­­THE RIGHT MAN IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

Agne Beijer and Drottningholms Slottsteater -
Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the reopening 1922

Inga Lewenhaupt

Who was this man, whose name has for 100 years been associated with the 18th century, through both Drottningholms Slottsteater and Gustav III himself in equal measure?
This is a difficult question to answer, even for one who enjoyed regular contact with him during the latter part of his life.
Agne Beijer, born on Christmas Eve in 1888, came from an educated family. His father was a book publisher, and his two grandfathers were priests, one the son of Esaias Tegnér. Despite troubled family circumstances when Agne was between ten and fourteen years old, due to bankruptcy from unfortunate investments by his father, followed by his father’s death, Agne managed to complete his schooling. He graduated in 1907 from the Norra Latin school, followed by studies at Uppsala University in Latin, French and Literary History, and a Ph. Lic. degree culminating in 1920 focussed on historic Swedish drama. Employment as amanuensis at the National Library of Sweden and periods as a Latin tutor also provided support for his wife Ester and daughter Malin, born in 1920.

In Search of a Painting, He Found a Theatre

Beijer’s humanities education, expertise in Gustavian drama, and recently published literature on the history of Swedish theatre helped him realise just what he had stumbled upon on the murky stage on that infamous late-winter day in 1921. He had been searching for an Elias Martin painting that had been kept in a rehearsal room at the back of the theatre. Instead, he found his calling and set the ball rolling, not only for the reopening of the Gustavian theatrical treasure chest that had over decades fallen into decline as a dusty storage space, but also for the construction of a theatre museum and the introduction of a new area of university study in Sweden.
Through Marshal of the Realm Otto Printzsköld, he obtained permission from King Gustav V to restore the theatre, and over the summers of 1921 and 1922 it was cleared out, cleaned and its contents documented. The original lamps and crystal chandeliers were missing, and the rear shutters did not let in much light, so electric lighting with yellow-coloured bulbs was installed. New fabric was procured for seating based on an original piece of blue cloth from a chair in the Queen’s box, and the Royal Collections were consulted for furnishings in various rooms of the theatre. The restoration was funded by the Royal Palace.
While almost all the Baroque theatrical apparatus seemed intact, why were the ropes missing? Way back in the 1950s, I remember Beijer telling me that, in an audience with Gustav V, he mentioned the oddity of there being no lines in the old machinery. The king’s jaw then tightened and, in his slight French accent, embarrassedly said, ‘I let the boys take them for their boats!’ Acquiring new rope in the form of hemp rigging and installing them correctly became a task for the Royal Swedish Opera’s machinist Gunnar Broberg together with maritime advisors.
Among all the scenery and backdrops painted on fabric and wood stored on and around the stage, Beijer and helpers from the Royal Swedish Opera discovered all kinds of fundamental décor typical of 18th-century theatre, including a forest, a park, a palace, a salon, a street, a square, a harbour, heaven and hell. Eventually, some thirty more complete décor collections were documented. The vision was becoming a reality.

Opening Entertainment and Establishment of a Theatre Museum

On the 150th anniversary of Gustav III’s revolution, the theatre was reopened on 19 August 1922 by Governor Adolf A. Murray, who had a large part in the preparations. For the first time in over 100 years, the historic stage would witness quick open-curtain changes of scenery, so-called changements-à-vue, using various décor sets on the old scenery carts. These included Carlo Bibiena’s garland-adorned palace decorations from 1774, Dugourc-inspired cloud décor and, most notably, the lowering of the great chariot ‘La gloire’ with two rococo-clad ballet students. Young dancers performed two minuets under the guidance of principal dancer Lisa Steier (from Mozart’s ‘The Marriage of Figaro’, and by Bellman), and three vocal numbers by Lillemor Gagge Montelius rounded things off (from Gluck’s ‘Orpheus’, Bellman’s ‘Step Forth, Thou God of Night’, and by Handel). The dancing and singing were accompanied on piano by Beijer’s aunt Alice Tegnér.
After this, nothing more was presented on stage publicly in the 1920s, but Beijer began to build up a museum collection of objects and images from European theatre from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. With the assistance of Adolf Murray, there were considerable acquisitions from Nationalmuseum (primarily the Tessin Collection), the Royal Armoury, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the Royal Swedish Opera, the Royal Palace, and Nordiska Museet, among others. In 1925, a theatre museum was opened, occupying seven of the theatre’s rooms. Beijer became its curator and began summer presentations. He supplemented his income from the proceeds of these presentations, before his years as a professor, as a theatre critic in the newspaper ‘Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning’ and for a period at ‘Stockholms Dagblad’ and thus also became actively involved in the contemporary theatrical life of Sweden. 

Establishment and International Attention in the 1930s

For research purposes, Beijer made longer trips abroad, in particular to Paris, and his personal library expanded, as did his network of contacts. In collaboration with the French theatre historian P. L. Duchartre, he published the then-unknown Fossard collection from Nationalmuseum in 1928, including woodcuts from commedia dell’arte from the sixteenth century along with Harlequin images from Bibliothèque National, which attracted considerable attention.
Beijer’s international contacts continued to generate interest in the theatre, and he hosted several conferences at Drottningholm, as evidenced by fifteen subscription divertissement performances in the 1930s (with the exception of the summer of 1932), including an international museum congress in 1930, Comédie Française in 1931, a Nordic architects’ meeting and an international art history congress in 1933, the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen in 1936, and a Scandinavian theatre congress in 1937. The Royal Swedish Ballet often took part with Valborg Franchi’s choreography, and at times there were ensembles from the orchestra of the Royal Swedish Opera. In addition, many principal actors from the Royal Dramatic Theatre took part, as well as singers from the Opera. At each performance, Beijer held viewings of objects and images exhibited in the rooms of the museum.
The situation was precarious, however. Occasional summer presentations were the only source of income. Agne Beijer was, as Arne Lyth so correctly put it, an ‘unpaid manager of a world-famous museum without funding.’ 

Association of the Friends of Drottningholms Slottsteater, 1935

The Association of the Friends of Drottningholms Slottsteater, formed 28 September 1935 at Waldemarsudde, became crucial for the future of the theatre. Prince Eugen became chairman and Beijer secretary. Through membership fees and donations, essential repairs could be made and allowed the 1937 publication of Beijer’s magnum opus ‘The Royal Theatres of Drottningholm and Gripsholm’. From the summer of 1938, the Friends Association became responsible for performances and received an initial grant of SEK 2,000 from the state.
During Beijer’s era as theatre director, until 1947, in parallel with his activities as a theatre critic, the theatre became more associated with spoken drama and rococo ballet than with opera.
The Royal Swedish Opera’s first guest appearance at Drottningholm took place on 5 August 1948 with Cimarosa’s ‘Il matrimonio segreto’ with Gardelli as conductor of the Royal Orchestra. During his time as a member of the Opera Board, Beijer could assert some influence on how cooperation progressed. The responsibilities for performances, including administrative management, repertoire planning and engagement of artists, were gradually taken over by Gustaf Hilleström, who was also Secretary of the Friends Association from 1956. Hilleström was also in charge of summer guides.
With funding from the state and local council, as well as more performances from international guests and various cultural institutions, the number of presentations increased drastically in the 1950s and 1960s, which also entailed the need for new copies of the precious scenery. On one occasion, funding of SEK 50,000 was acquired for this, and the work was carried out in phases in the ateliers of the Royal Swedish Opera.
However, the museum was unable to receive government funding. The Swedish Ministry of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs undertook a review and, as no theatre museum appears in the 1809 Statute of the Royal Court, it was deemed ‘illegitimate’ and to be regarded as non-existent.

Drottningholm Theatre Museum Foundation, 1945

Immediately after the end of the war, 1 July 1945, the Drottningholm Theatre Museum Foundation took over responsibilities for the museum and library. The foundation aimed to create awareness of the history of theatre, primarily in Sweden, and to create a museum with image archives and libraries for this purpose. In order to achieve this, the Friends Association regularly allocated large sums to new acquisitions, which continued until nationalisation in 2010 in what is now the Swedish Performing Arts Agency. The statutes made no mention of performances. This was only introduced in 1971 after the Foundation took over performance activities in 1970 and the library and secretariat moved to the Film House.
During the war, some of the exhibition items at Drottningholm were moved to a safer location, but much of this was returned to the theatre, where more exhibition spaces were subsequently prepared, allowing the additional presentation of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Among other things, a major acquisition of scenography sketches by Carl Grabow was presented.  

The Drottningholm Theatre as a ‘Branch’ of Stockholm University College, 1946

In 1940, Agne Beijer, Associate Professor from 1941, started a theatre history seminar at Stockholm University College, maintaining a professorship from 1946 to 1958. During that time, the Drottningholm Theatre was considered to be almost a branch of the Theatre History Department, located at the library, which since 1939 was located on the ground floor at Linnégatan 7 in Stockholm, where seminars were held in the reading room. This was still the case in 1960 when I began my studies with Beijer’s successor, and sole doctoral mentee, Gösta M. Bergman.
My first meeting ten years earlier with Beijer and the Drottningholm Theatre is still fresh in my mind. On 12 September 1950, having just turned nine, I was allowed to accompany my grandfather, Nils Erdmann, Vice Judicial Advisor to the Royal Court, to a divertissement presentation for the Swedish Bankers’ Association. The amazing machinery raised many questions, and as my grandfather could not answer them, he introduced me to Professor Beijer. It is interesting to note that Beijer’s otherwise vast sphere of interest did not extend to children – according to his daughter Malin, neither his own nor those of others. Nevertheless, my many eager questions seemed to have piqued his interest, and I had the privilege of sitting quietly by his side during several rehearsals under the box with the grille to the left. I remember that he was displeased with the lighting, and that I was completely engrossed in the magical theatre. Needless to say, the seeds were sown then for my continued career as a theatre historian and as his successor as museum director.
In Bergman’s time, the theatre history programme also included compulsory presentations of the Drottningholm Theatre and its museum. Beijer, who formally continued as director of the Foundation’s museum and library, after his years as a professor until his retirement at 70 in 1964, gladly held viewings with extremely interesting, if at times somewhat lengthy, presentations. Antique engravings by Buontalenti, Torelli, Peruzzi, Galli-Bibiena, Bérain, Juvara, Vigarani and Desprez would come to life, and Pehr Hilleström’s paintings of actors and carousels, the large model of Aleotti’s Teatro Farnese in Parma, the French inferno scene after Callot, and commedia dell’arte costumes, among many others, were hugely impressive. What an education!
Beijer paid extreme attention to detail. If anything was the slightest bit out of place in the theatre, such as a single chair, he would immediately return it to its precise original position. If the hall had an audience, eighteenth-century costumes and nothing else was allowed to appear on stage – certainly never contemporary clothing. At presentations or lectures, one would always stand in front of or next to the stage. One would never say ‘acting’, rather ‘thespianism’, and King Gustav III would be spelled with the original f, as in Gustaf III.
It was often difficult to fully comprehend who was responsible for what. This was the case at both Drottningholm and Linnégatan 7. Museum Director Beijer, who resided permanently at the Church Pavilion at Drottningholm from 1952, often came in and borrowed books. However, Hilleström, who had been employed at the library as early as 1941, wore many different hats: curator; manager of the office of the Foundation, including overseeing librarians and several archivists; secretary of the Friends Association; manager of performances; and even manager of the Stockholm University Theatre History Department’s office and professors. For students, there was no other location before the autumn of 1962, at which time the department moved one floor up.
I had many opportunities to observe the interaction between Beijer and Hilleström, and both could be described as ‘tricky’. I can understand Hilleström, who always felt himself to be under surveillance, whatever he was doing. The triumvirate with Professor Gösta M. Bergman became no less complicated. For example, when Bergman thought that students should be allowed to roam the theatre freely or borrow valuable books, this caused many a problem.
At one time, Hilleström called me and asked me to come help with viewings for large groups who had arrived by boat. I usually offered guided tours in German and English – without compensation, of course. In one group of older wealthy Americans, two suddenly lit up cigarettes inside the theatre. I all but threw myself over them, and they simply could not fathom why. At that time, fire safety systems did not exist as they do today. I later told this to Hilleström and witnessed the horror unfold in his eyes: what if Beijer had come by! Neither was Beijer particularly fond of Hilleström allowing viewings for large groups, although this did bring in money!

Le Théâtre – ce moi!

It was no wonder, of course, that Beijer centred his identity around his life’s work; after retirement in 1964, he remained as inspector until his death on 16 March 1975, constantly safeguarding his old domain. For example, no one else was allowed to write about Drottningholm, neither Hilleström nor I.
When I had, with Professor Bergman’s consent, spent quite some time preparing my bachelor’s thesis in Theatre History, including studies of the score of Uttini’s opera ‘Thetis och Pelée’, which helped establish Swedish opera in 1773, I asked Beijer if he knew of any material that I might have missed. The brakes slammed on at once! He wanted to write about that himself (which he never did). I was forced to change both subject and period. Martin Tegen later produced a study of the surviving score material.
Beijer worked for a long time on the promised second part of his great book from 1935, but paralysing self-criticism and a multitude of other tasks delayed this. Surviving manuscripts were published posthumously in 1981, following review and notation by Birgitta Schyberg, under the title ‘The Drottningholm Palace Theatre in the Time of Lovisa Ulrika and Gustaf III’.

‘A Fascinatingly Bizarre Personality’

This is how Hilleström characterised his mentor, employer and long-time colleague. Beijer was an astute analyst, a searcher with the desire to rebuild forgotten fantastical worlds. Drottningholms Slottsteater became the means for this. In his own words: ‘No poem is so timeless that nothing therein gains a deeper connotation or a richer interplay of reflection if placed in a historical context’ (Ord och Bild, 1932).
However, he was not a practical theatre man and certainly not a good organiser. Nevertheless, he instilled great respect, and it was difficult to approach him as he seemed constantly preoccupied with some problem or other. He was always very polite and almost timid in his manner, but he could explode in a second if something did not go his way. In his artistic persuasion, he could exhibit extreme determination, while in other areas he could be more pensive, even wavering. This frequent indecisiveness was often frustrating for Hilleström, whose problem-solving was not always ideal in Beijer’s eyes, but was nevertheless practically and economically sound, in general.
Several have wondered, as have I, whether he himself understood what unreasonable demands he could make on those around him at times. With his exceptional expertise, he had a great deal to impart; however, he did not possess a commanding voice, at times speaking with a slight stutter, and he frequently dragged on in presentations, lectures and speeches until the audience ‘buckled under’. His often archaic and lofty language, albeit beautiful, could prove difficult for some, and needless to say he never felt the need to translate quotes in French.

Coda

The rooms at Drottningholms Slottsteater no longer house a major historical exhibition. Today the Swedish Museum of Performing Arts displays but a small fraction, while the rest lies packed away, awaiting a new life in the digital realm.
‘The most significant source of knowledge for understanding the staged fantasy life of a bygone age in all its polyphonic richness of timbre is, however, and remains, Drottningholms Slottsteater itself’ (Beijer, 1981, p. 8). Many happy returns!

*

Sources (chronologically by year of publication):

Agne Beijer, ”Teatermuseet på Drottningholm. En programförklaring och en överblick.” Ord och Bild 41:a årg. 1932, häfte 1.

Agne Beijer, Slottsteatrarna på Drottningholm och Gripsholm, 1935

Agne Beijer, ”Teatermuseet på Drottningholm”, Teaterhistoriska studier, 1940

Svenska män och kvinnor 1942-1948

Gustaf Hilleström, ”Drottningholmsteatern förr och nu”, 1956

Gustaf Hilleström, ”Dramatik på Drottningholm”, 1975

Agne Beijer, ”Drottningholms slottsteater på Lovisa Ulrikas och Gustaf III:s tid”, Stockholmsmonografier 1981

Arne Lydén, “Agne Beijer. En minnesteckning”, utgiven av Föreningen Drottningholmsteaterns Vänner, 1982

Carl-Erik Virdebrant, Drottningholms teatermuseum. Betänkande av utredningen rörande verksamheten vid stiftelsen Drottningholms teatermuseum m.m., Utbildningsdepartementet, Ds U 1982:8

Ove Hidemark, Per Edström, Birgitta Schyberg, ”Drottningholms slottsteater, dess tillkomst, öden och bevarande, 1993

Carl-Gunnar Åhlén, ” Drottningholms Slottsteater 1922-1992”, bok till skivutgåvan Collector’s Classics, Caprice, CAP 21512, 1993.

Inga Lewenhaupt, ”Slottsteatrarna före den gustavianska tiden” (i De Kungliga Slotten, Drottningholm bd I, red. G. Alm & R. Millhagen), 2004

Keith Wikander, ”Klenoder i tiden”. SOU 2006:68

Inga Lewenhaupt, ”Slottsteatern från Gustav III till Carl XIV Gustaf” i bokverket De Kungliga Slotten, Drottningholm bd II, red. G. Alm & R. Millhagen 2010

Lena Hammergren, Inga Lewenhaupt, Willmar Sauter,”Changing Perspectives.   Seventy Years of Theatre Studies at Stockholm University”, 2016

Inga Lewenhaupt, Musik och teater - bibliotekets utveckling och expansion (i Ett bibliotek i musikens tjänst, red. Rikard Larsson), 2021.