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

Gendered agendas and the representation of gender …
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tion with and in the exercise of influence on the very criteria they were
evaluated against when they acquired the same authority. They made it
seem as if the women who were active as dancers and actresses at the
exhibition offered only a bright and light, cheerful and enjoyable pastime.
Still, Dannebrog’s critic suspected or sensed Delilah’s famous insidiousness
in this deliberate aloofness that lulled the opposite sex to rest (2 August
1895). The women themselves claimed that a rococo ballet with the beautiful
name “The Rose Time” was the evening’s pièce de résistance; when all
was said and done on stage, it left the impression of women wanting to be
linked with holy matrimony and roses, he stated. The fact that a piano excerpt
of The Rose Time was published bears witness to the success of the
ballet music and the exhibition’s desire that the audience would bring home
a musical souvenir from this particular event.
Gender, genius, The Rose Time and Gorgeous Karen
Prior to Griebel cthe Women’s Exhibition, Griebel composed a one-act opera
Skjøn Karen (with libretto by Einar Christiansen), premiered in Breslau
in April 1895. Despite a miserable production by the singers and orchestra,
most critics agreed unreservedly on Griebel being very talented (Politiken,
5 September 1895). Regardless of favourable judgements in the Copenhagen
newspapers Dagbladet and in Politiken on 29 August 1895, the emphasis
on her talent and Griebel’s impeccable technical mastery and graceful use
of the folk song motif “And Karen served at the young king’s court”, her
opera was not performed at Copenhagen Royal Theatre until 1899, even
though the arrangement for solo piano received extremely good reception.
Although prospects for drawing a full house were considered to be good,
the opera did not find favour with the managers. Having produced several
operas of the same or lesser quality by male composers, the theatre could
easily have rehearsed and performed The Rose Time with ease and without
much sacrifice in terms of time and money. In her memoirs Griebel recalls:
“My dear gentlemen, how our audience would have perceived it if a young
lady composed just as well as male composers, with even less education, a
household to care for, and without the priceless advantage of playing in an
orchestra?” (Dahlerup: 85) An 1895 production of Skjøn Karen would have
been particularly relevant, very suitable and probably a successful comment
on the concerts, drama and ballet productions’ exhibition. Even to Griebel’s
contemporaries, Skjøn Karen’s failure to find favour with the board of the
Royal <strong>Opera</strong> House was incomprehensible. Taken by surprise this very fact
made Dagbladet’s critic wonder: Rehearsing such a short opera could have