Birgitte Winther (1751-18 April 1809) was a Danish stage actress and opera singer. She belonged to the elite members of the Royal Danish Theatre in 1774-1805. She has been referred to as one of the three most noted female opera singers in 18th-century Denmark. [1]
Birgitte Winther was the daughter of the school teacher Peder Winther and Bolette Marie Palle. She never married. She was one of the first students to be included in the first class of the newly founded opera school in 1773. She was the student of Michel Angelo Potenza.
She made her debut in 1774. Though active both as a singer and an actress, as was the custom at the Royal theater, she was famed as an opera singer. As an actress, she was somewhat criticized for being too stiff. As a singer, however, Winther was named the best opera singer in Denmark and as the prima donna of the Danish opera alongside Catharine Frydendahl and Caroline Frederikke Müller. She was considered undefeated in her ability to perform long arias.
Not only active at the Royal Danish Theatre, she also toured Denmark and performed on concerts at the countryside. Also in the capital, she frequently performed in concerts, and along Michael Rosing and Jens Musted, she often performed at the concerts hosted by Det musikalske Selskab and Det harmoniske Selskab , to such an extent that the Royal Theatre complained and stated that when Winther performed so often outside of the theatre, it was not longer necessary for the audience to come there to hear her, which caused the theatre a financial loss.
She retired in 1805 after a successful career and died in Copenhagen.
Johanne Luise Heiberg was a Danish actress of the 19th century. She is most famous for her work at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, where she achieved great success. Though she was closely connected to the romantic tradition, Heiberg is still regarded as a key figure of Danish drama. She contributed to the growing public social and moral perception of Danish actors as artists and cultural personalities rather than simply performers.
Caroline Frederikke Müller née Halle also known as Caroline Walther, was a Danish and later naturalized Swedish opera singer (mezzo-soprano). She was also active as an instructor at the Dramatens elevskola. She was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and a Hovsångare.
Mette Marie Astrup was a Danish actress, one of the best known of her time in Denmark. She enjoyed a career totaling fifty years at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen.
Caroline Amalie Thielo was a Danish actress, one of her country's first professional native female actors, and said to be the first actress ever employed at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen. She was very popular in the mid 18th century, and was also employed as a translator of plays for the theatre.
Emilie da Fonseca, married surnames Muller and Bratz was a Norwegian-Danish stage actor and opera singer. She belonged to the pioneer group of artists in the first national theatre in Norway. She was also among the most noted artists of her time in Norway.
Amalia Emma Sophie Hartmann née Zinn was a Danish composer who composed under the pseudonym Frederik H. Palmer. She was married to the composer Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann (1805–1900). They lived on the second floor in the Zinn House at Kvæsthusgade 3 in Copenhagen.
Anna Helena Dorothea Nielsen, née Brenöe,, was a Danish stage actress and opera singer (mezzo-soprano). She was one of the most famous female stage artists in Denmark of her time. She was a mentor for many talents, such as for example Louise Phister and her private home was a center of the theatre world.
Emilie Wilhelmine Rosing was a Danish singer and stage actress. She was perhaps the most famous female stage artist in Denmark during the age of Napoleon.
Johanne Cathrine Rosing, née Olsen, was a Danish stage actress and ballet dancer, one of the most noted of the era.
Eline Heger, née Schmidt, was a Danish stage actress.
Birgitte Elisabeth Andersen was a Danish stage actor and ballet dancer.
Maria Theresia Ahlefeldt was a Danish,, composer. She is known as the first female composer in Denmark.
Nini Arlette Theilade was a Danish ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher.
Josephine Amalie Zinck née Lund (1829–1919) was a Danish mezzo-soprano singer who performed in concerts at Copenhagen's Musikforeningen from the age of 18 and in operas at the Royal Danish Theatre from 1858.
Sophie Helene Henriette Keller née Rung (1850–1929) was a Danish operatic soprano, musician and singing teacher, who performed at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen from 1869. She founded both a conservatory for women and a women's concert association.
Marie Cathrine Preisler née Devegge (1761–1797), was a Danish stage actress.
Cathrine Marie Gielstrup née Morell (1755–1792) was a Danish stage actress. She was active at the Royal Danish Theatre in 1773–1792, and a member of the Det Dramatiske Selskab in 1777-79.
Michael Rosing was a Norwegian-Danish actor.
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Birgitte Sigrid Frieda Engell née Engel (1882–1973) was a German-born Danish operatic soprano who initially performed in operas in Wiesbaden and Berlin before moving to the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen. After the First World War she increasingly specialized in concerts, giving recitals in several European countries and North America until the early 1930s. In later life she settled in Copenhagen where she taught voice.