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

Staging a national language
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The purpose of the operatic language was thus actively to create a certain
audience, and by extension, a public space, which was favourable to the
political message imparted by a certain linguistic choice. By contrast, the
New Theatre had to defend its position as a national theatre, which had
seemed to be self-evident until the Finnish Theatre appeared to challenge
it. There is also another detail which separates the New Theatre’s opera
company from the other two, namely, that the administrative and the stage
director were two separate individuals. This was not the case at the Finnish
<strong>Opera</strong> Company or the Christiania Theatre where the director both ran
the opera and was in charge of the artistic result. In Christiania, Josephson
forcefully functioned as a shield between the Board and his staff and was not
prepared to relax his standards of professionalism.
Curiously, the outcome was more or less the same at both the Swedish
and Christiania Theatres, where the actors revolted and demanded that a
stop be put to the opera productions. In Christiana the Board took advantage
of the fire to “degrade” the opera singers and put them on a more equal
footing with the actors, at least with regard to their salaries, if not with
regard to their popularity with audiences. This was a clear turning point in
Norwegian operatic history, and the Board made a clear choice between a
vernacular theatre and opera sung by “Swedish foreigners” to the benefit of
the former. Yet the consequences for vernacular theatre ultimately lost out:
For more than two decades, Christiana was regularly “invaded” by Swedish
opera companies.
However, the dividing line could also be drawn differently, with each
opera company placed in a category of its own. All three houses sought to
establish a clear, recognisable identity where not only the language, but
also the repertoire and the professionalism of the performers and the performances
were the distinguishing characteristics. The best option for all
three opera companies was when these demands coincided, for example,
with a musically educated native singer who had already mastered suitable
roles. Hence, Emmy Achté and Ida Basilier were highly valued on the
operatic market in Helsinki, as both were born in Finland and educated
as professional singers. They also complemented each other with their
different voice types. 47 Emma Engdahl at the New Theatre got her voice
education slightly too late to compete with these two singers on a fully
equal basis. However, it seems that the policy at all three theatres was
to choose a foreign, professional singer over a home-grown, less talented
47 Emmy Achté’s voice was lower and more dramatic than Ida Basilier’s voice, which
was a high coloratura.