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

Two <strong>Opera</strong>s or One – or None
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third, mixed-language group of Finns, who were able to use both languages,
would be needed for the opera chorus and small parts, both spoken and
sung. (See the correspondence in Emil Nervander’s collection, SKS).
It is unknown how and exactly when this plan was proposed and on
whose behalf. No such proposition is documented in Weckström’s theatrical
memorandum. In the meantime Bergbom was among the founders of the
Suomalainen Seura, whose goal was to implement cultural activities – music,
drama and literature – in Finnish. The Seura consisted of a rather limited
group (400–500) of academic and administrative elite, who had decided
to change their language from Swedish to Finnish and adopt “the Finnish
Cause” as their social orientation.
Although Kaarlo Bergbom was the dramaturge for the Swedish Theatre
Company, he started rehearsals for a competing musical and theatrical activity,
which would gradually require access to the stage of the New Theatre.
Bergbom had a hidden strategy: He would urge his Fennoman amateur
actors to enter the formally bilingual Theatre School, which also existed,
and from there, they could be hired for the Swedish Theatre Company. (Letter
from Bergbom to Nervander, August 1869). But Bergbom forgot that his
friends came from the educated classes. They could perform in social gatherings,
but the profession of acting never became a real option for them. A
singer’s career, however, would be more respectable for academic men and
women of “good families”. Among the soloists the most advanced wanted
to develop their singing into a profession. For domestic artists the only
forum available was the Swedish Theatre, which for some years had endeavoured
to develop its musical repertoire. (Aspelin-Haapkylä 1906, I, pp.
125–191; Lüchou 1977.)
The first Finnish performers would have been amateurs, whereas the
actors in the Swedish Theatre Company were experienced professionals.
The initiative to start a Finnish group within the New Theatre must have
seemed utopian to the leaders’ triumvirate, as well as to the stage director
Gustafsson of the Swedish Theatre. They hardly saw any reason to change
the language of their theatre, as most of their audiences did not understand
Finnish.
Suomalainen Seura was established in October of 1869, with Bergbom
responsible for its dramatic programmes. The musical section was led by
Lorenz Nikolai Achté (1835–1900), a singer, conductor and composer, who
was to become Bergbom’s right hand in organising the operas. The musical
and drama sections of the Finnish association immediately decided to
perform Preciosa, an adventurous romantic gypsy melodrama with music