Henriette Widerberg - Technique and Judgements

Technique and Judgements

She was seen as a great natural talent with a fantastic mezzo-soprano, but she had an easygoing character which made her indolent and uninterested in developing herself. As her natural ability made many things simple for her, she never bothered to read notes--instead, she asked someone from the orchestra to sing and play her the part, and after hearing it, regardless of what instrument was used, she was able to sing it without much effort. The quality of her performance was said to have been dependent upon whether she liked a part or not, and she was described as bad and screamy in parts she did not care for, mediocre in parts she was indifferent to, and fabulous in parts she liked. "If she pleased to adjust herself to the situation - and she could, when she wanted to - then this voice was irresistibly enchanting, intoxicating. The poetry of voice was something no singer knew more than she". She was called the "Malibran of Sweden", as Orvar Odd wrote: "A Malibran without learning but what voice, oh, thou nightingales!"

As a person, Widerberg was described as witty, happy and kind; she had the ability to laugh at herself, and was neither greedy nor someone to plot against her colleagues. She was very much talked about because of her private life and her many love affairs. She had no sense of economy and lived without thinking about tomorrow; she lived "with no restraint" and "had a tendency to change the object of tender affection". In her memoirs she describes her many adventures, in which admirers invited her to manors in the country, dressed themselves as women in order to be allowed into her rooms, and tried to throw her into the river when she turned them down.

There are numerous anecdotes of Henriette's career, and many stories from her own memoirs as well. One known incident, causing great amusement among the public, took place when she played Susanna in Figaro in 1821. The male singer who played Figaro, Edvard du Puy (the very same person who was responsible for the dismissal of Wässelia described above), invited her to his room to rehearse the play, but when she arrived he tried to seduce her. She declined the offer and left, which made him much disappointed. The next day she did not know her part, and du Puy then reported her to the director, who placed her on house arrest in her rooms for delaying the rehearsals. She was deeply angered by this treatment, and when the caretaker wanted to put extra locks on her door, she threatened to jump out of the window. She was comforted by her colleagues, who visited her and cheered her up with a little party in ment to see if it was legal to place women on arrest--unfortunately, it was; this was one of the disciplinary rules that the actors later demanded to be removed in the great strike led by Ulrik Torsslow and Sara Fredrica Strömstedt-Torsslow in 1827.

During the performance, Henriette received such enthusiasm from the public that her anger vanished, but when they reached the part of the play at which Susanna was to slap Figaro seven times, she did so with such enthusiasm that the audience started laughing.

During a conflict with one of the theater's directors, who was said to have been less than careful about his hygiene, the director questioned Henriette about her bills regarding such things and she replied: "It is easy to say, Mr Count, for someone with no idea how much it costs to keep oneself clean and fresh!" She also writes that when she complained about men and boys trying to take a look at her when she had to change during performances, this director chased them all away, but guarded her from them by observing her himself--though, she adds, he was really quite harmless. She remained neutral during the great theater strikes of 1827 and 1834.