Bollhuset, also called Stora Bollhuset (The Big Ball House), Bollhusteatern (Ball House Theater), and Gamla Bollhuset (Old Ball House) at various times, was the name of the first theater in Stockholm, Sweden; it was the first Swedish theater and the first real theater building in the whole of Scandinavia. It was built in 1627 for ball sports and used in this way for forty years. The name Lejonkulan, however, was, in fact, the name of a different building, which was also used by the same theater in the 17th century.
Bollhuset was the scene of a long series of most important events in the history of the theater in the city and in the history of Swedish theater. Between 1667 and 1792 it was used as a theater until it was demolished in 1793; between 1737 and 1754, the first national theater was located here; in 1773–1782 the Royal Swedish Opera (and thereby also the Royal Swedish Ballet) was located here; in 1783–1792 the French theater of Stockholm was housed here; in 1787 the second national theater was re-founded in the building; and from 1788 to 1792 it was the home of the Royal Dramatic Theatre.
History
The building was located on Slottsbacken near the Royal palace Tre Kronor. It was described as a large, but simple rectangular building of white bricks with a hip roof.
Bollhuset was built by the crown for the royal court in 1627 as a house for ball sports, especially jeu de paume (Real tennis), which was at that time a very fashionable sport among the European aristocracy, and it was mainly used by the members of the royal court. From 1648, when an additional Ball House was built, Bollhuset was referred to as Stora Bollhuset (Big Ball House) or Gamla Bollhuset (Old Ball House), while the new ball house was called Lilla Bollhuset (Small Ball House) or Nya Bollhuset (New Ball House).[1] In 1663–1679, it was owned by Charles Boit (father of Charles Boit the painter) and thereafter by his widow until it was taken over by the crown again in 1699, when it was given to the French court theater.[2]
17th-century Theater
From an unknown date during the 17th-century, Bollhuset was occasionally used by the foreign travelling theater companies, which performed in Sweden, were there was yet not native professional theater.[3] Because a ball house was usually designed with as spectator gallery around an arena, they were often used by travelling theater companies in 17th-century Europe.[4] Because both ball houses, Stora Bollhuset and Lilla Bollhuset in Stockholm were used by theater companies during the same period, it is difficult to establish which particular building was used by which company at which occasion, and there is some confusion about the theatrical activity during this first period. It is further confusing because a third building, Lejonkulan, was also used by the travelling theater companies during the same period. What is known is that Lilla Bollhuset is confirmed to have been used as a theater between 1662 and 1686, and Lejonkulan between 1667 and 1689, while the first confirmed public theater performance took place in Stora Bollhuset 29 October 1684.[5]
During the 17th century, foreign travelling theater companies often visited Stockholm, especially from Germany and the Netherlands. An English troupe, the troupe of Joris Jollifoot, played in the city in 1648-1649. The German theater troop of Christian Theun l. Thum (or Thaumb) performed in the city from 1628 to 1655, but it is not known if they ever performed in Bollhuset.
The foreign actors at Bollhuset did play for the public, but as most people could not understand foreign languages, it remained mostly a theater for the royal court and elite. An illustrating example of this is that the foreign troupe that seems to have been most popular among the public, the German troupe of the 1730s, was a troupe with displayed acrobatics, fireworks, tightrope-walking and pantomime and thus, with their more visual way of acting, was easier to understand for those who could not understand the language spoken.
In 1686, the first Swedish language theater, the non professional student theater Dän Swänska Theatren, was inaugurated in Lejonkulan, and when Lejonkulan was demolished in 1689, it was moved to Bollhuset, where it performed until it was dissolved in 1691.[6] Thereafter, Bollhuset was again used by foreign theater companies in parallel to the Lilla Bollhuset.
In 1699, Bollhuset was again taken over by the crown and permanently redecorated to a theater for the use of the French court theater.[7] The French theater used it until 1706, when the theater was closed due to the Great Northern War. After the peace of 1721, it was again used by foreign theater companies.
The first national theater; Kungliga svenska skådeplatsen
During the Age of Liberty, the first national theater was to be founded at Bollhuset, then officially called Kungliga Svenska Skådeplatsen (Royal Swedish Stage). In the 1720s and 1730s, the interest for amateur theater was great in Stockholm and a lot of temporary amateur troupes performed among the aristocracy, the most known one "Count De la Gardies comedients", made by noble youths. After the amateur-performance Tobias by a couple of idealistic students at the birthday of king Frederick I of Sweden in 1737, during a period when the building was empty after the last foreign troupe had left, the opinion wanted a theater in their own language. This was granted by the Riksdag, who encouraged the establishment of the first native troupe of actors. One of the arguments taken up in the parliament was the large costs of the expensive foreign troupes. The first Swedish comedy performed on a public stage, Den Svenska Sprätthöken, was performed in October 1737 with Johan Palmberg and Beata Sabina Straas in the leading parts, and during the 1740s, the plays in Bollhuset was performed by native actors, in the native language, which made it accessible for the public for the first time. At this point, the theater had eight hundred seats. Sweden now saw theater, opera and ballet performed in the native language by native artists for the first time. It was temporarily closed by regent queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden in 1738 because of the clerical opposition, but soon reopened.
The theater was first under the rule of the state; its first play was a political one. This did not last long and from 1740 it was ruled by the theater troupe themselves and entirely depended on the audience after the loss of government support. This first attempt to start a native Swedish theater was interrupted. Though the Swedish theatre was popular among the public, the aristocracy, who were French-influenced, was less enthusiastic. After the 1753-54 season, the Swedish theatre was expelled from their localities in Bollhuset by queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, who hired a French theater company instead. The Swedish troop split in two; one, the Stenborg Troupe under Petter Stenborg, performed in smaller houses, "touring" around the city of Stockholm and in Finland, and the other toured in the countryside under Johan Bergholtz and Peter Lindahl. During the period of 1754–71, Swedish plays were only performed in the city stage of Bollhuset two times; Syrinx (1761) and Herkules på skiljovägen (1762), by the Stenborg Troupe, to the benefit of musician Petter Lillström, spouse of the Swedish actress Elisabeth Lillström.
The French Du Londel Troupe followed the court and they stayed in Bollhuset only in winter. The French troupe held a high class and performed the latest plays from Paris, but as the public in general did not speak French, it was foremost a pleasure for the upper-classes, though the public seems to have enjoyed the visual effects. The building was also used for public masquerade balls; the first was organized already in 1701 by the French troupe of Rosidor, and the 1763 year carnival on Bollhuset attracted 600 guests and gave profit of §6000.
In 1771, king Gustav III of Sweden fired the French theater company, and the Swedish actors, led by Petter Stenborg, then saw their chance and asked to perform a play at the opening of the parliament of 1772. At the opening of parliament in 1772, the troupe of Petter Stenborg appeared before King Gustav III and all the public in Bollhuset after the French troupe had left it, and after this, the monarch decided to found a native speaking opera and theatre.
The 18 January 1773, the opera Thetis and Phelée, performed by Carl Stenborg and the concert-singer Elisabeth Olin in the leading roles, inaugurated the Royal Swedish Opera, which was a great success. This was an opera, not a theater, and the attempts to perform speaking drama was not very successful. At the inauguration, the building had been redecorated; the walls were painted in greyish-yellow, the boxes in red, except for the Royal box, which was painted in blue and gold and the sealing a sky in white and gold.
In 1781 the king, in his effort to establish a Swedish theater, hired a group of French actors, led by Jacques Marie Boutet de Monvel, to educate and perform with the first generation of new Swedish-speaking actors at Bollhuset. The opera was the year after, in 1782, moved to the new building of the Swedish Royal Opera and separated from the talking-part actors, and this is considered the beginning of the Swedish theater. The French troupe first performed at court, but begun to perform for the public in Bollhuset in 1783; in the absence of an organised theatre School, the future Swedish actors became students of the French troupe, which educated several of the later famous Swedish actors of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, such as Lars Hjortsberg, Maria Franck and Inga Åberg, and in 1787, an independent Swedish theatre troupe was founded under the leadership of Fredrik Ristell. The two troupes, the French and the Swedish, shared the same building but performed separately, was ruled independently and was considered two separate "Theatres", the French Theatre and the Swedish Theatre.
In 1788, Fredrik Ristell fled the country to escape his creditors, and the actors formed a company and asked for the king's protection; he became the formal director, placed the theater under Royal protection, thus creating the Royal Dramatic Theatre. The Swedish theatre was to be ruled by the actors themselves by votes every fourteenth day under the supervision of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts; according to the reports made by the academy, this rule was quite chaotic, and the voting is described as capricious and temperamental; " The male actors arguing with each other, one of the ladies voting yes because another lady voted no, other of them counting their buttons and letting fate decide", and in 1803, the actors themselves asked the system to be replaced by a director.
In 1792, Bollhuset was deemed to be too old and decayed, and it was torn down 1793; in the actors moved to the palace Makalös, (also called The Arsenal), where the Royal Dramatic Theater was to reside until 1825, after which it again was reunited with the Opera. In 1798–1842, the theaters and operas of Stockholm were united by a royal monopoly.
Actors and companies in the Theater of Bollhuset
Until 1689, the theater shared localities with the stage of Lejonkulan.
The Dutch troupe 1667–1674
This troupe opened the Theater at the stage of Lejonkulan with the play Orontes en Satira by Magnon in February 1667.
Salomon Fino
Jan Baptista van Fornenberg (1624–1697) director of the troupe.
This was an opera troupe, meant to complement the French theater troupe. It consisted of members from the company of Pietro Mingotti. They also performed in concerts in Riddarhuset.
The French troupe was a separate and autonomous troupe within the building called "The French Theater". They came to Sweden in 1781 and performed in Drottningholm until 1783. They acted as instructors to the Swedish actors until the Royal Dramatic Training Academy was founded. They were sent home after the death of King Gustav III.
The first native troupe for spoken drama in Bollhuset since 1754. The actors were instructed by the French troupe, and formed its own theater under Fredrik Ristell in 1787. When it went bankrupt in 1788, it formed the Royal Dramatic Theatre.
Elisabeth Olin née Lillström was a Swedish opera singer and a music composer. She performed the leading female role in the inauguration performance of the Royal Swedish Opera in 1773, and is referred to as the first Swedish opera prima donna. She was the first female to be made Hovsångerska (1773), and the first woman to become a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music (1782).
Margaret(h)a Seuerling née Lindahl (1747–1820) was a Swedish actress and Theatre director in a travelling theatre company, perhaps the most known travelling actress of her time in Scandinavia, active in both Sweden and Finland. She was one of the first, perhaps the very first, to introduce secular theatre in Finland: her family and its company represents a large part of the theatre history in Sweden and Finland.
Marie Louise Marcadet née Baptiste was a Swedish opera singer and a dramatic stage actress of French origin. She was active in the Royal Swedish Opera as a singer, and in the Royal Dramatic Theatre and the French Theater of Gustav III as an actress. She was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music from 1795.
Petter Stenborg was a Swedish stage actor and theater director. He was the director of the Stenborg Company or Svenska Comoedi-truppen from 1758 onward and as such the director of the Humlegårdsteatern (1773–80) in Stockholm. Petter Stenborg played an important role in Swedish theater history: he was a member of the pioneer actors of the first Swedish national stage in Bollhuset, and as the leader of the Stenborg theatre company, one of only two professional Swedish language theater companies active in the mid 18th-century, he kept professional Swedish language theater alive from the closure of the public theater in Bollhuset in 1754, until the inauguration of the Royal Swedish Opera (1773) and Royal Dramatic Theatre (1788).
Elisabeth Lillström née Söderman was a Swedish stage actress and opera singer. She was one of the first professional actresses in Sweden and a member of the pioneer generation of Kungliga svenska skådeplatsen, the first national theater in Bollhuset in Stockholm, where she was one of the most prominent members. She was the mother of Elisabeth Olin.
Björngårdsteatern, also called Christian Thums Commedi-huus and Theums Spelehus, was a theatre in Stockholm in Sweden, active between 1640 and 1655. It was possibly the oldest theatre in Scandinavia, but the information is scarce and it is unconfirmed if the theater permit was in fact used. It was in any event a popular tavern managed by Christian Thum.
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. In 1784-87, before the inauguration of the theatre of Ristell in Bollhuset, it was the only dramatic theatre of the native language in Stockholm.
Johanna Catharina Löfblad née Embeck or Enbäck, also known as Madame Gentschein and Madame Löfblad, was a Swedish stage actress. She was a member of the pioneer group of actors in the first Swedish national theatre of Bollhuset.
The Stenborg Company was a Swedish Theatre Company, active in Sweden and Finland in the 18th century. It was also called Stenborgska skådebanorna, Svenska komeditruppen and Svenska Comedien ('Swedish Comedy') or Svenska Teatern. It is one of the most famous theatre troupes in its country's history. In the period of 1754–73, between the closure of the first national Swedish theatre in Bollhuset and the foundation of the next, The Royal Swedish Opera and the Royal Dramatic Theatre, it was the only Theatre performing in the native language in Stockholm. It also has an importance for the history of Finland, being the first professional secular theatre troupe in this country. It was a traveling troupe in 1756–80 and then housed in several buildings.
Carl Stenborg was a Swedish opera singer, composer and theatre director. He belonged to the pioneer generation of the Royal Swedish Opera and was regarded as one of the leading opera singers of the Gustavian era. He was a hovsångare and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
Lejonkulan, was a historical theatre in Stockholm, Sweden, active in 1667–89. It's the historically second known theatre establishment of Stockholm, after Björngårdsteatern (1640–55).
Events from the year 1691 in Sweden
Events from the year 1682 in Sweden
Events from the year 1667 in Sweden
Events from the year 1628 in Sweden
Events from the year 1640 in Sweden
Events from the year 1686 in Sweden
Dän Swänska Theatren was an all-male Swedish Theatre Comedy troupe, active between 1682 and 1691: from 1686 in Stockholm. The company performed in Lejonkulan in 1686-89 and in Bollhuset in 1689–91. They were the first theater company in Sweden composed of Swedish actors and formed the first Swedish language theater in Sweden. However, they were a company formed of student actors from Uppsala University, who did not regard themselves as professional actors and who referred to their activity as temporary, which it also was. Nevertheless, they were pioneers in the history of the Swedish theater.
The Velthen Company, called Velthenska sällskapet in Sweden, and Hochdeutsche Hofcomödianten in Germany, was a travelling German Theatre Company, active in Germany, Poland, the Baltic and the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway and Sweden between 1678 and 1712. The company played a vital role in the theater history of Scandinavia, where a local theater was not yet developed and where it toured from at least the 1690s onward: in 1707, it became the first professional theater to have performed in Norway.
Kungliga svenska skådeplatsen or Svenska Komedien was a Swedish Theatre, active between 1737 and 1754 and housed in the Stora Bollhuset in Stockholm. It was the first national stage in Sweden, and the first professional Swedish language theater, staffed with professional Swedish language actors, in Sweden. It was the first stage to have performed theater, opera and ballet by Swedish actors, singers and dancers to the public. In 1753, the French language Du Londel Troupe was engaged by the queen, Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, and after having shared the stage for the season of 175s-54, the Swedish language actors where turned out of the building and split in two travelling theater companies, one of whom was the Stenborg Company.
References
↑ Dahlberg, Gunilla, Komediantteatern i 1600-talets Stockholm, Komm. för Stockholmsforskning, Stockholm, 1992
↑ Dahlberg, Gunilla, Komediantteatern i 1600-talets Stockholm, Komm. för Stockholmsforskning, Stockholm, 1992
↑ Dahlberg, Gunilla, Komediantteatern i 1600-talets Stockholm, Komm. för Stockholmsforskning, Stockholm, 1992
↑ Dahlberg, Gunilla, Komediantteatern i 1600-talets Stockholm, Komm. för Stockholmsforskning, Stockholm, 1992
↑ Dahlberg, Gunilla, Komediantteatern i 1600-talets Stockholm, Komm. för Stockholmsforskning, Stockholm, 1992
↑ Dahlberg, Gunilla, Komediantteatern i 1600-talets Stockholm, Komm. för Stockholmsforskning, Stockholm, 1992
↑ Dahlberg, Gunilla, Komediantteatern i 1600-talets Stockholm, Komm. för Stockholmsforskning, Stockholm, 1992
Henrikson, Alf, Fram till Nybroplan: om Kungliga Dramatiska teatern, Wiken, Höganäs, 1988 ISBN91-7024-445-6(in Swedish)
(in Swedish)
(in Swedish)
(in Swedish)
(In Dutch)
(in French)
Byström, Tryggve, Svenska komedien 1737-1754: en studie i Stockholmsteaterns historia, Norstedt, Stockholm, 1981(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 Gustav III to our days. First book 1772–1842'] (in Swedish)
Andersson, Ingvar (red.), Gustavianskt: [1771-1810]: en bokfilm, [Ny utg.], Wahlström & Widstrand, Stockholm, 1979 (in Swedish)
Lars Löfgren: Svensk teater, Natur och Kultur. Stockholm 2003. ISBN91-27-09672-6. (in Swedish)
Jonsson, Leif & Ivarsdotter, Anna (red.), Musiken i Sverige. 2, Frihetstid och gustaviansk tid 1720-1810, Fischer, Stockholm, 1993 (Music in Sweden. The age of Liberty and the Gustavian age 1720–1810) (in Swedish)
Forser, Tomas & Heed, Sven Åke (red.), Ny svensk teaterhistoria. 1, Teater före 1800, Gidlund, Hedemora, 2007 (New Swedish theatre-history. Theatre before 1800) (in Swedish)
Johan Flodmark: Stenborgska skådebanorna: bidrag till Stockholms teaterhistoria, Norstedt, Stockholm, 1893 (in Swedish)
H. J. Huitfeldt: Christiania Theaterhistorie (The theater history of Christiania) (in Norwegian)
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