18
Summer 2022
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sai-national.org
By Jayne I. Hanlin
IN
May 2022, attending a magnificent performance of Sergei
Prokofiev's ballet Cinderella at the Royal Opera House in
Stockholm, I heard no gunshot. But in 1792 — two hundred
thirty years ago — at a masquerade ball in the former opera
house in this location, an assassin's bullet mortally wounded 46-year-old Gustav
III. (Giuseppe Verdi's opera e Masked Ball is about this sad event.) A huge
supporter of the arts and founder of the Swedish Academy, this Swedish king was
also a playwright and skilled actor. Using his own funds during his twenty-year
reign, he paid for performances, some of which he produced himself, at both
theaters.
Named "Queen's Island" in 1580, Drottningholm is about forty minutes by
bus from Stockholm. I had booked a tour of Drottningholm eatre. Although I
had attended an evening performance of Christoph Willibald Gluck's Iphigenia in
Aulis there in 1964, I do not remember much.
Aer entering the theatre, Pia, the tour guide, led us to a bedroom on the
PERFORMANCES IN SWEDEN
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
A Wld of Music
Above, the Drottningholm Theatre Stage. At right, a backstage wind machine, Above, the Drottningholm Theatre Stage. At right, a backstage wind machine,
made of an open cylinder with transverse rods scraping against hemp cloth. made of an open cylinder with transverse rods scraping against hemp cloth.
