TheatermuseetVedChristiansborg

her dressing room. The king also supported an Ita lian opera till 1778, and besides the Cou rt Theatre was used as an affi- liated stage of the D anish N ational Theatre, which had been opened in 1748 in the Kongens N y to rv (King’s New M arket), having originally been founded in 1722 by the F rench actor, René de Montaigu, and the d ram atist, Ludvig Holberg, both of them , from an artistic point af view, pupils a f Moliére. A copy af M on taigu ’s petition for establishing a th eatre in the D anish language, is found in the Holberg section of the M u ­ seum. I t con stitu tes the origin of all d ram atic a rt in Scandi- navia. A few street play-bills from the period of abou t 1722, tell us how modest was the commencement. The hand of L ud ­ vig Holberg is also found on a pay-order issued to some of the first actors. These are the only lines still ex tan t concerning the T h ea tre from the hand of the master. M any artists of the great nations of Europe have performed on the Court Theatre. In 1801, the Englishman James Price and the Ita lia n Joseph Casorti introduced their pantomimes, which gradually were nationalized by their successors. In 1814, the Germ an director Gorbing F ranck gave performances w ith a big troupe, and, in 1843, his F rench colleague H ebert w ith a no smaller one. The year before, the Court Theatre had been rebu ilt by order of the king, Christian V III (1786-1848), espe- cially for the use of Ita lian opera singers, who were patronized by the C ourt and the Society of the Capital, and whose p rim a­ donna, Signora Forconi, was appointed Royal Danish p rivate singer to the King. Her po rtra it is found in the Museum. Also the world-renowned Swedish and Ita lia n lady singers, Jenny L ind and Angelica C atalani, have sung in these rooms, and the celebrated Ita lian tragedienne, Signora R istori, gave a series of performances in 1880. Of these artists the Museum also possesses po rtra its. The Court Theatre, however, has been

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