Rosalia Price
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
''Masson'' (
fl.
''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...
1790), also known as Rosalia Masson-Price and Madame Price, was a British
circus
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...
artist (
acrobat and
pantomime
Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...
artist). She is not to be confused with her sister-in-law
Hanne Tott Hanne Tott or Tod, also called Price and Kuhn (14 February 1771 - August 15, 1826), was a Danish circus artist and circus manager. She and her family played an important part in the history of the circus in Scandinavia. She is not to be confused wit ...
, also called Madame Price.
She was active in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
in 1787–1790. Together with her spouse, the
acrobat Peter Price (1761-1790), she founded the first circus 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 ...
, Sweden and
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
, and as such has an important place in the history of the circus in Sweden and Scandinavia. Alongside
Antonio Bartolomeo Spinacuta, Price are counted as one of two of all of the foreign artists during the
Gustavian age
The History of Sweden from 1772 through 1809 is better known as the Gustavian era of Kings Gustav III and Gustav IV, as well as the reign of King Charles XIII of Sweden.
Gustav III
Adolf Frederick of Sweden died on 12 February 1771. The ele ...
who made a lasting effect on the cultural development in Sweden.
Life
Rosalia Masson was married to her colleague Peter Price from
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, with whom she had three children. Together with her brother-in-law
James Price (1761-1805), they founded a circus company, where they mainly performed with acrobats and
pantomime
Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...
artists by horse. After having applied for a permission to perform in Denmark without success, they were granted such a permission for Sweden, and in October 1787, they founded a circus in Stockholm.
Though an individual horse acrobat, Jacob Bates, had performed in Stockholm in 1770, the Price circus was the first circus company in Sweden, and thereby the introduction of the circus in Scandinavia: her brother-in-law James and his spouse Hanne Tott was to introduce the circus in Denmark and Norway in the 1790s.
The Price circus were successful in Stockholm, where Rosalia was apparently the main attraction as she was frequently mentioned first when the circus was mentioned; she focused on acrobatics on horse while Peter Price acted in pantomime and displayed his strength.
They also toured the Swedish countryside. At an incident at
Comediehuset
Comediehuset (The Comedy House) or Sillgateteatern (The Herring-Street Theatre) was a Swedish theatre, active in Gothenburg from 1779 until 1833. It was the first permanent Public theatre in Gothenburg and the only one until 1816. It was located a ...
in
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
, Rosalia Price threatened the audience with a whip and a gun when they expressed displeasure, which turned a fiasco to a success.
The Price Circus left Sweden in 1790: Peter Price apparently died the same year, as Rosalia Price remarried the horse acrobat Christoph de Bach the same year and followed him to Vienna.
References
* Oscar Levertin (1918). Samlade Skrifter 17–18. Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Förlag. ISBN
* Wåhlberg, Per Arne: Cirkus i Sverige : bidrag till vårt lands kulturhistoria. Stockholm Carlsson 1992.
* Johan Flodmark (1893). Stenborgska skådebanorna: bidrag till Stockholms teaterhistoria. Stockholm: Norstedt. Libris 439864
{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Rosalia
Year of birth missing
Year of death missing
18th-century British artists
18th-century Swedish people
British circus performers
Gustavian era people
British equestrians
18th-century circus performers