Charlotta Djurström
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Hedvig Charlotta Djurström (née Hoffman; 14 May 1807 – 19 May 1877) 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
Swedish theatre and Swedish actors from Gustav III to our days. First Book 1772–1842' Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...


Life

Charlotta Djurström was born in
Kalmar Kalmar (, , ) is a city in the southeast of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 41,388 inhabitants in 2020 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of ...
. 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 The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Nor ...
(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 female minor stock character in opera and theatre, often a pert lady's maid. By extension, the term can refer generally to any saucy or flirtatious young woman. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means " ...
and breeches part, 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 Joan of Arc ( ; ;  – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...
in ''Orleanska Jungfrun'' ('Maid of Lorriane') by
Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...
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. 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, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...
, 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, 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 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 Lin ...
, where she died with her daughter Wilhelmina Djurström during a
cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...
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 ...
* Therese Elfforss


References

* Nordensvan, Georg, Svensk teater och svenska skådespelare från Gustav III till våra dagar. Förra delen, 1772-1842, Bonnier, Stockholm, 1917
Swedish theatre and Swedish actors from Gustav III to our days. First Book 1772–1842' Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
(in Swedish) *
Europas konstnärer
', 1887 (Swedish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Djurstrom, Charlotta 19th-century Swedish actresses Swedish theatre directors Swedish women theatre directors 1807 births 1877 deaths Actors from Kalmar Actresses from Kalmar County Deaths from cholera 19th-century theatre managers Actor-managers Swedish theatre managers and producers Women theatre managers and producers 19th-century Swedish businesswomen 19th-century Swedish businesspeople