Lovisa Augusti
| Lovisa Sofia Augusti | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Ester Salomon 1756 Germany |
| Died | 25 June 1790 (aged 33) |
| Other names | Lovisa Sofia Salomoni |
| Spouse(s) | F. B. Augusti |
Lovisa Sofia Augusti, (born Ester Salomon; 1756 – 25 June 1790) was a Swedish opera singer. She was a court singer (Hovsångare) and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
The daughter of Israel Salomon, a traveling Jewish musician from Germany, Lovisa had already made a name for herself in her childhood as a singer in Gothenburg. Lovisa Augusti is first mentioned in Varberg in 1766, where she sang "Italian arias" while her fourteen-year-old brother played the violin. On 22 February 1767, she performed at a concert in Gothenburg directed by a musician of the Hovkapellet. She converted to Christianity in Gothenburg in 1767, when she received the name Lovisa Sofia Salmoni at her baptismal. The conversion was made together with her brother, who was a violinist, to avoid the regulations of non-Christian entertainers.
A the age of seventeen, as the protegée of the wife of the General von Kaulbar, she sang for King Gustav III of Sweden in Kristianstad, who was so impressed by her performance that he granted her a position at the Royal Swedish Opera at Bollhuset in and made her a court singer (1773). She was married at the time, and her husband, F. B. Augusti, who was also a musician (a violinist), was given a position in the royal chapel; her brother, also a violinist, were given the same position, which he kept until 1812. In her personal appearance, she was described as short and pretty, and often called "Lilla fru Augusti" ("Little Mrs Augusti").
The details of her musical education are entirely unknown; however, she most likely did not receive formal education. She was thought by many to be naturally talented, and she was considered to be one of the best singers in Sweden at that time. At her debut in the Opera in Stockholm, one viewer mused that "at the sight of her, one thought one saw Venus, but when she started singing, one found she was Apollo."
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