Opera on the Move in the Nordic Countries during the Long 19th ...

104 Anne Reese Willén
made it more enticing a concert venue than others. It also had an established
audience.
Many visiting artists made their way to Stockholm on their tours of the
great musical cities in Europe. Max Bohrer, Sigismund Thalberg, Henri
Vieuxtemps and Adrien-François Servais, for example, who visited Paris,
Vienna and London among other cities (Weber 2008, pp. 146f), also performed
at the Royal Swedish <strong>Opera</strong>. Sweden and Stockholm were on the
route to and from St Petersburg, which brought many touring musicians
to the city. These visiting artists performed at the Royal Swedish <strong>Opera</strong>
as guest stars paid for individual performances at concerts or as providers
of entr’acte music, or as entrepreneurs. The venue was a natural choice
given its good reputation for concerts and its established audience. It was
also the only institution able to take on these musicians (perhaps with the
exception of the church, which may have had the necessary funding but
not the interest). Visiting artists who wanted to give a concert on the royal
stage in the 1830s were obliged to perform in the entr’actes according to
the theatre regulations of 1834 and 1839. 17 This paragraph was not included
in the new regulations of 1844 and later, but that did not mean that visiting
artists ceased to perform on such occasions. Some of them, in fact, were
paid very well. For example, in 1863 the brothers Alfred and Henry Holmes
(two young British violinists touring around Europe) were paid 600 R:dr
rmt 18 for performing between acts on three occasions. 19 Compared with the
annual salaries of musicians in the Royal Swedish <strong>Opera</strong> Orchestra, which
normally ranged from 500 and 1500 R:d rmt, this was quite an amount. 20
One reason for engaging visiting artists at such a high cost instead of using
employed musicians was the appeal of their virtuoso performances and the
opportunity to attract a larger audience. This was not a regular practice, and
depended on which traveling artists were available. It is, however, indicative
of the change in function of music on this type of occasion, as it became
17 §4d, Kongl. Majts nådiga reglemente för Kongl. Theaterns styrelse och förvaltning,
gifvet Stockholms slott den 6 september 1834, och §28, Kongl. Majts nådiga reglemente
för Kongl. Theaterns styrelse och förvaltning, gifvet Stockholms slott den 5 oktober
1839. (Official regulations for the board and administration of the Royal Swedish <strong>Opera</strong>,
1834 and 1839; copy at The Royal Swedish <strong>Opera</strong> Library).
18 Riksdaler riksmynt, Swedish currency, 1855-1873
19 <strong>Opera</strong>ns arkiv [The Royal Swedish <strong>Opera</strong> Archive]: Verifikationer G2BB vol 86
1863.
20 <strong>Opera</strong>ns arkiv [The Royal Swedish <strong>Opera</strong> Archive]: Anställningskontrakt F8A vol
3-10. The leading singers were paid the most, and the extras (who probably did not
perform every evening) were paid the least. The head conductor and musical leader
had a yearly salary of 6,000 R:dr rmt, and the assistant conductors/concert masters
2,200 R:dr rmt.