Carl Dahlén (1770 – 1 December 1851) was a Swedish ballet dancer and choreographer, active first at the

Royal Swedish Ballet The Royal Swedish Ballet is one of the oldest ballet companies in Europe. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, King Gustav III founded the ballet in 1773 as a part of his national cultural project in response to the French and Italian dominance in this fi ...

at the

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera ( sv, Kungliga Operan) is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the center of Sweden's capital Stockholm in the borough of Norrmalm, on the eastern side ...

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 ...

, and second at the

Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world and originates from 1748, when the Ro ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

at the

Royal Danish Theatre The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first ser ...

in Denmark. He belonged to the first male Swedish stars at the Royal Swedish ballet.

Career

He was made a figurante in the ballet 1785, a coryfee in 1789 and premier dancer in 1791. He participated in the pantomime ballet ''Det dubbla giftermålet'' by Jean-Rémy Marcadet opposite Margaretha Christina Hallongren,

Hedda Hjortsberg Hedvig "Hedda" Katarina Hjortsberg also known as ''Hedda Koersner'' (15 June 1777 – 3 October 1867) was a Sweden, Swedish ballerina who starred for the Royal Swedish Ballet. She was the sister of the Swedish actor Lars Hjortsberg. Life ...

, Joseph Saint-Fauraux Raimond and Carlo Caspare Simone Uttini the 1790–91 season. He was admired for his beauty and grace and attracted the attention of King

Gustav III of Sweden Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...

. The circumstances of his departure from the Swedish ballet are well known. A nobleman from the royal court was sent to him with the message from the king that he had been given a higher allowance; upon delivering the message, the courtier "allowed himself" a certain remark in connection to this, which insulted Dahlen, who gave him a slap to the face. Dahlen then quickly left the capital in fear of the nobleman's revenge. He was active at the ballet in Copenhagen for the rest of his career. He also composed his own ballet, ''Armida'', which was performed in 1821–22. He retired in 1823.

Personal life

He married the Danish singer Johanna Elisabeth Morthorst who were active at the theatre in Copenhagen in 1784–1827. They were married in 1802. Dahlén constructed the still existing building at Brolæggerstræde 12 but the couple would only live there until 1800. Their next home was around the corner at

Nytorv Nytorv ( English: New Square or New Market) is a public square in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. Together with the adjoining Gammeltorv it forms a common space, today part of the Strøget pedestrian zone. The square is dominated by the imposi ...

11. Dahlén accepted a young

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

as a ballet student in spite of his lack of talent. Andersen was also a frequent guest in Dahlén's home, then at Badstuestræde 18: He describes the relationship in '' The Fairy Tale of My Life'':

References

* Kungliga teaterns repertoar 1773-1973 (The repertoire of the Royal Theatre 1773-1973) * Nils Bohman: Svenska män och kvinnor. Bok 2 (Swedish men and women. Dictionary. Book 2)
Arvid Ahnfelt: Europas konstnärer (The artists of Europe) (1887)

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dahlen, Carl 1770 births 1851 deaths 18th-century Swedish ballet dancers Swedish male ballet dancers Swedish choreographers Gustavian era people 19th-century Swedish ballet dancers 19th-century Danish ballet dancers Royal Swedish Ballet dancers Swedish emigrants to Denmark