Charlotta Seuerling facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Charlotta Seuerling
Born	1782 or 1784
Died	1828 (age c. 46 or 44) Sweden
Occupation	Singer, harpsichordist, poet, actress, inventor, and also had a position at the institute for the blind in St. Petersburg
Known for	Author of "Sång i en melankolisk stund", blind musician
Signature

Charlotta Antonia "Charlotte Antoinette" Seuerling (born 1782 or 1784 – died 1828) was a talented blind Swedish singer, musician, and poet. People often called her "The Blind Song-Maiden." She performed in Sweden, Finland, and Russia. She was famous for writing the popular song "Sång i en melankolisk stund".

Charlotta's Early Life

Charlotta Seuerling was born to Carl Gottfried Seuerling and Margareta Seuerling. Her parents were actors who ran a traveling theatre company.

When Charlotta was four years old, she became blind. This happened because of a bad smallpox vaccination. Four years later, at age eight, she got smallpox. The illness left scars on her face, which made her feel shy.

Even as a child, Charlotta helped her family. She sang songs she had written herself. She played the harp and guitar in her parents' theatre shows. People advertised her as a "wonder child" because she was blind but could sing and play music so well.

Her father was very serious about his theatre. He often put on famous plays from other countries, like those by Shakespeare. Her mother was a great actress. She was the first Swedish-speaking Juliet in Romeo and Juliet in Norrköping in 1776. Charlotta's family toured all over Sweden and Finland. They even performed for the Swedish royal family sometimes. People loved their shows, but the family often had money problems.

Her Amazing Career

After her father died in 1795, Charlotta's mother took over the theatre company. She moved to Finland to tour there, as there was less competition. She sent Charlotta to Stockholm for an eye operation. Doctors promised it would give her sight back. Sadly, the operation did not work. Charlotta did not have money to join her mother in Finland. She had to stay in a boardinghouse for poor women.

In 1806, a man named Pär Aron Borg discovered Charlotta's musical talent. He was giving piano lessons to the women at the boardinghouse. He was very impressed by Charlotta's skills. In 1807, he took her on as his private student. He taught her music theory and even gave her a home with his family.

Borg was amazed at how quickly Charlotta learned. He started teaching her more subjects. Soon, she was excellent at science and languages. She also wrote her own poems. She even created a special device to write them down. Borg invented a way for blind people to write. This helped Charlotta learn to read music notes, German, and French.

Charlotta was not interested in subjects usually taught to girls back then. Borg even wrote a paper saying that women could learn anything. He believed they should not be stopped from studying certain topics. He also taught her medicine. Charlotta was so good at it that Borg argued women could be excellent doctors.

Because of Charlotta's amazing ability to learn, Borg started something special. In 1808, he opened the first school for blind and deaf people in Sweden. It was called Manillaskolan. Charlotta was his very first student. Some people say she was the first blind student in Sweden.

In 1808, Borg held a special event. Charlotta showed off her many talents. She read and wrote, played the harp and clavichord, and read music. She spoke French and German. She also showed skills like weaving, sewing, and knitting. At that time, many people thought blind and deaf people could not be educated. Charlotta's demonstration helped the new school a lot. Her talents brought much support to the institute.

On July 5, 1809, Borg held a public exam for his students. Five hundred guests came, including the queen, Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp. Charlotta Seuerling performed a song she had written herself. It was called "I, who do not enjoy the pleasure of seeing the treasured Queen." The queen praised her. Charlotta was so happy that she dropped her harp and fainted! This was a common way to show strong emotion back then. She became very famous. A poet named Gustaf Snoilsky wrote about the moment. This led to her being known as "The Songmaiden."

After this, the queen became a supporter of the school. The government also started to help fund it.

Charlotta's song "Sång i en melankolisk stund" (which means "Song in a Moment of Melancholy") was written for the harp. This song was very popular in Sweden for over 100 years. It talks about feeling sad and betrayed. But it also speaks of the joy of friendship and the hope it brings. Many people thought it showed how Charlotta felt when Pär Aron Borg helped her. Her life changed because of him. The song starts: No ray of light shine from above, the night was terrifying and darkness surrounded me... It ends: "...then as the first ray of dawn a light broke through the mist and friendship came; and with its radiance calm and joy filled my heart."

In 1810, Charlotta went to join her mother in Finland. Finland was then part of Russia. Charlotta performed in her mother's theatre group. In 1811, her mother had money problems. But then, the Russian empress dowager, Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg), heard about Charlotta. The empress had heard about her amazing harp playing. She gave both Charlotta and her mother a pension (regular payment) of 600 rubles. Charlotta moved to Russia. There, she helped develop Valentin Haüy's Institute for the Blind in Saint Petersburg. She also got a job there.

Later Life and Legacy

Charlotta Seuerling returned to Sweden in 1823. She died five years later in 1828.

Charlotta's harp, letters, and poems are kept safe today. You can find them at the Stockholm Music Museum. Among her writings is a special writing test. It is the oldest example of text written by a blind person in Sweden. She wrote it using a special device made for blind people before Braille was invented. This test is kept at the National Library of Sweden.

Her famous song, "Sång i en melankolisk stund", was printed many times after 1828. Sometimes her name was not on it. But in 1852, it was published with her name in a songbook called Miniaturvisbok. Her song was placed alongside works by other famous writers and composers.