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

154 Pentti Paavolainen
Finnish <strong>Opera</strong>tic art and the Cultural Identity.] Jyväskylä Studies in the
Arts 68. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä.
af Schultén, Marius 1970: Svenska teatern. Benois teaterhus. [The Swedish
Theatre. The Theatre House by Benois.] Helsinki: Mercators Tryckeri-
och Förlags Aktiebolag.
Suutela, Hanna 2001: “An Instrument for Changing Nationalist Strategies:
The Finnish Theatre Company, 1872–1883.” In: Theatre, History, and
National Identities. Eds. H. Mäkinen, S.E. Wilmer, W.B.Worthen. Helsinki:
Helsinki University Press.
Talonpoikaissäädyn pöytäkirja 1877. [Minutes of the Peasant Estate 1877] Valtiopäivät
1877. [Diet 1877] Helsinki.
Summary
This article examines the period 1869–1880 in Helsinki, when the resources
for an emerging domestic activity to produce operas resulted in a destructive
competition between the Swedish and Finnish language groups.
Nya Teatern (the New Theatre) housed a Swedish theatre company, which
started to produce operas regularly. Its director, Nikolai Kiseleff, a wealthy
merchant, welcomed domestic activity into which Finnish-language productions
could also be gradually introduced. The intellectual and enthusiastic
Dr. Kaarlo Bergbom was the capable producer of these opera performances.
Meanwhile, Bergbom and his group founded the Finnish <strong>Opera</strong> Company
(1873–79, based in the Arkadia Theatre) as a separate professional activity.
The Finnish <strong>Opera</strong> gained general approval for its artistic commitment. Yet
Helsinki, a city of 25,000 inhabitants in these years, could not provide sufficient
audiences for two opera companies, and the financial situation turned
catastrophic. A merger of the two theatres was suggested by “all reasonable
people” and the state. But the cultural antagonism (in 1877) was too intense
and led to the collapse of both activities. The focus here is on the stages of
the dispute, those moments when the doors seemed to be “half open” and
when they were “slammed” again.