La troupe du Roi de Suede, or ''Roi de Suede'' for short, was a

French-speaking French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in ...

Swedish court theater, active at the Royal Swedish court from 1699 until 1706. The ''Roi de Suede'' was engaged by

Charles XII of Sweden Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.), was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of ...

because a French language court theater was regarded to be a compulsory thing in the representational life of a royal court at the time. Its leader was

Rosidor fils Claude-Ferdinand Guillemay du Chesnay, better known as Rosidor fils, (c.1660 – after 1718) was a 17th-18th century Theatre in France, French playwright and actor. The son of the comedians Rosidor, Jean Guillemay du Chesnay and Charlotte Meslier, ...

, and commonly, the company have therefore been referred to as simply "The Rosidor Troupe". The company performed both spoken drama, opera and ballet, and was regarded to have upheld a high quality. The performances were staged at the residences of the royal court, as well as in the

Bollhuset Bollhuset, also called (The Big Ball House), (Ball House Theater), and Gamla Bollhuset (Old Ball House) at various times, was the name of the first theater in Stockholm, Sweden; it was the first Swedish theater and the first real theater buildin ...

in Stockholm. The

Great Northern War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern Europe, Northern, Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the ant ...

in 1700 caused financial difficulties for the court theater. The

queen dowager A queen dowager or dowager queen (compare: princess dowager or dowager princess) is a title or status generally held by the widow of a king. In the case of the widow of an emperor, the title of empress dowager is used. Its full meaning is cle ...

would not allow the troupe to perform at court after the king had left to serve in the war. The king therefore gave permission to the ''Roi de Suede'' to perform at Bollhuset for the public in the city of Stockholm, and ordered the royal court to visit the performances there. From February 1700, they performed in public. Because of the language barrier, these were not a success among the majority of the public. They also arranged public masquerades with card gambling at Bollhuset, which evidently became popular, though also ill reputed. On at least one occasion, at Thorn in 1703, the troupe, or a part of it, traveled to perform for Charles XII during his war service. In 1703, several of the members of the troupe left when the contract was no longer renewed because of costs. A smaller part of the troupe, however, remained, acquired a second contract in 1704, and continued the activity in Stockholm until the end term of the second contract in 1706.

Members

* Marie Anne Aubert, singer * Jean Francois Bénard, dancer * J. B. de Crous, musician * Gillette Boutelvier-Duchemin, d. 1765 * Jean Pierre Duchemin, 1674–1754 * Antoine Dupré, dancer * Francoise Fabe-Picard, dancer * Claude Guilmois de Rosidor, director * Marianne Guillemay du Chesnay Bérge de Rosidor * Robert Lemoine de la France, musician * Henri de la Motte, musician * Louis Picard, dancer * Jacques Rénot, musician * Marie Trouche-du Chesnay-de Rosidor, d. 1705. * Paul Belleville de Foy, 1699–1700 * Chantreau, 1703 * Charles Gourlin dit Roselis, 1699–1700 * M. François de la Traverse, sieur de Sévigny (1658–1715), 1700–1706 * Catherine Lenuque, épouse Toubel, 1699–1701 * Marie Longueil La Roque, 1702 * Charles-Louis Pallai Versigny, 1700 * Jacques Sarabat dit La Rocque * François Toubel, 1699–1702

References

* Tryggve Byström (1981). Svenska komedien 1737–1754. Borås: Centraltryckeriet AB. * Lars Löfgren (2003). Svensk teater. Stockholm:

Natur & Kultur Natur & Kultur is a Swedish publishing foundation with its head office in Stockholm. It is known for an extensive series of teaching materials, and its logotype is an apple tree. Overview The publishing house was founded in 1922 by Johan H ...

. * Svensk Uppslagsbok (1947 år utgåva) * * * * Forser, Tomas & Heed, Sven Åke (red.), Ny svensk teaterhistoria. 1, Teater före 1800, Gidlund, Hedemora, 2007 * {{DEFAULTSORT:troupe 17th century in Sweden 17th-century theatre 18th century in Sweden 18th-century theatre Swedish comedy troupes Former theatres in Stockholm 1699 establishments in Sweden 1706 disestablishments in Europe Theatre companies in Sweden Swedish Empire History of the French language France–Sweden relations

Members

See also

References