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

56 Marianne Tråvén
of Monvel. The singing masters, on the other hand, were influenced by
Italian and German vocal teaching. In the opera school we can therefore assume
that the early nineteenth century was an amalgamation of the French
acting style and the Italian and German schools of singing.
The responsibilities of the singing master
No instructions for the singing masters at the Royal Swedish <strong>Opera</strong> have
been preserved from the eighteenth century. A set of regulations from
1786 specify that the Theatre Masters for Song should teach the apprentices
a certain number of hours per day and also educate them in morals and
behaviour (KTA 1771–1813, pp. 103–174, see especially para. 13). It is clear
that there were as yet no regulations for the singing school, and until regulations
were established, the singing school was placed under the supervision
of the music director. The regulations also state that the singing masters
should help those actors who needed to learn their roles; they were also
responsible for actors being dressed and in time for their entrances.
The earliest preserved specific instruction, written for Isak Berg in
1831, gives some insight into teaching procedures (Beskow KTA, 1831).
The singing master should teach four days a week during the hours from
11 to 1 p.m. The curriculum consisted of basic theory, musical terms, musical
declamation, vocalising, solfeggio, solo singing, ensemble and choir.
The singing master decided the repertoire in cooperation with the director.
Students were not given practice in declamation or dance, which could
be detrimental to their vocal organs, and they were protected from doing
chores that created static working positions, such as excessive writing. The
singing master was also responsible for their moral and social education. 8
For didactic guidance he was to follow the rules prescribed by the best foreign
singing schools in Europe.
Students that did not develop as expected were soon dismissed from
the school. When a student was ready to make his or her debut, the singing
8 How this was done is not known. The theatre was often seen as an unfit place for the
young, and possibly the management sought to improve its reputation by schooling
the students in morals. During the first half of the nineteenth century several reviews
in the press debated the moral implications of working on the stage (see Nordin
Hennel 1997, pp. 55–62), but even though the profession was often described as little
better than prostitution (see the article by Owe Ander in this publication), it does not
necessarily mean that the opera students were schooled in such a profession; in fact,
the wording of Berg’s instructions suggests that the management sought to prevent
this from happening.