Name Jeanette Wasselius | ||
Marie Jeanette Wässelius (23 August 1784 – 5 December 1853), commonly known as Wässelia or Mamsell Wässelia, was a Swedish opera singer, court singer, and actress, the leading prima donna of the Swedish Opera during the Napoleonic age in the first decades of the 19th century and sister of the international opera star Justina Casagli. She was an associé of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
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Biography and career
Jeanette Wässelius was born in Stockholm; her father worked as a tapestry manufacturer. She was accepted as a student at the Royal Swedish Opera in 1794 at the age of ten, and from this date active as a child actor in the plays directed by Anne Marie Milan Desguillons in Dramatens elevskola and in smaller roles at the main productions.
She was given a contract and appointed premier actress in 1800, after which she came to be considered one of the most promising within her field and as the successor of the prima donna Caroline Frederikke Müller. During the closure of the Opera in 1806, she was employed at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, which was no problem for her, as she was fully capable also as a dramatic actor in talking parts; she was said to unite a good singing voice with an equally good talent as an actor at the dramatic stage, and when the Opera was opened again in 1809, she took the place as the leading lady at the operatic stage, just as Carolina Kuhlman was the leading lady of the dramatic stage. She was appointed court singer in 1815 and elected as an associé to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1817.
Wässelia retired in 1820 with a full royal pension from the state. Henriette Widerberg explains the circumstances of the retirement of Wässelia: in 1820, Wässelia was at the peak of her ability, and there was to have been no other grounds for her dismissal than an intrigue staged by actor and singer Edvard du Puy, with whom she was involved in a conflict and who was at the time prefekt of the opera stage - this statement also comes from Widerberg, who replaced her as the leading prima donna of the stage. Wässelia was never married. The sister of Wässelia, the ten years younger Justina Casagli, entered the theatre school ten years later and was to be famous in all Europe. She died in Stockholm.
Repertoire
Initially, she was noted in light operettas, however her most noted parts were the interpretations of Armide by Gluck, Laura in Léon, ou Le château de Monténéro by Dalayrac, Sophie in Sargino, ossia L'allievo dell'amore by Paër, Antigone in Oedipe uti Athen (Oidipus in Athens) by Sacchini, Constance in Les deux journées, ou Le porteur d'eau by Cherubini and Juliet in Roméo et Juliette composed by Daniel Steibelt (opposite Karl Gustaf Lindström), (1814–15 season) and Iphigénie in Iphigénie en Aulide by Gluck. In 1809, she was commended for her "appealing modesty and naive love" in Le calife de Bagdad by Boieldieu opposite Gustav Åbergsson and Inga Åberg on the recently reopened Opera. She made a success in the main part of Iphigénie en Aulide by Gluck in the benefit performance of Elisabeth Forsselius, who played Clitemnestre (1810); she played the protective angel of Sweden in Gustav Vasa by Gustav III and "did remarkably well" in Fästmännerna (The fiancees) opposite Inga Åberg.
Among her other parts were Lisette in Musikvurmen (Music craze) by Grenier during the 1796–97 season, Melisse in Renaud by Haeffner, (1800–01), Lina in L'opéra comique by F. P. Della Maria (1803–04), Amelina in Léhéman by Dalayrac (1804–05), Madame de Villeroux in Monsieur Des Chalumeaux by Pierre Gaveaux (1807–08), Elise in Une heure de mariage by Dalayrac (1808–09), Clorinde in Nicolas Isouard's Cendrillon opposite Elisabeth Frösslind (1810–11), Emilie in Les maris garçons by Berton (1812–23), Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail by Mozart, and Mathilda in Joconde by Isouard (1819–20).
In 1814, she performed a cantata opposite Christoffer Christian Karsten at a grand ball, which was held in the royal palace in Stockholm to celebrate the new union between Sweden and Norway.
Assessment
Her voice was described as a colourful and versatile, her dramatic talent as "mute" but "admirably expressive", her conduct pleasant and it was said that she only needed to be taller to be a perfect heroine and queen. In the press, however, she was sometimes caricatured and called "Miss Cucumber" because of her flat figure, which was only more highlighted by the fashion of the Empire silhouette of the time. "Wässelia", as she was often called, was highly regarded by the direction because of her professionalism; according to Löwenhjelm, she allowed neither health nor personal feelings ever to effect her work.