Sofie Marie Parelius (18 September 1823 – 18 September 1902) was a Norwegian stage actress. She was known for her ability in comedy and viewed as one of the best Norwegian actors of her time in the classic works of

Ludvig Holberg Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg (3 December 1684 – 28 January 1754) was a writer, essayist, philosopher, historian and playwright born in Bergen, Norway, during the time of the Denmark–Norway, Dano–Norwegian dual monarchy. He was infl ...

. She belonged to the elite of the actors at the Christiania Theatre in the second half of the 19th century, when Norwegian actors successively replaced the Danish on Norway's national stage.

Biography

Sofie Parelius was born in

Bergen, Norway Bergen (, ) is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 2025 the population is 294 029 according to Statistics Norway. The municipali ...

. She was the daughter of Henrich Kjønning Parelius and Sofie Dahm. She debuted in 1852 at the

Christiania Norwegian Theatre The Christiania Norwegian Theatre () was founded in 1852 under the name Norwegian Dramatic School. The initiative came from lieutenant engineer Johannes Benedictus Klingenberg (1817–1882) after he had been disappointed by the un-Norwegian rep ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. She was at Det norske Theater in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

in 1857-1860. She was active at the

Christiania Theatre Christiania Theatre, or ''Kristiania Theatre'', was Norway's finest stage for spoken drama from 4 October 1836 (opening date) to 1 September 1899. It was located at Bankplassen by the Akershus Fortress, in central Christiania. It was the fir ...

in 1860-1899, and at the Christiania Folketheater under the management of

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...

from 1870 to 1872. Parelius appeared in the play ''

Peer Gynt ''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five-Act (drama), act play in verse written in 1867 by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. It is one of Ibsen's best known and most widely performed plays. ''Peer Gynt'' chronicles the journey of its title character fr ...

'' by

Henrik 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 ...

at the premiere performance at Christiania Theater on 24 February 1876.

References

Other sources

* Blanc, Tharald Høyerup:
Christiania theaters historie 1827-1877
', J.W. Cappelen Christiania {{DEFAULTSORT:Parelius, Sofie 1823 births 1902 deaths Actresses from Bergen 19th-century Norwegian actresses Norwegian stage actresses