Petter Stenborg

Petter Stenborg
Born	Petter Stenborg
Spouse	Anna Sara Krüger

Petter Stenborg, (1719-1781), was a Swedish actor and theater director who played an important role of the continuation of the native speaking theater in Sweden. He is regarded as one of the greatest pioneers in the theatre-history of his country; during the period of "exile" for the native-language theatre in the reign of king Adolf Frederick of Sweden, he kept the Swedish-speaking theatre alive during the 1750s and 1760s, and thus was the link between the closure of the first Swedish theatre in Bollhuset in 1753, and the opening of the first lasting theatre/opera in 1773.

Biography

Originally a soldier in the Royal guard, he became a member of the first troupe of Swedish actors at the theater of Bollhuset in in Stockholm in 1746. In the Bollhus Theater he performed in Syrinx against Elisabeth Lillström in 1747, (also the debute for Elisabeth Olin), were called one of the most valuable of the theater's actors by the director Charles Langlois in 1748 and is believed to have had the leading role in Slafve-ön in 1749, though the details of his occupation in Bollhuset are unclear.

When the Swedish troupe, active on the theater since 1737, was fired in 1753 and replaced with a French troupe, half of the staff left for the country side to work as a travelling theater company under Peter Lindahl and Johan Bergholtz; after an attempt to be an inkeeper, Petter Stenborg applied and was given permission to lead a theater company in the city of Stockholm, and between 1758 and for twenty years forward, he performed as the director of a troupe of native actors in both Stockholm, in temporary locals, and touring the country, mostly in Finland, in companionship with the tight-rope-walker von Carl Fredrik von Eckenberg; when the troupe visited Turku in 1761, it was probably the first time a theatre troupe visited this country.

He is most known for his activity in Stockholm, were he preserved a Swedish speaking theater, just as the theater company of Peter Lindahl did in the country side, during a period when the French culture otherwise dominated the Swedish stage. His theater company did not have a very good reputation; the actors were from "the jail, soldiers, alcoholized lawyers, servants and washing-women", the costumes was from ragshops and the music from public-houses, were they often performed, and the plays was described as vulgar; this judgements, however, was given by members of the upper classes, who preferred French teather, but the Stenborg Company was appreciated by the public, who could not understand the French troupe at Bollhuset, and they represented a native speaking theater in the 1750s and 1760s. They are also perhaps the first troupe to have performed in Finland, though this was only temporary.

Among his actors were former tailor Jean Löfblad, the Harlekin of the troup, the wife of Löfblad, Johanna Catharina Enbeck, earlier active both at Bollhuset and the Lindahl troup, and active at the Stenborg troup until the 1790s and thereby one of the female 18th century in Sweden active longest in her profession - and the prima donna Christina Catharina Lindberg, also earlier active in Bollhuset.

In 1772, the Stenborg company was allowed to perform for king Gustav III of Sweden, who had fired the French troupe, and the year after, he founded the Swedish national opera and later the national theater, though not with the Stenborg troupe. In 1773, the troupe, whos biggest problem was the difficulty to get localitys, and had to mowe from one place to the next over the years, finally found a good place to perform; the so called Humlegårdsteatern, the theater in Humlegården, were they performed every summer until 1780. This was described as a sort of pavilion in the garden of Humlegården, were they played simple comedys in the native language, sometimes caricatures of the high pitched performances in Bollhuset, and was a very popular part of the city's summer life; the opera-performances Thetis och Phelée became Petis och Nasenblom, Acis och Galathea became Kasper och Dorotea. Among the popular actors there was Adolph Fredrik Neuman, and the tailor Jean Löfblad (d.1774), the Harlekin of the company.

Petter Stenborg was the father of the famous Swedish singer and actor Carl Stenborg; his wife Anna Sara Krüger had ben a houskeeper in the house of count Adam Horn, and through her contacts, his children was given a much better education than himself, and Carl was accepted at the theater of Bollhuset were he became a star. Carl was thereby forbidden to perform in his father's company, but he advised him. In 1780, Petter Stenborg retired, and his company was taken over by his son, who emidiately searched for a real house for the troupe, were they could perform all year; he found one at Eriksberg, thereby called the Eriksberg Theater, but it was uncomfertebly outside town. In 1784, he found the final location for the company at Munkbron, called the Munkbro Theater but commonly referred to as Stenborg Theater, who were the second most important theater in Stockholm until the monopol of the Royal Dramatic Theater closed it down in 1799.

Localitys for the Stenborg Theater in Stockholm

• 1760 The Theater in the Bergstrahl house.
• 1762 The Theater in the loft on Kimstugatan.
• 1768 The Theater at the camp of the royal guard.
• 1769 The Theater in Lafons Coffe-house at Järntorget.
• 1773 The Pavilion Rotundan in the park of Humlegården, "Humlegårdsteatern".
• 1780 The Eriksberg Theater.
• 1784 The Munkbro theater.

Actors active in the Stenborg troupe

Many of the actors active in the Stenborg troupe were former active both in the Theater of Bollhuset and in the troupe of Peter Lindahl.

• Johanna Catharina Enbeck, "Madame Löfblad", wife of Jean Löfblad, earlier at Bollhuset as Madame Gentschein.
• Johan Flodman
• Anders Hagendorf (Anders Hagman)
• Anders Hallberg
• Christina Catharina Lindberg, earlier at Bollhuset as mademoiselle Londberg, the prima donna of the troupe.
• Jean Löfblad, d. 1774.
• Adolph Fredrik Neuman
• Catharina Sophia Murman, d. 1789.
• Petter Öberg

Sources

• http://runeberg.org/nfcf/0652.html Template:Sv icon
• http://runeberg.org/sbh/b0523.html Template:Sv icon
• http://www.arenateater.se/stockh1.htm Template:Sv icon
• http://runeberg.org/famijour/1866/0329.html Template:Sv icon
• http://runeberg.org/famijour/1868/0023.html Template:Sv icon
• Gustavianskt, Ingvar Andersson. Template:Sv icon
• Tryggve Byström, "Svenska Komedien 1737-1754", Template:Sv icon.
• http://www.turunsanomat.fi/kulttuuri/?ts=1,3:1005:0:0,4:5:0:1:2008-02-29,104:5:522440,1:0:0:0:0:0: Template:Fi icon