Justina Casagli

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Justina Christina Casagli
Born Justina Christina Wässelius
1794
Sweden
Died 1841 (aged c. 47)
Parma, Italy
Spouse(s) Luigi Casagli

Justina Kristina Casagli, née Wässelius, (1794-1841), was an internationally famous Swedish opera singer.

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[edit] Biography

Born as the child of a tapestry manufacturer and sister of Jeanette Wässelius, she was enlisted at Dramatens elevskola in 1805 and employed at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, where her older sister was prima donna, in 1812. The same year, she married the Italian dancer Luigi Casagli, and is thus known as Justina Casagli.

In Sweden, she was noted for her appearance, grace and flexible voice, but she left Sweden before she was fully developed, and her career in her home country was short. Her sister Jeanette Wässelius, in contrast, spent her entire career in Sweden and became the great opera prima donna of her generation, known as Wässelia.

[edit] International career

In 1818, she left Sweden with her husband and travelled to his home country in Italy, were she made a huge success as the prima donna of Cerentola by Rossini in Turin. She continued her triumph at the stages of Rome in Rossinis Donna del Lagoin 1823, in Lucca in 1827 in Matrimonio Segreto by Cimarosa, were she "made herself immortal", before she was employed in Münich in Germany.

After the death of her husband in 1831, she seaked an employment at the opera in Stockholm, but was denied a position, as her place there had ben filled by Henriette Widerberg, and they were worries that her voice had ben damaged.

She spent her last years in Parma, were she, according to reports, died during a depression caused by economical difficulties by throwing herself out a window.

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