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

140 Pentti Paavolainen
gagement to stage operas in the New Theatre, starting with Martha, which
was planned for November 1871.The first initiative came from Bergbom
and Nervander. The last two initiatives were instigated by Kiseleff.
The next move came from Bergbom and the Fennoman party during the
spring of 1872. It started as a propaganda manoeuvre in the Diet. Several
delegates from the Peasants Estate (Bondeståndet) circulated a petition demanding
that the Finnish-language theatre be given equal access to theatrical
venues as the Swedish-language theatre. From February to April 1872, a
tense debate was carried on in the press, and the petition went through the
Estates Joint Committee and back to each of the Four Estates. The petition,
however, could do nothing more, because the House Owners’ Company of
the New Theatre was a private enterprise, free to hire the theatre house to
whomever it wanted, even if the Government had supported its construction
costs. If such a thing as a Finnish Theatre Company existed, it could,
of course, also receive subsidies from the Government just as the Swedish
Theatre Company did, and it could propose to lease the New Theatre. The
first five-year lease period (1867–1872) was over, and a new contract, for
1872–1877, was to be signed in some weeks.
Bergbom was behind this political initiative, and in a three-part newspaper
article at the beginning of April 1872, he wrote his famous pamphlet
“A few words about our prevailing theatre conditions.” The article came
out in a Finnish translation and then immediately in its original Swedish,
Bergbom’s mother tongue and working language. Bergbom defended the
Peasants’ petition against the arguments that had been made against it and
wanted “to give reasons” for its presentation. Bergbom’s point was that
some of the public money used for the New Theatre should be used for
a “national theatre” (national here meant exclusively a Finnish-language
theatre.) Then came his arguments: there were sufficient texts in Finnish
(which was true); there were Finnish-speaking singers and actors available
(which was only half true); and there were audiences (which was not true
at all in Helsinki).
In his articles Bergbom then accused the Swedish Theatre Company
of not having included classics in the repertoire, of not promoting national
writers and artists, and of not performing serious musical pieces, but rather
immoral and light commercial plays and operettas. Bergbom became the
target of counterattacks, and many of his arguments were obviously not
tenable, but the fiery debate went on until mid-May 1872. The meeting in
which the next five-year contract was decided stabilised the situation: The