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Thekla Hofer

Swedish opera singer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 18, 2023
Entity authorityQ42171050
Source-derived summary

Thekla Catharina Charlotta Hofer née Falck (1852–1938) was a Swedish operatic soprano and later voice teacher. She made her début at the Royal Swedish Opera in 1879 as Rosina in The Barber of Seville. In addition to performing in various theatres in Sweden, she was a highly applauded guest in Weimar, St Petersburg and Riga. In the mid-1990s, she retired from the stage to teach with pupils including Signe Rappe and Karin Branzell.

Early life and education

Born in Gothenburg on 10 January 1852, Thekla Catherina Charlotta Falck was the daughter of the cigar master Evert Mauritz Falk and his wife Gustava Charlotta née Rosenlöf. She married the German-born bass opera singer Theodor Hofer. She first studied piano under Hilda Thegerström before becoming a voice pupil of Adelaïde Leuhusen. She completed her voice training in Paris under the tenor Pierre-François Wartel.

Career

Hofer made her début in 1879 at the Royal Swedish Opera as Rosina in The Barber of Seville, receiving an engagement for the following season. She became a successful performer not only here but as a guest in Helsinki, in Gothenburg's Stora Teatern, Weimar's Hoftheater and St Petersburg's Imperial Mariinsky Theatre.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Thekla Hofer” is swedish opera singer. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Thekla, Hofer and Swedish, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1852, 1938, 1879—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1852-01-10. For this dossier, Thekla, Hofer and Swedish is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “swedish opera singer” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 18, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q42171050. VIAF identifies the subject as 10147310064337851024. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1852, 1938 and 1879.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Thekla Hofer”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Thekla Hofer primary sources, Thekla Hofer archive and Thekla research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Thekla Hofer”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Thekla Hofer” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.