Elisabeth Frösslind

Elisabeth Frösslind

Oil painting by M. K. Cardon
Born Elisabeth Kristina Frösslind
27 February 1793
Sweden
Died 24 October 1861
Sweden
Other names Elise Frösslind, Elisabeth Lindström
Spouse(s) Carl Gustaf Lindström

Kristina Elisabet Frösslind, also called Elise Frösslind, (27 February 1793 – 24 October 1861), was a Swedish opera singer and actor at the Royal Swedish Opera and the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. She was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music (1817).

She belongs to the more well known singers and actors in Swedish history; she was one of the most celebrated singers after Henriette Widerberg, and as an actor, she was mentioned together with Charlotta Eriksson and Sara Torsslow.

Background

Frösslind, whose father worked as a firefighter, was accepted as a student at the Opera after her father's death in 1804, at the age of eleven, where she was originally instructed by Karl August Steiler. She was housed in the student home at the principal Sofia Lovisa Gråå, who to the great dislike of choir master Wikström allowed the girls to see teenage boys.[1] She was placed in the choir with two of her fellow students, Anna Sofia Sevelin and Justina Casagli, but when director Skjöldenbrand heard them sing, he ordered that they should be removed from the choir, so as not to damage their voices, and be given parts in the operas instead. The choir master Johan Fredrik Wikström, however, was still their teacher, as he was also the song master, and the director later described what made him discover Frösslind. It had come to his attention, that Wikström abused the girls. The director then called the girls in for questioning. They had chosen Elisabet Frösslind to speak for them. The director pretended he took Wikström's side, with the purpose of seeing how she would speak, phrase her defense and note her gestures, and he was moved by her way of defending herself and the others.

"We are poor girls", she said, "taken from misery, what hope have we for the future, if we do not take the opportunity to learn all we can? But we try as hard as we can, and still when his in a bad mind he beats us, if I dare say, without cause. Out of this we lose our courage, become doubtful and what is worse lose the hope and the pleasure to learn."[1]

Director Skjöldenbrand ended the affair with the dismissal of Wikström in his capacity as a song master, with the words to learn self-control, and replaced him with Karl Magnus Craelius, the singing master of Jenny Lind, under whose more kind guidance they made better progress. These girls were all to become famous; Frösslind and Sevelin in Sweden, and Justina Casagli in all Europe.

Debut and career

In 1811 Elisabet Frösslind debuted in the main part in the opera Cendrillon by Nicolo Isouard, which was to remain her greatest and most appreciated part.[1]

She had been given this part by direct orders from director Skjöldenbrand, which caused a conflict with several of the most established actors of the theatre. In 1811, Skjöldenbrand reported, that the actor Gustav Åbergsson, the theatre's main actor in lover-parts, had been on a study trip to Paris with Carolina Kuhlman; "An actor of the higher comedy, Mr Åbergsson, had in the company of his mistress, an excellent actress in her own right, who were later to become his wife, went to Paris to develop himself in his profession."[1] At his return, he had brought the play Cendrillon, and demanded that the main part be given to Carolina Kuhlman. Skjöldenbrand, however, considered Frösslind to be better for the part. There was great indignation among the staff that a mere student was lifted directly up to a main part in a premiere of a new opera by the director.[1] Actor Lars Hjortsberg, who was the most respected actor at the theatre, was sent to the director to criticise, and said that it was quite a peculiar decision to give such a part to the little "goose" Frösslind, but Skjöldenbrand was stern in his decision.

During the rehearsals, she was subjected to harassment from several of the other participants; at the opening night, the other actors, doubtful of her ability, said : "Now we'll see the Goose, it'll be so interesting to see the Goose!"[1]

But the opera was to be a startling success, and her own performance in it was to be unsurpassed until the debut of Jenny Lind; she was considered perfect for the part, which exactly met and enlarged her talent, and she played Cendrillon about seventy times over two decades.[1]

Among her other operatic parts were Antigone in Oedip by Adlerbeth, Doristella in Griselda, Anna in Friskytten (The Marksman) by Weber, Zerlina in Don Giovanni by Mozart, Cherubin in Figaro and Fanchon in Fanchon. Among her talking parts were Louise in Louise och Walborn (Louise and Walborn) and Madame Pinchon in Passionen och förnuftet (Passion and sense) by Scribe.

Her way of acting were described as touching, naive, amusing through "unartificial simplicity"; she acted natural, which was then seen as the high point of art. In the press, Sara Torsslow, Charlotta Eriksson and Elisabeth Frösslind were compared to a rose or a tulip, a jasmine or a daisy, and a lily or a forget-me-not; Torsslow was claimed to represent "the deeply moving", Eriksson "the sensitive pleasantness and the female lovability" and Frösslind "the small sweetness, wittiness and naivety".[1] The paper Freja said in 1836, that her ability was restricted, but within it, she had few competitors in Europe; the autumn of 1836, Freja wrote, that it was "a pleasure to see, that Miss Lind shows signs in her improvement which my one day able her to replace the in her genre always unsurpassed Mrs Frösslind"[1] The "Miss Lind" that this article mentions was the later world famous Jenny Lind.

As a person, she was described as an intelligent character unaffected by flattery and envy, without arrogance and conceitedness and diligently working on her artistic development.

In 1813, Frösslind married Carl Gustaf Lindström, "First actor and singer at the opera and the Dramatic theatre" and later court singer. They later divorced, after which she called herself Mrs Frösslind. Her daughter, Emilie Sophie Frösslind, also became a singer.

Later career and life

In 1827 and 1834, two major strikes took place in the theatre and opera, known as "The first Torsslow argument" (in 1827) and "The second Torsslow argument" (in 1834): called so after the leaders of the strike, the acting-couple Ulrik and Sara Torsslow.[1] The first concerned an unpopular director, Puke, and the second related to an issue of wages, when the actors was displeased with the plans to replace their percentage on the theatres income with wages. They succeeded with their first strike, but the authorities were prepared for the second and, determined to avoid a repetition, crushed the unity of the actors by raising the wages of some and dismissing the others with a pension.

The first strike in 1827 was caused by the reform planned by the director Puke. He planned to abolish the recettperformances (which gave the whole income from one play to one of the participants) and the actors' shares in the theatre and replace them with a fixed salary. This did not have the support of the actors, as the fixed salaries were in most cases low, and the recettes and shares was necessary for the personal economy. Puke had also made himself unpopular with a frequent use of the old disciplinarian rules against the actors, such as the right of the director to place an actor in house arrest in their dressing-rooms. The strike prevented the reform, but all the old rules were kept, also the disliked disciplinarian rules; for example, the arrest was abolished only for female actors.[1] The discontent with the old system was voiced by Elisabeth Frösslind, who, when director Puke asked her if she was satisfied with the settlement, answered; "Oh yes, the only thing it lacks is flogging."[1] The next strike was therefore near, and it took place in 1834. This time, the shares were abolished, the salaries were fixed, and the participants of the strike were fired. Some of them, such as Charlotta Eriksson, were only fired so they could be hired again with a lower salary.

After the strike, several of the participants were fired, including the most popular ones such as Frösslind. The director admitted they were fired because they had participated in the strike, but gave other reasons as the formal motivation. It was also clear, that the most popular actors were fired in a somewhat strange way, which forced them to return. For example, Elisabeth Frösslind and Charlotta Eriksson were both fired: Frösslind because of her health and her age, Eriksson simply because the theatre claimed they could no longer afford her. They were granted pensions only with the condition, that they were always to be available if they were called. During this period, the theatre monopoly within the city of Stockholm made it impossible to secure employment elsewhere in the city. Economic reasons made them both ask to be taken back in 1836; the theatre accepted them back immediately with a lowered salary. Then, she was no longer considered too old to play the part of Zeltubé, in which she was described as "unprecedentedly pleasant, sweet and lovable",[1] and were given several girls' parts.

In the later years of her career, she was treated with a lack of consideration from the management. When she, during the 1840–1841 season, had been partly sick and partly not been given assignments, the management demanded that her recett-rights be taken from her, which were accepted by the government and left her only with a small pension and salary for special specific performances. Her colleagues were upset over this and gave a concert to her benefit at the concert-house Kirsteinska huset. She retired after the 1843–1844 season. After her retirement, she moved to Gothenburg.

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Georg Nordensvan: Svensk teater och svenska skådespelare från Gustav III till våra dagar. Första bandet, 1772-1842 (Swedish theatre and Swedish actors from the days of Gustav III to our days. First book 1772-1842) (Swedish)

References

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