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

Staging a national language
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Arkadia Theatre in 1875. This can also be regarded as a prelude to the competition
between the two theatres.
In Christiania Josephson took pride in introducing the dramas of Norwegian
authors Henrik Ibsen and Bjørn Bjørnson to Norwegian audiences.
One of his greatest successes was Peer Gynt, a dramatic poem created by Ibsen
with music by Edvard Grieg. It was performed 25 times with extraordinary
stage sets until the fire put an end to the performances. (Blanc 1899.)
The popular Norwegian Singspiel Fjeldeventyret (The Mountain Adventure)
composed by Waldemar Thrane in 1824 held little interest for Josephson; it
was given only twice during his directorship. Later, when Finnish and Norwegian
were established in the capitals, the theatres took over the opera’s
task of building a national repertoire, which then began to grow rapidly.
In conclusion, the integration of opera into nation-building projects
helped the institutionalisation of all three opera companies, but only for
a while. In a period rife with various political agendas opera aroused emotions
and heated debates in both capitals, debates, which, to a lesser degree,
concerned the artistic value of the operatic performances, although this
was discussed too. From within the theatres a conflict between the drama
and the opera sections eroded the unity of the theatres, while the politically-orientated
press made verbal attacks on “foreigners” at their national
opera companies. The visibility of the opera companies and their splendour
attracted the bourgeoisie and the nobility to their performances, in other
words, audiences that politically formed the most influential parts of society.
Paradoxically, in Helsinki, the conflict between the two opera companies
escalated with the petition to the Diet for a merger of them.
Paavolainen in this volume argues that it was the competition between
the two opera companies in Helsinki that brought about their demise. This
claim may well be true, but it should also be noted that the Russian Theatre
inaugurated its new building, the Alexandre Theatre, an opera company
situated at the opposite end of the same boulevard on which the New Theatre
sits. The Alexandre Theatre was a project dear to the heart of Count
Nikolai Adlerberg, the Governor-General of Finland (1866–1881), and he
often compared the building to the New Theatre in outer appearance, stage
facilities and foyer, even at the planning stage. (Byckling 2009 ). It was certainly
no coincidence that the theatre opened with the performance of an
opera. Adlerberg was very serious about the need for opera at the Russian
Theatre. He went directly to Tsar Alexander II with his plans and applications
for funding. He engaged opera singers from the Moscow <strong>Opera</strong> and
the Italian <strong>Opera</strong> in St Petersburg, as well as singers for the chorus. Adler-