Birgit
Nilsson (1918 – 2005): An
Appreciation by Göran Forsling
When
Birgit Nilsson passed away on Christmas Day the world lost
one of the greatest dramatic sopranos ever. Among female singers
during the last half of the 20th century, possibly
only Maria Callas could challenge her in importance and excellence.
Still her way to the big opera houses was both long and strenuous.
She was born on May
17, 1918 to a family of farmers in the little village Västra
Karup in the province of Skåne in the south of Sweden, and
her father wanted her to stay on the farm. It also took a
long time before it was evident that she had great musical
talent. She started to play the piano by ear when she was
four, a toy piano covering one octave, and later she got an
organ, and of course she sang, but not until she was 14 she
got her first organized piano lessons. Her first teacher was
also a cantor and he gave her some singing lessons and enrolled
her in the church choir. After further training she was accepted
to the Royal College of Music in Stockholm in 1941, where
her first singing teacher was Joseph Hislop and later she
studied for Arne Sunnegårdh. She made her debut at the Royal
Opera in Stockholm in 1946 at short notice as Agathe in Der
Freischütz, but her real break-through came the following
year as Lady Macbeth. Her first Wagner role, Venus in Tannhäuser,
singing opposite Set Svanholm, came the same year and among
her early roles were also Donna Anna in Don Giovanni
and Lisa in The Queen of Spades. In 1951 she got her
first international engagement, singing Elettra in Mozart’s
Idomeneo at Glyndebourne with Richard Lewis, Sena Jurinac
and Leopold Simoneau. After this ice-break the road was paved
for her: Bayreuth (1953), Vienna (1954), Munich (1954), San
Francisco and Chicago (1956), Rome and Covent Garden (1957),
La Scala (1958) and Metropolitan (1959) are some of the milestones
during a career that lasted until 1984.
And it was a spectacular
career. In Italy she was known as “La Nilsson”, which also
is the title of her memoirs, published in 1995. At the Vienna
State Opera she was adored and she once, after a performance
of Elektra, had 72 curtain calls, which took just as
long as the performance. Hundreds of admirers used to accompany
her to her hotel after each performance and occupied the whole
of Kärtnerstrasse. People who looked out from their hotel
windows thought that there was a fire but were reassured by
the receptionist that it was just “die Frau Kammersängerin
Nilsson who in her customary way had returned from the opera
house”, as she writes in her memoirs.
Birgit Nilsson was
to most opera lovers the unsurpassed Wagner soprano, with
that magnificent laser-beam voice cutting through even the
thickest orchestral texture, and the tremendous stamina that
made it possible for her to sound just as fresh at the end
of a performance of Tristan und Isolde as she did when
the opera began five hours earlier. Isolde and the three Brünnhildes
in the Ring operas are perhaps her most famous impersonations,
but she also sang Elisabeth and Venus in Tannhäuser,
even both roles at the same performance since the two
characters never meet. Salome, Elektra and Die Färberin in
Die Frau ohne Schatten were also perfect vehicles for
her Hochdramatische soprano, but she also excelled in the
Italian repertoire: Lady Macbeth, Amelia in Un ballo in
maschera and Aida were important Verdi parts, she often
sang Tosca and she was the reigning Turandot for many years.
Although she had
this unparalleled international success she frequently returned
to the Stockholm opera for guest appearances, and she always
wanted to sing new roles first in Stockholm, before she brought
them to other houses. Thus it happened that that her last
new roles, Elektra in 1965 and Die Frau ohne Schatten
in 1975 also were first heard in Stockholm. I heard the Elektra
premiere on the radio and it would be great if Swedish Radio
or some adventurous company dug out the tapes from the archives
and released the performance on CD. A short excerpt can be
found on the anthology “Famous Swedish Opera Singers” (Gala
GL 333). Die Frau ohne Schatten was even televised,
so please, someone, a DVD!
In Sweden she reached
a popularity among ordinary people that was quite exceptional
for an opera singer, but she had a very “folksy” approach,
a great sense of humour and her hearty laughter was well-known
from many radio- and TV-programmes. For more than 20 years
she appeared every summer at Gröna Lund and Liseberg, the
two amusement parks in Stockholm and Gothenburg, before audiences
numbering several thousand, people of all categories and all
ages. At these concerts she always sang some Nordic songs,
popular opera arias – O mio babbino caro from Gianni
Schicchi being a particular favourite, somewhat surprisingly
maybe, but she could fine down her large voice to lyric dimensions
and she had a wonderfully girlish timbre in such repertoire.
I could have danced all night from My Fair Lady
was another favourite, memorably recorded on the legendary
Karajan Fledermaus recording as part of the Gala Performance
with celebrity guests in the second act, and Wien, du Stadt
meiner Träume was the obligatory encore. 25 years ago
Bluebell of Sweden issued an LP with live recordings from
Gröna Lund and Liseberg, which should be reissued on CD.
Practically nobody
denied the glory of her voice and her way of using it but
amidst the praise there were occasional dissenting voices
who thought that she lacked warmth – especially in the Italian
repertoire. Probably her very straight tone with very little
vibrato can give a cool impression, but there was no lack
of intensity and feeling in for instance her recorded Aida
and Tosca and where with more vibrant voices one
can’t always be sure what tone the singer is aiming at, there
was never any doubt about that with Birgit Nilsson.
Privately she was
quite unglamorous and it is characteristic that her death
was not made public until after the funeral, to the annoyance
of the Swedish evening papers. She was a quick-witted person
and there are many stories about her repartee. The vocal combats
with tenor colleague Franco Corelli are legendary and once
at the MET, when Birgit managed to hold on to the high C in
there duet in Turandot longer than Corelli did, he
revenged by biting her, whereupon Birgit Nilsson sent a telegram
to Rudolf Bing “CANT SING STOP CONTRACTED RABIES STOP” Another
time Corelli found that Birgit had a piano in her dressing-room,
which he hadn’t. He talked to Bing about it and Bing asked
Birgit if it was OK to move the piano to Corelli’s room. “Of
course”, Birgit answered, “but I have no time to teach him
to play!”
Swedish pianist Lars
Roos, now living in Los Angeles, was Birgit Nilsson’s accompanist
for several years and got to know her well. He writes: “I
first met Birgit 1968 in New York at the consulate. She was
very friendly and gave me a ticket for MET when she sang Die
Walküre. We exchanged Christmas Cards and greetings but
not until 1976 I played with her. We made a private concert
in Karlsruhe, at a conference, to see if I could manage. In
spring 1977 we made a large tour in Europe, Iran, Korea and
Japan and after that Gröna Lund, TV etc etc. I stayed with
her for three days when we rehearsed for the first concert
and I had a very good time. We sat until the small hours talking
and telling stories.
She was never troublesome,
very simple and nice – and mischievous when we were alone.
She knew what she wanted and that always makes it easier for
the accompanist, since one knows that she will do it the same
way at the concert.
Birgit was considerate.
She sent postcards from all over the world, she rang me if
I was sick. We became very good friends and had a lot of fun.
Even though her death didn’t come as a surprise, it feels
sad and empty.”
Lars is the pianist
on the aforementioned Bluebell record. Birgit Nilsson’s recorded
legacy is enormous with about 25 complete operas and a number
of recital discs. It is not an easy task to pick and choose
among them, but probably the live-recorded Tristan und
Isolde from Bayreuth 1966 (on DG) is the crowning glory,
with Karl Böhm conducting and Christa Ludwig, Wolfgang Windgassen,
Eberhard Wächter and Martti Talvela in the cast. Her two complete
Ring recordings with Solti and Böhm are of course essential,
just as the two Turandot: with Jussi Björling, Renata
Tebaldi and Erich Leinsdorf conducting (RCA) and with Franco
Corelli, Renata Scotto and Molinari-Pradelli conducting (EMI).
Of her recital discs I have a special fondness for the EMI
recording of duets from Der fliegende Holländer and
Die Walküre where she is partnered by Hans Hotter.
It has been reissued by Testament.
But there are many
other glories and as long as there are opera lovers in the
world Birgit Nilsson will be remembered and her recordings
listened to.
Birgit Nilsson died
on Christmas Day 2005 but her memory will live for ever.
Göran Forsling
