Felicita Vestvali

Felicita Vestvali
Vestvali photographed by Matthew Brady ca. 1857
Born
Anna Marie Stegemann

(1831-02-23)23 February 1831
Stettin, Kingdom of Prussia
Died3 April 1880(1880-04-03) (aged 49)
Warsaw, Congress Poland
OccupationsOpera singer, actress
Years active1846–1871
Known forplaying Hamlet and other roles in travesti

Felicita Vestvali (born Anna Marie Stegemann, also known as Felicità von Vestvali; 23 February 1831 – 3 April 1880) was a German operatic contralto or dramatic soprano and actress. She became famous both in Europe and the United States.

She was known in North America as "Vestvali the Magnificent" or "Magnificent Vestvali" and was praised by Abraham Lincoln[1] and Napoleon III.[2] Vestali was admired for her beauty and her contralto voice and for her independence from the norms of femininity at the time. She was a self-described "man-hater" (Männerfeindin) and widely described as Uranian,[3] with links to the feminist movement, the nascent movement for gay and lesbian rights, and to the movements for racial and religious emancipation.[4][5][6]

Life

Early life

Despite her Italian stage name, Vestvali was born in Stettin, Kingdom of Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland), as Anna Marie Stegemann.[7] Her father, Georg Leberecht Stegemann (1789–1842) was a widowed lieutenant, and her mother was (probably also widowed) Baroness Charlotte Stegemann, nee von Hünefeld (1794–1860).[8][9] Felicita claimed that her father "changed the last name for political reasons", but there's no proof of that.[9] Stegemanns were a Lutheran and German-speaking family, however Charlotte had Polish ancestors, and Georg's son from the previous marriage (Henryk Westwalewicz) was Polish, and so it is likely that young Anna Marie's household also used Polish.[10][9]

Theatrical training and early roles

Vestvali's family refused her theater training, so in 1846 at the age of 15, she ran away from home in boy's clothes and joined the impresario Wilhelm Bröckelmann and his theater company, debuting in Cöslin.[9][3][8] With Bröckelmann's group, Vestvali undertook a long tour of various northern German city theaters. Back in Leipzig, she was discovered by actress Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient and accepted as a student.[11] With her support, Vestvali was able to make her debut there at the Altes Theater in the role of Agathe in Der Freischütz[3] or as Romeo in Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi.[11]

After a short guest appearance at the Hanover Opera House, Vestvali went to France with her step-brother Henryk Westwalewicz, living among Polish emigration and introducing themseves as Polish.[12] Her 19th century biographers claimed she studied at Conservatoire de Paris, but she is not on the lists of graduates, implying she didn't graduate or just took private lessons.[12] In 1848 Felicita became pregnant, giving birth to a daughter named Marie Jenny Emma in 1849. The father's name was not registered, but the most likely candidate was Italian Joseph de Filippi.[12]

In 1850, under name Felicita de West­wa­le­wicz, she traveled to England, giving solo concerts in London and Guernsey, where she also was a home teacher.[13] In 1851 she moved to Naples, studying under Saverio Mercadante in Naples, and befriending the writer Francesco Mastriani (who dedicated his novel Il mio Cadavere to her). She continued musical education in Florence under Pietro Romani.[14] During this time, she took the stage name Felicita Vestvali and sang as a supposedly Italian singer in La Scala, as Azucena in Il trovatore in 1853.[14]

Opera successes

Thanks to the La Scala performance, Vestvali got to perform for Royal Opera in 1854, in her first 'mature' travesti role of Orsini in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia.[15] This didn't lead to a new contract, so in January 1855 Felicita and Henryk traveled to USA, leaving little Marie with de Filippi. In New York, she was hired to play Arsaces in Semiramide, earning fans such as John Bigelow and Walt Whitman.[16] Her other roles in America included Leonora in La favorite, Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor, and swashbuckling Armando di Gondì in Maria di Rohan.[16]

In October 1855 Felicita and Henryk moved to Mexico City, where Felicita was hired by Teatro Nacional. Her most praised role there was Romeo.[17] In March 1857 she traveled to Cuba to perform in Havana's Tacón Theatre, and then she returned to USA, where she became "Vest­vali the Magnificent".[17] At this time, she fell in love with aspiring actress Jessie McLean, singing together in concerts. In 1858 Vestvalis and McLean came back to Europe.[18]

In 1859, likely thanks to Jean-François Mocquard or Józef Michał Poniatowski she was brought back to the Paris Opera. According to a popular story, Napoleon III was so captivated with her that he presented her with a solid silver suit of armor for her performance as Romeo in Bellini's Romeo and Juliet,[3] but likely he didn't see Vestvali perform (the premiere was attended by prince Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte instead).[19]

With a French opera company, she made a tour through France, Belgium and Holland[20], and in 1861, performing in Wiesbaden, she met her longtime partner, German actress Elise Lund.[21] In 1863 another tour to New York followed, with Henry (who died in 1863), daughter Marie and Elise.

Switch to speaking roles

After bad reviews of her appearance in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice in New York in 1863, Vestvali switched from musical theater to speaking roles, starting with the titular role in Victor Séjour's Gamea, or The Jewish Mother, which gained her the recognition and likely friendship of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln.[22] Her first spoken travesti role was in The Brigand.

Karl Gutzkow suggested her in the preface to his play Richard Savage as a candidate for the leading role.[23]

She returned to Europe in 1867 (with adult Mary staying in America), following health problems and doctor advice to change the climate. and was again successful. She appeared as Romeo and Hamlet in Shakespeare's dramas. She played these roles in 1867 in London's Lyceum Theatre in English. Vestvali later claimed Queen Victoria attended a performance,[7] but it's unlikely, considering the queen avoided theaters while she was mourning her husband.[24]

In the spring of 1868, Vestvali performed in Hamburg and Lübeck, always playing alongside Elise Lund, including the titular roles of Romeo and Juliet.[25] Afterwards, she went on a two-year tour through Europe, bringing her now signature Hamlet to many cities.[26] When the Franco-Prussian War started in 1871, Vestvali took a few months break. After the war ended, she rarely performed (only guest roles in Berlin National Theater) and retired more and more into private life.[27] She built Reichshallentheater in Berlin in 1873.[27]

Final years

She spent the last years of her life in Bad Warmbrunn, where her sister Emma started building a villa quarter known as „Russische Kolonie”.[28] During a visit to Warsaw, where her and Emma's investment of Vestvali Palace was recently finished, she fell ill and died on 3 April 1880, six weeks after her 49th birthday. During her last illness, she was "nursed by a Miss G", as well as her "inseparable friend" and principal heir, Elise Lund, "who came to nurse her also"[3]. Lund later took Vestvali's body to Bad Warmbrunn,[8] where she was likely buried at the German cemetery by the modern Jagiellońska Street of Jelenia Góra.[29]

References

  1. ^ Donald, David Herbert (1996). Lincoln. Simon and Schuster. p. 569. ISBN 9780684825359. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  2. ^ Howard, Tony (2007). Women as Hamlet: Performance and Interpretation in Theatre, Film and Fiction. Cambridge University Press. p. 56. ISBN 9780521864664. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Vestvali the Magnificent". San Francisco Bay Times. 2019-10-31. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  4. ^ Vestvali, Felicità von. Pallas Athene: Memoiren einer Künstlerin. 1873.
  5. ^ Louise Otto. Felicita von Vestvali. In: Neue Bahnen: Organ des allgemeinen deutschen Frauenvereins. 3. Bd.; No. 20 u. 21. 1868.
  6. ^ Rosa von Braunschweig: Felicita von Vestvali. In: Magnus Hirschfeld (Hrsg.): Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen. 1903.
  7. ^ a b Howard, Tony (2007). Women as Hamlet: Performance and Interpretation in Theatre, Film and Fiction. Cambridge University Press. pp. 56–59, 76, 86. ISBN 9780521864664. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  8. ^ a b c "Vestvali, Felicita von". Deutsche Biographie (in German). Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  9. ^ a b c d Szarota 2025, ch. "Górnolotna Dusza Panny Stegemann".
  10. ^ Szarota, Piotr; Markuszewska, Aneta (2024-10-01). "Felicita Vestvali: Rebellious Prima Donna, Charismatic Actor, and LGBTQ Icon". Journal of Musicological Research. 43 (4): 303–325. doi:10.1080/01411896.2024.2445638. ISSN 0141-1896.
  11. ^ a b Szarota 2025, ch. "Być jak Królowa Łez".
  12. ^ a b c Szarota 2025, ch. "Przerwane lekcje muzyki".
  13. ^ Szarota 2025, ch. "Śladami panny de Maupin".
  14. ^ a b Szarota 2025, ch. "Znaszli ten kraj, gdzie cytryna dojrzewa?".
  15. ^ Szarota 2025, ch. "Podwójne życie Felicity".
  16. ^ a b Szarota 2025, ch. "Broadway w okowach lodu".
  17. ^ a b Szarota 2025, ch. "Eldorado muzycznych rozkoszy".
  18. ^ Szarota 2025, ch. "Marietta i Jessie".
  19. ^ Szarota 2025, ch. "Srebrna zbroja od Napoleona III".
  20. ^ Szarota 2025, ch. "Paryski spleen".
  21. ^ Szarota 2025, ch. "Miłość i śmierć w Nowym Jorku".
  22. ^ Szarota 2025, ch. "Mój przyjaciel Lincoln".
  23. ^ Szarota 2025, ch. "Spadająca gwiazda".
  24. ^ Szarota 2025, ch. "Szekspirowskie wydarzenie sezonu".
  25. ^ Szarota 2025, ch. "Podziw i odtrącenie".
  26. ^ Szarota 2025, ch. "Hamlet niebinarny".
  27. ^ a b Szarota 2025, ch. "Bezpieczna przystań w Berlinie".
  28. ^ Szarota 2025, ch. "Warszawski pałac Vestvali".
  29. ^ Szarota 2025, Epilog.

Bibliography

  • Szarota, Piotr (2025). Felicita! psychobiografia Felicity Vestvali (1 ed.). Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Krytyki Politycznej. ISBN 978-83-68267-22-8.
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