Maria Silfvan

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Maria Silfvan, as married Lempke and then Westerlund, in Swedish called Maria Sylvan, (25 March 1802 in Turku - 10 September 1865 in Oulu), was a Finnish actor, among the first professional native actors in Finland.

[edit] Biography

Maria Silfvan was born in Turku and was to become one of the most known native actors in Finland from the 1820s and could be regarded as Finland's first prima donna. In Finland, there was no real theatres and no native actors in the beginning of the 19th century; theatre was played by travelling Swedish theatre truopes touring the country. Between 1813 and 1827, the first theatre was run in Turku by the troupe of K.G. Bonnevier, who had attained a permission from the Russian emperor, and built a simple theatre house in the city. Silfvan was hired in this troupe, and in 1825, she played the leading part in Maria Stuart against Inga Åberg.

In 1825, she married the actor Evert Lempke and with him employed at the troupes of A.P. Berggren and then K.V. Westerlund. When she married Westerlund in 1827, Lempke gave her a divorce only with the condition that he was given an employment in the troupe for life, a condition which he was granted.