Henriette Widerberg - Background

Background

Henriette Widerberg was born into a theatrical family in Stockholm as the child of Andreas Widerberg and Anna Catharina Widerbäck, stars in the troupe Gemenasiska Sällskapet that performed in the first real theater of Gothenburg, Comediehuset, in the 1780s. Her parents met on the stage and married the same night in 1787 on which they played onstage lovers. That year her father became the director of the same theater, only to leave it to become one of the most famous actors on the stage of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm; admired much by women, as it was said, because of his good looks, and also complimented by male critics for his "male figure". Henriette's siblings also became performers, but were never so successful as she.

A beautiful child, Henriette was early on sent by her mother to the stage in order to contribute to the household. In her memoirs, she describes how she played with dolls while her mother received presents from Henriette's adult male admirers. She was enrolled in Dramatens elevskola in 1807, at which she was under the care of the principal Sofia Lovisa Gråå, who educated her students according to the French traditions of Anne Marie Milan Desguillons and allowed her female pupils, according to the papers, a shocking freedom. From 1810 she was a part of the De Broen's travelling troupe, which performed in the theatre Djurgårdsteatern in Stockholm in the summer. During the 1810s she was one of the most popular singers in Gothenburg. She returned to Stockholm in 1817, when she debuted on the stage of the Royal Swedish Opera as Laura in the opera Léon ou Le Château de Monténéro by Nicolas Dalayrac, a performance which was "touching to a degree which made the audience melt to tears".