Charlotte Helene Frederikke Bournonville (1832–1911) was a Danish opera singer and actress. Daughter of the celebrated Danish ballet master,

August Bournonville August Bournonville (21 August 1805 – 30 November 1879) was a Danish ballet master and choreographer. He was the son of Antoine Bournonville, a dancer and choreographer trained under the French choreographer, Jean Georges Noverre, and the nep ...

, she first sang in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

in 1857 before joining 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 s ...

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 a ...

two years later. She is also remembered for giving singing lessons to the daughters of King Christian IX. In appreciation of her services, the king elevated her to the status of Kongelig Kammersanger (Royal Chamber Singer) in 1863.

Biography

Born on 29 November 1832 in Copenhagen, Charlotte Bournonville was the daughter of August Bournonville and Helena Fredrika Håkansson. She received singing lessons from Carl Helsted in Copenhagen, Arlet in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and Giovanni Battista Lamperti in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

. In early 1857, she appeared in concerts 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. Si ...

before being engaged by the Royal Theatre in

in July where she appeared in several concerts and played Fides in

Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera ''Robert le d ...

's opera '' Profeten''. She performed in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

and

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

in the winter of 1858-59. She then settled in Copenhagen where she was engaged by the Royal Danish Theatre, receiving a permanent appointment until 1884. There she first appeared in

Vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

operettas before taking mezzo-soprano parts in opera. Her roles included Azucena in ''

Il trovatore ''Il trovatore'' ('The Troubadour') is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto largely written by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''El trovador'' (1836) by Antonio García Gutiérrez. It was García Gutiérrez's mos ...

'', Diana in

Les diamants de la couronne ''Les diamants de la couronne'' (''The Crown Diamonds'') is an ''opéra comique'' by the French composer Daniel Auber, first performed by the Opéra-Comique at the second Salle Favart in Paris on 6 March 1841. The libretto (in three acts) is by ...

, Mme Bertrand in Le maçon, fru Ragnhild in

Ivar Hallström Ivar Christian Hallström, born Stockholm, 5 June 1826, died in that city on 11 April 1901 was a Swedish composer, particularly of opera.Wiklund A. Ivar Christian Hallström. In: ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.'' Macmillan, London and New Yo ...

's ''Den bergtagna'', Marthe in ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

'' and Marguerite in '' La dame blanche''. Although she performed well, Bournonville was rivalled by the mezzo-soprano Josephine Zinck whose good looks she lacked, causing her to appear increasingly less frequently. She finally retired from the theatre in 1884. Charlotte Bournonville died in Copenhagen on 22 March 1911. She is buried in

Asminderød Church Asminderød Church ( Danish: Asminderød Kirke) is a parish church in Asminderød, now part of Fredensborg, Fredensborg Municipality som 40 km north of central Copenhagen, Denmark. History A small Romanesque church was built at the site in the fi ...

yard near

Fredensborg Fredensborg () is a railway town located in Fredensborg Municipality, North Zealand, some 30 kilometres north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is most known for Fredensborg Palace, one of the official residences of the Danish Royal Family. As of 1 Jan ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bournonville, Charlotte 19th-century Danish actresses Danish stage actresses 19th-century Danish women opera singers Danish sopranos Danish operatic mezzo-sopranos 1832 births 1911 deaths Actresses from Copenhagen Singers from Copenhagen