Elisabeth Forsselius is believed to have been the daughter of the clerk Jacob Forssell (d. 1807) and Anna Magdalena Schylander (1778-1848). She was the sister of the opera singer Gustava Rebecka Forsselia (1772-?). She married the composer
Johann Christian Friedrich Hæffner in 1787, divorced him in 1807 and remarried the opera singer
Johan Jacob Fahlgren (1786-1848), who had previously been the student of her husband and their tenant, the following year.
Career Elisabeth Forsselius was active both as an opera singer and an actress, but she had most success as an actress. She enrolled as a student at the
Royal Swedish Opera in 1783, and continued to be active there in a minor capacity until 1810. In 1785-87, she was engaged at the
Stenborg Theatre, where she made a favorable debut in a
breeches role in a pastoral
operetta. In 1787, she was engaged at the Swedish language Ristell theater at
Bollhuset by
Adolf Fredrik Ristell. When Ristell when bankrupt and fled the country to escape his creditors the year after, the theater was transformed by king
Gustav III of Sweden to Royal Dramatic Theatre, and the actors formed a board of directors, which ruled the theater until 1803. In the rapports of
Armfelt, who observed the board meetings as a representative of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Arts, Elisabeth Forsselius was described as irresponsible and capricious - however, these sessions where known to be stormy, and if the judgement was correct, she was far from alone in being so. Elisabeth Forsselius was described as an excellent dramatic actress particularly within comedy. She frequently played
breeches roles and
soubrette roles, and her appearance allowed her to play teenage boys and girls until her last years on the stage. Like many of her generation of actors at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, she retired after the 1810-11 season.
Roles She played Anna in
Siri Brahe och Johan Gyllenstierna by
Gustav III in 1788 and 1790 and the title role of
Minna von Barnhelm by
Lessing in 1793. Among her other parts were Sidonie in
Armide by
Gluck in the season 1786–1787, Ismene in
Elektra (by Hæffner) in 1787–1788, Delia in
Les trois sultanes, a play by
Favart in 1789–1790, Weakness in
Alcides inträde i världen in 1793–1794 and Armide in
Renaud (both also by Hæffner) in 1800–1801, and the marchioness in
Griselda by Friedrich Halms in 1809–1810. == References ==