Hedvig Charlotta Djurström (née Hoffman; 14 May 1807,
Kalmar – 19 May 1877,
Norrköping
Norrköping (; ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Linköp ...
) was a Swedish stage actress. She was the managing director of the Djurström theater company in 1841-1846. She was one of the leading actresses of the countryside theater in Sweden and Finland during the first half of the 19th-century and referred to as the "Joan of Arc of the Countryside" after her most famous role.
[Nordensvan, Georg, Svensk teater och svenska skådespelare från Gustav III till våra dagar. Förra delen, 1772-1842, Bonnier, Stockholm, 1917 ]
Life
Charlotta Djurström was born in Kalmar. She made her debut at the popular travelling theater company of Erik Stålberg, which became known as the Djurström Company when it was taken over by
Erik Wilhelm Djurström (1787-1841) in 1827. She married director Djurström and took over the theater company as its managing director as a widow in 1841 until 1846. In 1846, she transferred the leadership and the ownership of the company to the leading actor Rudolf Forsberg and continued as a member of his theater company in 1846-48.
Until the late half of the 19th-century, only the biggest cities in Sweden and Finland had theaters with permanent staff, and numerous travelling theater companies toured between the smaller cities and towns of Sweden and Finland to perform in the theater buildings or temporary stages.
The career of Charlotta Djurström illustrated the career of a countryside actress, and she belonged to the most famous of this category in her time.
Initially mostly used in
soubrette
A soubrette is a type of operatic soprano voice ''fach'', often cast as a female stock character in opera and theatre. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means "conceited" or "coy".
Theatre
In theatre, a soubrette is a c ...
and
breeches part
A breeches role (also pants role or trouser role, or Hosenrolle) is one in which an actress appears in male clothing. Breeches, tight-fitting knee-length pants, were the standard male garment at the time these roles were introduced. The theatric ...
, she continued to play the heroine roles, in which she was to be most known.
She is most known for her role as
Jeanne d'Arc in ''Orleanska Jungfrun'' ('Maid of Lorriane') by
Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...
in 1832, which was actually the Swedish premier of this part, a role for which she became so famed that became known under the sobriquet the "Joan of Arc of the Countryside".
In this role she was called "fiery tragic", and her performances in this part where so famed that it reportedly attracted audience from the most remote villages to see her perform.
She performed some operatic parts as well when the theater company offered them, but as she could not sing, the actual singing was made by
Angelique Magito
Maria Sofia Angela "Angelique" Magito (1809–1895) was a Swedish opera singer, concert singer, and stage actress. She was one of the best-known artists of the travelling countryside theatres in Sweden and was called the "opera singer of the coun ...
.
Djurström is noted to have been respected also among the upper class, which was not usual for a countryside actor. She was described as a great beauty but also as a plotting diva by her colleagues.
Her fame, however, was always reserved for the countryside: when her theater company performed in the capital of Stockholm in 1841, was not given very good reviews and Charlotta Djurström was described as not much more but a averagely good actress.
She was described by a critic in retrospect:
:"Mrs D. was both in manner of face and figure one of the most beautiful actresses of her time, owned a considerable talent and was the most popular actress of the provinces during her career. She is foremost known for her very praised interpretation of
Maid of Lorraine by
Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friendsh ...
, a role she was the first in Sweden to perform. She also played
Mary Stuart by Schiller with great success despite her tendency for convoluted pathos and stilted diction, and given much praise in the main roles of the romantic plays and drama staged by the company."
[Erik Wilhelm Djurström, urn:sbl:17570, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Nils Taube.), hämtad 2018-06-18.]
She was a member of the travelling theater companies of J. W. Weselius 1848—50, L. E. Elffors 1850—57, C. G. Hessler 1857—58, A. T. Schwartz 1858—59, and
Thérèse Elfforss
Antoinette Thérèse Elfforss (née Öberg; 30 November 1823 – 16 April 1905) was a Swedish stage actress and theatre director. She was the managing director of the travelling Elfforss Theater Company between 1869 and 1888.Nordensvan, Georg, ...
, W. T. Gille and Hessler.
During the last years of her career, she was engaged at the
Ladugårdsland theatre in Stockholm, which she was described as an ornament of the stage.
Europas konstnärer
', 1887 (Swedish)
She was the mother of four children within marriage, notably the actresses Emilie Djurström and Wilhelmina Djurström, as well as an illegitimate son, the actor Hugo Wilhelm Eberhard Djurström (1834—1863). She retired in 1864 and spent her last years in Norrköping. Charlotta Djurström died with her daughter Wilhelmina Djurström during a
cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
epidemic.
See also
*
Margareta Seuerling
Margaret(h)a Seuerling née ''Lindahl'' (1747–1820) was a Swedish actress and Theatre director in a travelling theatre company, perhaps the most known travelling actress of her time in Scandinavia, active in both Sweden and Finland. She was on ...
*
Therese Elfforss
References
* Nordensvan, Georg, Svensk teater och svenska skådespelare från Gustav III till våra dagar. Förra delen, 1772-1842, Bonnier, Stockholm, 1917
(in Swedish)
*
Europas konstnärer', 1887 (Swedish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Djurstrom, Charlotta
19th-century Swedish actresses
Swedish theatre directors
1807 births
1877 deaths
People from Kalmar
Deaths from cholera
19th-century theatre managers
Actor-managers
Women theatre managers and producers
19th-century Swedish businesswomen
19th-century Swedish businesspeople