Hedvig Charlotta Raa-Winterhjelm, née Forssman (20 November 1838 – 7 March 1907), was a Swedish actress active in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. She played a pioneer role in Finland by introducing Finnish as a stage language, becoming the first actor in Finland to speak her lines in the Finnish tongue.

Early career

Charlotta Raa-Winterhjelm was born as the daughter of a goldsmith in Stockholm in Sweden under the name Charlotte Forssman. She studied at the

Royal Dramatic Training Academy The Royal Dramatic Training Academy (, also known as ''Dramatens elevskola''), was the acting school of Sweden's national stage, the Royal Dramatic Theatre, and for many years (1787–1964) seen as the foremost theatre school and drama education ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

in 1854–56, after which she toured in travelling theater companies in Sweden and Finland. In 1860, she was employed at the ''

Mindre teatern Mindre teatern (''The Smaller Theatre''), Nya teatern (''The New Theatre''), Lindeberska teatern (''The Lindeberg Theatre''), was a Swedish theatre at Kungsgatan in Stockholm, active 1842–1863. The building was used as localities for the Royal ...

'' in Stockholm. In 1863, Mindre teatern was taken over by the

Royal Dramatic Theatre The Royal Dramatic Theatre (, colloquially ''Dramaten'') is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's five running stages. The theatre has been at its present lo ...

. Many of the actors was given a contract in the new theatre. The competition with Sweden's leading lady

Elise Hwasser Ebba Charlotta Elise Hwasser née ''Jakobsson'' (16 March 1831 – 28 January 1894) was a Swedish stage actress. She was an elite actor and has been referred to as the leading lady of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in the mid 19th-century.Nordensva ...

made her leave for a position at the theater in Gothenburg, where she was engaged until she left Sweden for a position at the

Swedish Theatre The Swedish Theatre () is a Swedish-language theatre in Helsinki, Finland, and is located at the Erottaja () square, at the end of Esplanadi (). It was the first national stage of Finland. History The first theatre in Helsinki, '' Engels Te ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

in 1866. The

was the first permanent theater in the city: inaugurated in 1860, it had burned down in 1863 and was reopened in 1866, when Raa-Winterhjelm was employed there. The theater became the first national stage in Finland, and Charlotta Raa-Winterhjelm became its lead actress within romantic tragedy between 1866 and 1872. In 1866, she married her colleague, the actor Fritiof Raa (1840-1872).

Reforms

In parallel, Charlotta Raa-Winterhjelm also founded her own Swedish language theater company in 1866. In 1868, the first theater dramatic school in Finland was founded in connection to the theater, and Charlotta Raa-Winterhjelm was made its instructor. As a drama teacher, she worked to introduce the Finnish language on stage. Finland, at that time a Russian province, had been a Swedish province until 1809, and the language spoken on the theater stages in Finland was not Finnish but the

Swedish language Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language from the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, spoken predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, making it the G ...

, which was the second language in Finland and the language of the upper classes: most actors in Finland at the time were from Sweden, or from the Swedish speaking minority in Finland. During this time, Finland was a part of Russia. Under Russian rule, a wave of nationalism swept over Finland to preserve the Finnish cultural identity and independence and escape a complete incorporation with Russia, and her initiative was a part of this cultural wave. Despite being a Swede herself, she felt that Finland should have a theater stage in the Finnish language. The Russian authorities reacted to her initiative by closing down the drama school in 1869. As a response of protest, Raa-Winterhjelm pronounced her lines in the Finnish language in the next play she participated; ''Lea'' by

Aleksis Kivi Aleksis Kivi (; born Alexis Stenvall; 10 October 1834 – 31 December 1872) was a Finnish writer who wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language, '' Seitsemän veljestä'' (''Seven Brothers''), published in 1870. He is also known ...

, which made her historical as the first actor to have pronounced her lines in the Finnish language on a public theater in Finland.Österberg, Carin et al., Svenska kvinnor: föregångare, nyskapare (Swedish women:Predecessors, pioneers) Lund: Signum 1990. () She repeated her act by being the first actress to play Ofelia and

lady Macbeth Lady Macbeth is a leading character in William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Macbeth'' (). As the wife of the play's tragic hero, Macbeth (a Scottish nobleman), Lady Macbeth goads her husband into committing regicide, after which she becomes quee ...

in the Finnish language. In 1872, Charlotta Raa-Winterhjelm formed the Finnish language theater company. This was however opposed by the Russian authorities, who banned her from accepting assignments in the Finnish language, and the same year, she left with a travelling theater company to perform in Oslo in Norway.

Later career

In 1874, she married the Norwegian writer and journalist Kristian Winterhjelm. At this point, she took a new first name, Hedvig, thereby becoming known as Hedvig Raa-Winterhjelm. Her second spouse was an alcoholic who forbade her to accept long-term assignments, and she continued her career as a guest artist. Under that title, she toured Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. She came to be particularly famed as an

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

-interpreter. She toured Norway in 1876–1878, and in 1883, she toured as Mrs Alving in Ibsens ''

Ghosts (play) ''Ghosts'' () is a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was written in Danish and published in 1881, and first staged in 1882 in Chicago, Illinois, US, performed in Danish. Like many of Ibsen's plays, ''Ghosts'' is a scathing comm ...

'' in

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Stockholm and Oslo. Hedvig Raa-Winterhjelm was also active as a translator of plays. She also tutored as a drama teacher, both as a private teacher and at schools. She was engaged as a drama teacher at the ''

Högre lärarinneseminariet The Royal Seminary, fully the Royal Advanced Female Teachers' Seminary (, abbreviated KHLS), was a normal school (teachers' college) in Stockholm, Sweden. It was active from 1861 until 1943. It was the first public institution of higher acade ...

'' in Stockholm, where she tutored until 1906.

References

Sources

* Österberg, Carin et al., ''Svenska kvinnor: föregångare, nyskapare'' (Swedish women:Predecessors, pioneers) Lund: Signum 1990. ()
301-302 (Nordisk familjebok / Uggleupplagan. 8. Feiss - Fruktmögel)
at runeberg.org * Georg Nordensvan : Svensk teater och svenska skådespelare från Gustav III till våra dagar. Andra bandet 1842-1918 ("Swedish Theatre and Swedish actors from the days of Gustav III to our days. Second book 1842-1918") {{DEFAULTSORT:Raa-Winterhjelm, Charlotta 19th-century Swedish actresses Swedish stage actresses 1838 births 1907 deaths Swedish expatriates in the Russian Empire Norwegian stage actresses Swedish expatriates in Norway Swedish expatriates in Finland Actresses from Stockholm