Gustaf III and opera

After Gustaf III (1746-1792) succeeded his father’s throne in 1771, he dismissed the French acting company of his mother and decided to promote the native theatre. He allowed the Swedish actors of Stenberg’s company to perform in the Bollhustheatre in 1792 – but only two performances of the company in the Bollhus were ever recorded. Apparently, the quality of the performances was not that good and Gustaf directed his reformative activities towards the opera. In 1773, he founded the Royal Swedish Opera and appointed Ehrensvärd as the director. The King provided the material for the first opera himself, based on the classical story of Thetis and Peleus. It was versified by Wellander and set to music by Uttini, the leader of Lovisa Ulrika’s Italian opera company, who still resided on the Swedish court. Thetis och Pelée was a great success and the first opera of the eighteenth-century Swedish stage to be performed in the vernacular. The Stenborg Company continued to play in the Rotunda in Humlegården, producing light repertoire. The Bollhus was modernised for the Royal Opera.

Gustaf III expressly wanted to found a dramatic theatre but he realised it would take some time. He started with opera, because he believed the Swedish language was to rough and inadequate for tragedy. It had to be refined by mixing it with music. For the same reason he would later on promote the song-play. The works of Gluck dominated the opera-repertoire. All plays were translated in Swedish. Naumann, Krauss and Hueffner were engaged to compose musical scores to the libretti of the court poets Wellander and Kellgren. Louis Jean Desprez became the chief scenic designer. In summertime, the entire company was summoned to Drottningholm to live and perform there.

A particular genre that can be called Gustavian opera, developed over the years. It was marked by a strong sense of heroism and nationalism as far as subject matter is concerned, looking forward to Romantic opera. Together with Desprez, Gustaf III demanded a certain amount of historical accuracy in the staging of opera. All elements of the performance had to be considered in their relationship to each other. His operative practice was not devoid of politics. Together with Kellgren, he wrote the libretti for several opera’s. The first was Gustaf Wasa, based on the story of Sweden’s national hero. Naumann composed the score, and Gustaf Wasa was performed for the first time in 1786. It was a hero-play, a political statement and a proud celebration of national culture. The opera was a success and Desprez’ scenery was widely admired.

Other plays by Gustaf III followed: Gustaf Adolf och Ebba Brahe (first written as a dramatic play but later on set to music by Vogler, with a premiere in 1788), and Aeneas i Carthago (music by Krauss, premiere in 1799). The Royal Swedish Opera performed in the Bollhustheatre, the Confidencen at Ulriksdal, and in Drottningholm. Meanwhile, Adelcrantz was commissioned to design a new opera house to be built in Stockholm. It was completed in 1782.

Now the king also wanted a Swedish spoken theatre. In 1781, he had engaged a new French company under the direction of Jacques Boutet de Monvel. They had to provide the court with quality performances and at the same time train the future Swedish actors. The French comédiens performed in the Bollhustheatre, at Ulriksdal, Gripsholm and Drottningholm. In 1782, Gustaf founded the Society for the Improvement of the Swedish Language. Members of the court performed plays in the vernacular; mostly translated French plays or works written by Gustaf. The actors were amateurs and the rehearsals sometimes could be very long and demanding. Their opening play was Birger Jarl, about the regent-king that ruled Sweden from 1248 onwards. Gustaf had provided the material for the play himself. On January 11th, 1783, a dramatic play written by the King was performed: Gustaf Adolfs ädelmod. Gustaf wrote four other plays: Helmfelt, Frigga, and Gustaf Adolf och Ebba Brahe (that later on was performed as an opera) and Drottning Christina. All the plays took their subject from Sweden’s history. Some of them (Helmfelt, for instance) were performed to the public in Stockholm, and became very popular. Gustaf’s dramatical style was no dry imitation of French classical drama, but tended towards the Romantic melodrama. Desprez designed all the scenery. The sets for Drottning Christina survived the centuries and are still kept at the Drottningholm Theatre.

In 1782, the Swedish Dramatic Theatre was founded. They opened with Gyllenborg’s Sune jarl eller sverkers död at the Bollhus. They also performed at Drottningholm, which made the court theatre a very busy place during summer.

Swedish theatrical art flourished during Gustaf III’s reign. There was a considerable decline after his assassination in 1792. However, strong foundations for a national theatre were laid. One could agree with Magnus von Platen, who speaks of ‘a sensational development of Swedish Theatre’ in this period: ‘Progress was made in virtually its every aspect; in drama, opera, opera houses, acting, singing, scenery, ballet. In the whole international history of theatre, I believe, there can be no equivalent to these explosive developments in the Sweden of the 1770’s and the 1780’s’ (in Austin, 1991, 197).