Brita Sophia De la Gardie (22 April 1713 – 1797) was a Swedish
noble
A noble is a member of the nobility.
Noble may also refer to:
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* Noble Glacier, King George Island
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* Noble Peak, Wiencke Island
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and amateur actress who later converted to Catholicism and became a nun. She was a central member of the cultural life in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
in her time. She played a part in the history of Swedish theatre. She was the maternal aunt of
Count Axel von Fersen the Younger
Hans Axel von Fersen (; 4 September 175520 June 1810), known as Axel de Fersen in France, was a Swedish count, Marshal of the Realm of Sweden, a General of Horse in the Royal Swedish Army, one of the Lords of the Realm, aide-de-camp to Rochamb ...
.
Life
Brita Sophia De La Gardie was born to the politician Count
Magnus Julius De la Gardie
Magnus Julius De la Gardie (14 April 1668 – 28 April 1741), son of Axel Julius De la Gardie, was a Swedish general and statesman, member of the Swedish Hats Party.
Magnus Julius De la Gardie was born in 1668 in Stockholm. He started his milit ...
and the political
salonist
A salon is a gathering of people held by an inspiring host. During the gathering they amuse one another and increase their knowledge through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "e ...
Hedvig Catharina Lillie
Hedvig is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
People
*Hedvig Catharina De la Gardie (1732–1800), Swedish noblewoman of French descent
*Hedvig Catharina Lilje (1695–1745), Swedish noblewoman, salonist and informal amateur-politi ...
. She was the sister-in-law to the scientist
Eva Ekeblad
Eva Ekeblad (née De la Gardie; 10 July 1724 – 15 May 1786) was a Swedish countess, salon hostess, agronomist, and scientist. She was widely known for discovering a method in 1746 to make alcohol and flour from potatoes, allowing greater use ...
.
Culture personality
During the 1720s and 1730s,
amateur theatre
Amateur theatre, also known as amateur dramatics, is theatre performed by amateur actors and singers. Amateur theatre groups may stage plays, revues, musicals, light opera, pantomime or variety shows, and do so for the social activity as well as f ...
was immensely popular in Stockholm and at the royal court. At the time, there were no Swedish language theatre in the capital; only foreign theatre companies performed professionally at the national stage of the
Bollhuset Theatre. In 1732, ''Dom Japhlet d'Arménie'' by Scarron was performed at the stage of Bollhuset by the noble amateur troupe of Count
Carl Gustaf Tessin
Count Carl Gustaf Tessin (5 September 1695 – 7 January 1770) was a Swedish Count and politician and son of architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger and Hedvig Eleonora Stenbock. He was one of the most brilliant personages of his day, and the most ...
and Countess
Ulla Tessin
Ulrika "Ulla" Lovisa Tessin née Sparre (23 May 1711 – 14 December 1768) was a Swedish courtier, letter writer and dilettante artist.
Life
Ulla Tessin was born to ''riksråd'' marshal count Erik Sparre of Sundby and Christina (Stina) Beata Li ...
, who also participated themselves. The most famous one of these amateur troupe was the troupe commonly known as ''Greve De la Gardies komedianter (The Comedians of Count De la Gardie)'' (active in 1734–1737), managed by the theatre-interested De la Gardie family.
The De la Gardie amateur theatre performed in the palace ''Torstensonska huset'' (later known as now
Arvfurstens palats
Arvfurstens palats (Palace of the Hereditary Prince) is a palace located at Gustav Adolfs Torg in central Stockholm.
Designed by Erik Palmstedt, the palace was originally the private residence of Princess Sophia Albertina. It was built 1783-1794 ...
) in the palace ''Lefebuerska huset'' and, occasionally, on the stage of Bollhuset Theatre, led by Höpken, between 1734 and 1737. Höpken had returned from Paris in 1734 and organized the troupe to perform more seriously and regularly than the other troupes. Brita Sophia De la Gardie was the lead female actor and star of this troupe. As such, she was well known in the city and a center of its cultural life. Historians have argued whether this troupe performed for the public and can be counted as more than an amateur troupe. According to
memoir
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobi ...
s, "The whole city" was present at the performances, but the upper-class memoirists may likely have referred to people from their own class. The plays may have been half public, with a symbolic sum paid by the audience, who likely came only from the city's upper-classes.
These amateur troupes created an enthusiasm for native speaking theatre which prepared for the foundation of the first Swedish language national theatre at Bollhuset in 1737. The foundation of the national theatre had been laid by the performance of a student theatre troupe. When the first Swedish national theatre opened in 1737, a suggestion was made (serious or not) to make Brita Sophia an honorary consultant in the theatre management, with a reserved box at the theatre. This never came about. When the first professional actresses were hired to the theatre, it was jokingly suggested that another of the amateur actresses at the De la Gardie troupe, Augusta Törnflycht, should be asked to seek the position. One of the first professional Swedish actresses jointly with
Beata Sabina Straas
Beata Sabina Straas or Strass (died 1773) also known as Madame Åberg was a professional stage actress in Sweden. She was a member of the pioneer group of actors in the first Swedish national theatre of Bollhuset.
Life
Beata's birth year and ...
in the theatre troupe on the new national theatre, "Miss Wijkman" are suggested to have been Magdalena Wickman, earlier an employee at the De la Gardie household.
In 1738, Brita Sophia became a member in the board of a musical academy who arranged
concert
A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...
s in the palace Lefebuerska huset.
Later life
After the death of her father in 1741, Brita Sophia and her mother moved to Paris in France, where they converted to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. After her mother's death in 1745, she entered a
convent
A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
and became a
nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
. She inherited Ekesjö manor in Sweden, but as because of her conversion to Catholicism, which was at that time a crime in Sweden, her property was confiscated and given to her siblings, who sold it. She died in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
Her nephew
Axel von Fersen the Younger
Hans Axel von Fersen (; 4 September 175520 June 1810), known as Axel de Fersen in France, was a Swedish count, Marshal of the Realm of Sweden, a General of Horse in the Royal Swedish Army, one of the Lords of the Realm, aide-de-camp to Rochamb ...
rented lodgings in the city of Versailles from her between 1785 and 1789. He stayed in the lodgings she provided when he was away from his French regiment in Valenciennes and let family in Sweden believe he stayed in his apartment in Paris, while in reality he was staying in Versailles, either in the lodgings of his aunt, or in lodgings provided for him by queen Marie Antoinette in the royal grounds of the palace of Versailles itself.
[Farr, Evelyn, Marie-Antoinette and Count Axel Fersen: the untold love story, 1. paperback publication, Allison & Busby, London, 1997 (2016), 157, 168]
See also
*
Christina Eleonora Drakenhielm Christina Eleonora Drakenhielm (1649–1712), was a Swedish noble and convert. Her conversion to Catholicism in 1664 was a scandal in contemporary Sweden, where the act was punishable by death.
Christina Eleonora Drakenhielm was the daughter of the ...
*
Birgitta Holm (convert)
References
* Byström, Tryggve, Svenska komedien 1737-1754: en studie i Stockholmsteaterns historia, Norstedt, Stockholm, 1981 (Swedish)
* Wilhelmina Stålberg
''Anteckningar om svenska qvinnor''(Notes on Swedish women) (Swedish)
* Erik Tuneld
''Geografi öfver konungariket Sverige. 8e uppl'' (Geography over the Kingdom of Sweden)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delagardie, Brita Sophia
1713 births
1797 deaths
18th-century Swedish actresses
Swedish stage actresses
Converts to Roman Catholicism
Swedish people of French descent
Swedish expatriates in France
Date of death missing
Swedish countesses
Age of Liberty people
Brita Sophia
18th-century Swedish nuns
18th-century French nuns