Henriette Sophie Widerberg was a Swedish opera singer and memoirist.
21 Facts About Henriette Widerberg
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Henriette Widerberg was an elite member of the Royal Swedish Opera and its prima donna for over twenty years.
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Henriette Widerberg was the first woman in Sweden to publish her own memoirs during her own lifetime.
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Henriette Widerberg was the daughter of the actor Andreas Widerberg and the actress Anna Catharina Wideback.
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Henriette Widerberg's father was originally the star actor and later director of Comediehuset in Gothenburg, where her parents met and married the same night in 1787 of which they played onstage lovers.
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Henriette Widerberg was enrolled in the Royal Dramatic Training Academy in 1807, where she was tutored by Sofia Lovisa Graa in the French tradition of Anne Marie Milan Desguillons.
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Henriette Widerberg was given a salary of 1600 riksdaler, an amount surpassing any other woman in the Royal Theatres : as comparison, the minimum salary of a female singer or actress was 200, and the highest paid male elite colleague was given 1800, an amount only slightly higher than hers.
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Henriette Widerberg was a capable actress and could perform the speaking parts of her role well.
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Henriette Widerberg's most acclaimed part was reportedly as Princess Amazali in Ferdinand Cortez by Spontini in 1826.
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Henriette Widerberg, who was known to dislike du Puy, who she accused of having unjustly brought about the dismissal of Jeanette Wasselius, declined and left.
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Insulted, Henriette Widerberg threatened to jump out of the window when the caretaker came to put extra locks on her door, but was comforted by her colleagues, who arranged a little party in her room.
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Henriette Widerberg was known to be frank and witty in her language.
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Henriette Widerberg remained neutral during the great strikes "First Torsslow Argument" and "Second Torsslow Argument".
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Henriette Widerberg was appointed official singer of the royal court or Hovsangare in 1837.
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Henriette Widerberg was not arrogant, not greedy for money, she did not plot or spread rumors.
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Henriette Widerberg had a number of affairs with several prominent men which attracted attention.
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Henriette Widerberg is commonly said to be identical with the Vackra Roosen, a popular eccentric singer and guitarist known for his beauty, who preferred to live the life of a Boheme street musician despite being offered an education as an opera singer, because he did not like to subject to the restraints of a regular life.
18.
Reportedly, Henriette Widerberg had a poor sense of financial affairs and mismanaged her economy, a fact which was to prove disastrous when her career at the Royal Opera was discontinued and she no longer had the protection of her status there.
19.
Henriette Widerberg's dismissal was not liked by her admirers in the audience, who demanded her return, but the differences between Widerberg and the management could not be solved and neither part could agree to a new contract.
20.
Henriette Widerberg's popularity ensured her activity as a guest artist for the first years.
21.
Henriette Widerberg described her plans of opening an inn, and it seem as though she did in 1848, though nothing more is known of this activity.