Birgit Nilsson
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Biography
When she died at the age of 87, the Guardian newspaper asked, "Was there ever a more truly Wagnerian singer than Birgit Nilsson?" A quintessential operatic diva, she was said to have been born to sing Wagner's bravura repertoire, with her rich, powerful voice, she pleased audiences and critics even as her prickly personality raised the hackles of composers, conductors and fellow performers. She managed her own business affairs and made so much money that she established a foundation to award the Birgit Nilsson Prize worth $1 million for outstanding achievement. The first recipient, in 2009, was Plácido Domingo.
Born Märta Birgit Svensson in a town just north of Malmö, Sweden, she began to sing as a child and soon took lessons. When she won a Christina Nilsson scholarship, she changed her name to Birgit Nilsson. She studied at Stockholm's Royal Academy of Music and made her debut at the Royal Opera in Stockholm in 1946 as Agathe in Carl Maria von Weber's 'Der Freischütz'. Her performance as Lady Macbeth in Giuseppe Verdi's 'Macbeth' the following year garnered great attention and she went on to perform in Vienna and Bayreuth. Her debut with the Royal Opera in Covent Garden, London, came as Brünnhilde in the complete 'Ring' cycle of Richard Wagner in 1957 and she debuted at La Scala in Milan the following year in the title role of Giacomo Puccini's 'Turandot'. In 1959, she made her first appearance with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in Wagner's 'Tristan and Isolde'.
According to the New York Times, she sang with the Metropolitan Opera 223 times in 16 roles. Her first album, 'Excepts from Die Walkure/The Flying Dutchman' came out in 1958 followed the same year by 'Wagner and Verdi Opera Arias'. Dozens of albums followed and continue to be released with 'Wagner Lonhengrin' and 'Der Ring des Nibelungenin' in 2016. She was nominated for three Grammy Awards for Best Classical Performance for 'R. Strauss: Salome' (1962), 'Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder' (1972) and 'Wagner: Duets from Parsifal and Die Walkure' (1974). She published 'My Memoirs in Pictures' in 1977 and in 1984 she retired back to Sweden where she died on Christmas Day in 2005.
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Albums
Top Tracks
- Track Popularity
- Der fliegende Holländer: Act II - Wie aus der Ferne featuring Hans Hotter
- Die Walküre - Act III, Scene 3: War es so schmählich featuring Hans Hotter
- Verdi: Un ballo in maschera / Act 2 - "Seguitemi" featuring Georg Solti
- R. Strauss: Elektra, Op. 58, TrV 223: "Was sagen Sie ihr denn?" featuring Georg Solti
- Die Walküre: Act I, "Ein starkes Jagen auf uns stellten die Neidige an" (Siegmund, Hunding, Sieglind
- Wagner: Götterdämmerung, WWV 86D / Act III - Schweigt eures Jammers jauchzenden Schwall (Remastered 2022) featuring Georg Solti
- Wagner: Die Walküre, WWV 86B / Act 3 - "War es so schmählich?" featuring Erich Leinsdorf
- Tannhäuser: "Willkommen, ungetreuer Mann" - "Der Seele Heil, die nun entflohn" featuring Wolfgang Windgassen
- Die Walküre: Act I, "Friedmund darf ich nicht heiÃen" (Siegmund, Hunding, Sieglinde)
- Verdi: Un ballo in maschera / Act 2 - "Ve', se di notte" featuring Georg Solti
- Die Walküre: Act I, "Kühlende Labung gab mir der Quell" (Siegmund, Sieglinde)
- Wagner: Die Walküre, WWV 86B / Act 3 - "So fliehe denn eilig und fliehe allein!" featuring Erich Leinsdorf
- Die Walküre: Act I, "Wes Herd dies auch sei" (Siegmund, Siglinde)
- R. Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten, Op. 65, TrV 234 / Act 3 - Trifft mich sein Lieben nicht (Live) featuring Walter Berry
- Die Walküre: Act I, Prelude (Orchestra)
- Das Rheingold: "Rheingold! Rheingold! Reines Gold!" (Rhine Maidens, Wotan, Loge)
- Wagner: Die Walküre, WWV 86B / Act 3 - "Hier bin ich, Vater" featuring Erich Leinsdorf
- Das Rheingold: "Ihrem Ende eilen sie zu" (Loge)
- Das Rheingold: "Zur Burg führt die Brücke" (Froh, Wotan, Fricka, Wotan)
- R. Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten, Op. 65, TrV 234 / Act 3 - Nun will ich jubeln (Live) featuring James King
- Wagner: Die Walküre, WWV 86B / Act 3 - "Schützt mich und helft in höchster Not" featuring Erich Leinsdorf
- R. Strauss: Elektra, Op.58, TrV 223 - "Hörst du denn nicht" featuring Birgit Nilsson
- R. Strauss: Elektra, Op.58, TrV 223 - "Schweig, und tanze." featuring Birgit Nilsson
- R. Strauss: Elektra, Op.58, TrV 223 - "He! Lichter!" featuring Birgit Nilsson
