Anna Sofia Sevelin
Anna Sofia Sevelin née Thunberg (23 July 1790 – 25 February 1871) was a Swedish opera singer (alto). She was a "Hovsångare" and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts. Life. Anna Sofia Sevelin was the daughter of the church musician Olof Thunberg. She married the ballet dancer and actor Per Erik Sevelin in 1813. She was enrolled as a student at the Royal Dramatic Training Academy in 1806. She made her debut in 1807, and was engaged as a singer at the Royal Swedish Opera in 1813–37. Sevelin also made tours abroad, and performed in  Copenhagen and Hamburg. Anna Sofia Sevelin was given good reviews as a singer. Her voice is described as a deep alto, which changed to a soprano with time. However, critics claimed that she lacked acting ability, and that she always performed on the stage as if she performed on a concert. Reportedly, her voice was damaged by over exhaustion under the demands of the opera management. She discontinued her performances in 1833, and was formally discharged from the royal opera in 1837. Her husband, himself a popular actor, was reportedly outraged but the treatment she had been exposed to by  the management and resigned himself in protest with the words that he would never return. Anna Sofia Sevelin was inducted to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1817, and made "hovsångare" in 1837. In the 1850s, the journalist and critic Nils Arfwidsson described Anna Sofia Sevelin in retrospect: