desvigné-Stenberg, claiming to be the widow of a Frenchman. She gave lessons in French and received a small pension from the French Queen of Sweden, Désirée Clary
.
She died in a poor house.
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...
or Gothenburg 1770 – 18 June 1847 in Vänersborg
Vänersborg
Vänersborg is a locality and the seat of Vänersborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 21,672 inhabitants in 2005. Until 1997 it was the capital of Älvsborg County, which was dissolved in 1998. Since 1999 Vänersborg is the seat of the regional parliament of Västra Götaland County...
) was a Swedish actor and musician. She was a well known and popular actor in 18th century Stockholm, and a star of the 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...
(founded by 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...
, different spelling). She was not only an actor but also a singer and a musician, a pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, and played piano forte between the acts.
Career
Born in Gothenburg, where her father worked as an inspector, she ran away from home with a lover: "Abandoned by her family, betrayed by her lover, the theatre became her only refuge, and in her despair she wover to become the most extravagant actress that ever existed. Unfortunately, she kept her promise all to well".The Stenborg Theatre, which had been founded as a continuation of the old 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...
of 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...
, was categorized as a boulevard
Boulevard
A Boulevard is type of road, usually a wide, multi-lane arterial thoroughfare, divided with a median down the centre, and roadways along each side designed as slow travel and parking lanes and for bicycle and pedestrian usage, often with an above-average quality of landscaping and scenery...
theater by foreigners. It was less solemn then the Royal Dramatic Theatre
Royal Dramatic Theatre
The Royal Dramatic Theatre is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's eight running stages....
and popular among the public, though not among the aristocracy.
She debuted at the Stenborg Theatre 2 April 1789, in a so called Harlequinade
Harlequinade
Harlequinade is a comic theatrical genre, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "that part of a pantomime in which the harlequin and clown play the principal parts". It developed in England between the 17th and mid-19th centuries...
, Arlequin Favirot-sultaninna (The favourite sultaness of Harlequin) at the age of nineteen. Her debut was a success. The paper asked who the new actress was (as a debutant, her name, according to the custom, was not in the program) and demanded to see her again. The same year, she played the part of Countess Clainville in Det oförmodade vadet (The unexpected bet), by Sedaine; she was to play the piano during this play, and surprised the audience by playing a claviacord sonata accompanied by a violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
from the orchestra. This made her recognized as a musician, and her musical performance was repeated for the rest of the season. In 1794, she debuted as a concert singer at a concert at Riddarhuset, which was also a success.
She played music and sang in operettas and performed both melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
, tragedy
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
and "higher comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
". She played Franciska in Minna von Barnhelm
Minna von Barnhelm
Minna von Barnhelm or the Soldiers' Happiness is a lustspiel or comedy by the German author Gotthold Ephraim Lessing...
by Lessing in (1793), and was the first in Sweden to play Cherubin
Chérubin
Chérubin is an opera in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Francis de Croisset and Henri Cain after de Croisset's play of the same name...
in The Marriage of Figaro (play)
The Marriage of Figaro (play)
The Marriage of Figaro ) is a comedy in five acts, written in 1778 by Pierre Beaumarchais. This play is the second installment in the Figaro Trilogy, preceded by The Barber of Seville and followed by The Guilty Mother. The Barber begins the story with a simple love triangle in which the Count has...
(1792). She played Orgon
Orgon
Orgon is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France.-Geography:Neighbouring villages and small towns include Les Baux-de-Provence, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and Cavaillon...
in Tartuffe
Tartuffe
Tartuffe is a comedy by Molière. It is one of his most famous plays.-History:Molière wrote Tartuffe in 1664...
, Zemir in Zemir och Azor by Gretry
Grétry
People of the surname Grétry include* André Grétry , composer of opéras comiques;* Jeanne-Marie Grandon Grétry , painter, wife of André;...
, the main part inRosalie and the seductor in Den förförda ynglingen (The Seduced Youth) by Didrik Björn, and was among the first Swedish female actors, whos names are kept, to have performed a breeches role
Breeches role
A breeches role is a role in which an actress appears in male clothing .In opera it also refers to any male character that is sung and acted by a female singer...
when she played the part of Count Razilli in 1790.
G.A. Silfverstolpe called her "one of the greatest actors the world have seen"; she was very popular among the audience and had a lot of admirers, but she was often in trouble with the police. As a person, she was described as a confidant and strong young woman. It was said that "her fame as an actress grew in parallel with her extravagance". In 1797, a performance was given in benefit of "one of the actresses, who has always had the fortune to enjoy the flattering admiration from the audience as well as the proof of its support": her name was not revealed, as she at that point was bankrupt.
Scandals
Lisette Stenberg was involved in several scandals with the police. She took great loans, pawned both her own and other people's property, and forged signatures, among others that of her director Carl Stenborg, who often made loans to his actors and never demanded to be paid back. She made personal bankruptcy in 1789 and in 1794 and applied to be released from her debts on the grounds that she was not of legal maturity.This relieved her of her creditors but not her debts, and she was arrested three times in 1796 for having pawned borrowed objects.
This had no effect on her great popularity. In 1798, Lisette Stenberg was welcomed back from 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...
with great relief.
Later life
In 1798, the new monopoly of the royal theatres was proclaimed in Stockholm, and as a consequence, the Stenborg Theater was closed down in 1799. The staff were fired. Many of the actors joined traveling theatre companies. Lisette Stenberg is listed as one of the actors performing in GothenburgGothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
and 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 1800 in the Lindqvist theatre troupe. Some of the actors from Stenborg Theatre where hired at the Royal Dramatic Theatre
Royal Dramatic Theatre
The Royal Dramatic Theatre is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's eight running stages....
, and it is thought that the reason for way Lisette Stenberg was not, despite her fame and unquestioned talent as an artist, was because of her scandals.
She received great praise in Gothenburg for her voice, her mimique, her posture and gesture by the critics, who claimed that "there is no possibility for any actress to perform the part better." It was said that she deserved all the applause she received in the capacity of a singer.
Her last recorded performance was in 7 May 1800, in Norrköping. After this, she lived an adventurous life.
In 1813, Stenborg was 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...
, Germany as a nurse to the French army of Napoleon. In 1816, she was in Paris in France under unclear circumstances. She was arrested for stealing clothes from Lagerbjelke along with one of the servants to the Swedish ambassador in Paris, Lagerbjelke, who was known to be a spy of the French police, were arrested for stealing clothes from Lagerbjelke. Stenberg was released.
She returned to Sweden in the 1820s and lived in Vänersborg
Vänersborg
Vänersborg is a locality and the seat of Vänersborg Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 21,672 inhabitants in 2005. Until 1997 it was the capital of Älvsborg County, which was dissolved in 1998. Since 1999 Vänersborg is the seat of the regional parliament of Västra Götaland County...
under a French name, Madame Desvigné-Stenberg, claiming to be the widow of a Frenchman. She gave lessons in French and received a small pension from the French Queen of Sweden, Désirée Clary
Désirée Clary
Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary , one-time fiancée of Napoleon Bonaparte, was a Frenchwoman who became Queen of Sweden and Norway as the consort of King Charles XIV John, a former French General. She officially changed her name there to Desideria, a Latin version of her original name...
.
She died in a poor house.