Christina Enbom

Christina Enbom by Maria Röhl, 1830s

Christina Wilhelmina Enbom (19 August 1804 – 14 February 1880), was a Swedish operatic soprano. She was active at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm in 1819–1825, in 1830–1841 and 1850–1857.

Biography

Enbom was a student at the Royal Swedish Opera (RSO) in 1819. She became a member of the opera chorus there in 1821 and then progressed to a soloist in 1823. She abruptly retired in 1825 after having married sea captain, writer, and impresario Anders Lindeberg. This was seen as surprising, as she had made a very appreciated debut. In 1830, she divorced her husband, who was given the custody of their children, and was given a position at the RSO under the name Mrs Enbom. During these years, she was a celebrated star. Among her most noted parts were the Queen of the Night in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute.

She was known to cause scandals because of her temperament. During a performance of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in the 1838–39 season, where she played Countess Almaviva opposite Henriette Widerberg as Susanna, Widerberg entered the stage too soon, which caused Enbom to lose the applause for her aria. Enraged, Enbom spoke her line harshly instead of friendly when she said: "Bring my chair!", upon which Widerberg answered: "Do it yourself, you -" after which their lines, as was reported, "was given a few extra words, which caused both merriness as well as annoyance".

Her voice was eventually damaged; in 1841, the critics said that only her former spouse (who was now a loyal friend) liked "former Mrs Lindeberg's former voice". In 1841–1850, she was active at Mindre teatern, the theatre of her former spouse, and at the company of Charlotta Djurström. In 1850–1857, she was again active at the RSO, but only as a member of chorus. Orvar Odd in the publication "Grupper och personager" (1861) wrote of her  : "Mrs Enbom was with no doubt, and had with even lesser doubt been, a usefull singer; she filled her part whatever it was". She died in Stockholm.

References

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