Lars Hjortsberg (22 November 1772 â€" 8 July 1843) was a Swedish stage
actor. He belonged to the pioneer generation of elite actors of the
Royal Dramatic Theatre and has, alongside Emilie Högquist, been
referred to as the most famous Swedish actor of the first half of the
19th-century. Lars Hjortsberg was one of six children to the stone
mason Laurentius (Lars) Hjortsberg and the opera singer Maria Lovisa
Schützer: he was the brother of the ballerina Hedda Hjortsberg and
the actor Magnus Hjortsberg. He married Sofia Katarina di Dosmo,
daughter to an Italian employee of the royal stables, and became the
father of actor Carl Edvard Hjortsberg (1804â€"1857) and father-in-law
of Fanny Westerdahl. He and his wife where widely known for their
hospitality and their home was a center of the social life of the
theater world.He was noticed by the theatrically interested King
Gustav III of Sweden, who saw a great dramatic talent in him, and
hired him at the royal court as a so-called garçon bleu, a common
(non noble) page boy, reader and librarian. He kept his position at
the royal court until the assassination of the king in 1792, and
accompanied the king to the Russo-Swedish War (1788â€"1790) and to the
Austrian Netherlands in 1791. He read to the king on his deathbed to
amuse him.Lars Hjortsberg made his debut at the Royal Swedish Opera at
the age of six in 1778, when he played an angel with a couple of lines
at the celebration of the birth of the Crown Prince in Athalie. He was
engaged at the Opera in 1780. He performed in a mute part as the
brother of Cora in Cora och Alonzo by Naumann at the inauguration
performance of the new Opera house in 1782. He was a student of
Caroline Frederikke Müller in 1783-85, and a student actor of the
French Theatre of Bollhuset under Monvel, similar to many other
Swedish star actors of his generation such as Fredrique Löwen, Maria
Franck and Inga Ã…berg. In 1787, he was enrolled in the Dramatens
elevskola, and performed in a student play for the king the same year.
actor. He belonged to the pioneer generation of elite actors of the
Royal Dramatic Theatre and has, alongside Emilie Högquist, been
referred to as the most famous Swedish actor of the first half of the
19th-century. Lars Hjortsberg was one of six children to the stone
mason Laurentius (Lars) Hjortsberg and the opera singer Maria Lovisa
Schützer: he was the brother of the ballerina Hedda Hjortsberg and
the actor Magnus Hjortsberg. He married Sofia Katarina di Dosmo,
daughter to an Italian employee of the royal stables, and became the
father of actor Carl Edvard Hjortsberg (1804â€"1857) and father-in-law
of Fanny Westerdahl. He and his wife where widely known for their
hospitality and their home was a center of the social life of the
theater world.He was noticed by the theatrically interested King
Gustav III of Sweden, who saw a great dramatic talent in him, and
hired him at the royal court as a so-called garçon bleu, a common
(non noble) page boy, reader and librarian. He kept his position at
the royal court until the assassination of the king in 1792, and
accompanied the king to the Russo-Swedish War (1788â€"1790) and to the
Austrian Netherlands in 1791. He read to the king on his deathbed to
amuse him.Lars Hjortsberg made his debut at the Royal Swedish Opera at
the age of six in 1778, when he played an angel with a couple of lines
at the celebration of the birth of the Crown Prince in Athalie. He was
engaged at the Opera in 1780. He performed in a mute part as the
brother of Cora in Cora och Alonzo by Naumann at the inauguration
performance of the new Opera house in 1782. He was a student of
Caroline Frederikke Müller in 1783-85, and a student actor of the
French Theatre of Bollhuset under Monvel, similar to many other
Swedish star actors of his generation such as Fredrique Löwen, Maria
Franck and Inga Ã…berg. In 1787, he was enrolled in the Dramatens
elevskola, and performed in a student play for the king the same year.
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