Inga Åberg

Inga Åberg
Born	Ingeborg Elisabeth Åberg 1773 Stockholm,Sweden
Died	1837 (aged c. 64 ) Sweden

Inga Åberg(Ingeborg Elisabeth; 1773–1837) was a Swedish actress andopera singer.She was engaged as an opera singer at theRoyal Swedish Opera,and as a stage actress at theRoyal Dramatic Theatre,between 1787 and 1810.

Life

Early life

Inga Åberg was the daughter of Jonas Åberg, a footman at the Royal Palace and Fredrika Maria Svahn. It is likely that her paternal grandmother wasBeata Sabina Straas,the first professional native stage actress: Straas had been employed as a chambermaid of the royal household prior to her stage career, and after she married Anders Åberg and retired from the stage, both she and her spouse was employed in the royal household, but it is not confirmed that Jonas Åberg was their son.

Both Inga and her brotherGustav Åbergssonwhere described as beautiful and placed as students in theFrench Theater of Gustav III,where she was enrolled from 1781 to 1787. Many later famed Swedish of stage artists of her generation was trained by the French actors of the French Theatre inBollhusetunderMonvel,among themMaria Franck,Lars Hjortsberg,and as such, they also performed as child actors in the productions.

Career at the Royal theatres

Inga Åberg debuted as an opera singer at the age of fourteen on 31 May 1787 at the Royal Swedish Opera in the role of Yngve inFrigga.Her following performance inGustav Adolf and Ebba Braheby KingGustav III of Sweden,she was favorably noted by the King (also the author of the play) and formally engaged at the opera.

The same year, she was in parallel engaged as a stage actress at the newly founded Swedish-language Ristell Theatre in Bollhuset. When the Ristell theater was transformed to become the Royal Dramatic Theatre (1788), she became a member of its pioneer generation. It was not uncommon in the late 18th century for stage artists to be employed at both the opera as singers and at the theater as stage actors, providing that they had the ability to perform in both capacities.

Inga Åberg was referred to as one of the more noted stage artists of her generation in Sweden. As an opera singer, she was later given the recognition of being the only native female opera singer of any note between the retirement ofElisabeth Olinin 1784 and the breakthrough ofJeanette Wässeliusin 1800, when the opera stars where mainly of foreign origin, such asCaroline Müller,Franziska StadingandSophie Stebnowska. A critic stated that she "completely acquire the character of the person she plays", and she was praised for her versatility, her "energy and finesse", her grace and her "seductive gracefullness."In the first decade of the 19th-century, she was one of few actors of her generation which was not deemed as outdated by the harsh critic Klas Livijn.

Her beauty attracted great attention, but was also regarded to have had a negative effect on her career. According to critics, she did have great natural talent, but neglected to develop it fully because she had been told that her beauty would be enough, and therefore never reached her full potential. A contemporary writer stated that Inga Åberg: "... would have become a great singer and an excellent actress, if her unusual beauty and not been an obstacle for her artistic studies, and she had been enticed to regard it as a source of income, richer but in the long term no more secure than art." She was often used in ornamental roles, widely reputed to be acourtesanand was later referred to as a bad role model for aspiring female actors and singers. Her brother and colleagueGustav Åbergsson,himself known for his beauty and often used in the part of lover, changed his name from Åberg to Åbergsson to avoid any connection to "his notorious sister's name."

Roles

Inga Åberg andEuphrosyne Löfwere among the first named Swedish actresses at the Royal Opera to playbreeches roleswhen they had the two leading male parts inAugust and Theodor eller De bägge kammarpagerna(August and Theodor or The Two Valets), by Kexel inspired by a French theatre comedy, in the 1794–95 season. She made a success inOlof Åhlström'sTanddoktorn(The Dentist) withLars Hjortsbergin 1800, and played the leading part in the operaLe calife de BagdadbyBoieldieuwith her brother Gustav Åbergsson andJeanette Wässeliusin 1806. In 1796, she played opposite famous singers such asChristoffer Christian Karsten,Caroline Halle-Müller,Louis DelandandCarl Stenborgin the operaLa caravane du CairebyGrétry,which was held to celebrate that the young king had been declared of legal majority. In 1810, she launched the opera buffaMarkis Tulipano(Marquess Tulipano) by Gourbillon translated by Carl Magnus Envallsson with music byGiovanni Paisiello,in her benefit performance at the Opera.

Among her other parts were "a spirit" inArmideby Gluck and Yngve inFriggaby Gustav III composed by Olof Åhlström (season 1786–87), Carl inFolke Birgersson till Ringstad(Folke Birgersson of Ringstad) by Kexel after a work by Monvel (1792–93), Carl Sjöcrona inDet farliga förtroendet(The dangerous trust) by Grétry (1793–94), Gustafva inDe gamla friarna(The old/two suitors) by Dalayrac (1795–96), Agarenne inPanurge dans l'île des lanternesby Grétry (1799–1800), and Madame de Brillon inMonsieur Des ChalumeauxbyPierre Gaveaux(1807–08).

Later life

Inga Åberg was the subject of a great scandal when the merchant millionaire Hall fromGothenburg,one of the richest men in Sweden, placed his teenage son John Hall under her tutelage with the task of correcting his behavior by instructing him in "the way of the world".This arrangement was considered very peculiar by contemporary society and attracted great notorious attention. Inga Åberg accepted the offer: she gave Hall large bills to pay during the time when his son was in her care, which Hall, far from opposing, instead considered as proof of the high quality care she gave his son. She then left Sweden and her career at the opera for Saint Petersburg in Russia with her young pupil John Hall. John Hall eventually returned to Sweden alone and referred to Åberg as "a cunning adventuress".

After her return to Sweden from Russia and her retirement from the Royal Swedish Opera and the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Inga Åberg was active in various travelling theater companies touring Sweden and Finland. Among them where the theater company of her brother. In 1816–17, she and her daughter are noted to have been members of is noted to have been a member of theJohan Anton Lindqvisttheater company, where she was still given good critic as a tragedienne and described as having a "Fresh and jolly nature".In 1825, she is noted to have performed the part of Elizabeth oppositeMaria SylvaninMary Stuartby Schiller inÅboin Finland. She spent her last years with her daughter in Gothenburg, where she gave dance lessons to the children of the city burgher upper class.

Inga Åberg never married but had a daughter,Wendla Åberg,with the nobleman and courtier Carl Gustaf von Stockenström. Her daughter was educated in dancing and was a star dancer of the Gothenburg theaterComediehusetand the foremost fashionable dancing instructor of the city well in to the 1850s.

References

• Digitalized version ofAnteckningar om svenska qvinnor(Notes on Swedish women) by Wilhelmina Stålberg, P. G. Berg
• Digitalized version of Svenskt Musikhistoriskt arkiv bulletin 29 (Archives of Swedish Musical history) ISSN 0586-0709 (1995) Stockholmatarchive.today(archived 2012-12-01)
• Tryggve Byström:Svenska komedien 1737-1754(Swedish Comedy 1737–1753) (1981)(in Swedish)
• Minne af Kongl. Dramatiska Teatern med en Repertoire (1825) (To the memory of the Royal Dramatic Theatre. With a repertoire)(in Swedish)
• Bygdén:Supplement till kongl. dramatiska teaterns minne(Supplements to the memory of the Royal Dramatic Theatre) (1826)(in Swedish)
• Nordensvan, Georg, Svensk teater och svenska skådespelare från Gustav III till våra dagar. Förra delen, 1772–1842, Bonnier, Stockholm, 1917 (Swedish theatre and Swedish actors from the days of Gustav III to our days. First Book 1772–1842). Albert Bonniers Förlag (1917), Stockholm.(in Swedish)
• Kungliga teaterns repertoar 1773-1973 (The repertoire of the Royal Theatre 1773–1973) (1974)(in Swedish)

Specific

Further reading

• Inga ÅbergatSvenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon