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Birgit Nilsson

Not to be confused with Brigitte Nielsen.

Märta Birgit Nilsson (17 May 1918 – 25 December 2005) was a Swedish dramatic soprano. She was best known for her singing in the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.[5] Her voice is said to have been very powerful with very good clarity in the upper register.

Birgit Nilsson
Birgitnhat.jpg
Birgit Nilsson in 1948
Born
Märta Birgit Svensson

(1918-05-17)17 May 1918[1]
Västra Karup, Skåne, Sweden
Died25 December 2005(2005-12-25) (aged 87)[2]
Kristianstad, Skåne, Sweden
EducationRoyal Swedish Academy of Music
OccupationWagnerian soprano
Years active1946–1984
Awards

Biography

Early life

Birgit Nilsson was born on a farm at Västra Karup in Skåne. It was 100 km (62 mi) north of Malmö. Her parents were Nils Svensson and Justina Svensson (née Paulsson). When she was three years old, she began singing melodies on a toy piano her mother bought for her. She once said that she could sing before she could walk. she also said, "I even sang in my dreams". Her talent at singing was first noticed in her church choir. A choirmaster near her home heard her sing and toldher to take voice lessons.

She studied with Ragnar Blennow in Åstorp for six months to be ready for an audition at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in Stockholm. At the audition, she came in first out of a group of 47 singers. She was given the Christina Nilsson scholarship. She considered herself self-taught. In 1981, she told an interviewer that "The best teacher is the stage. You walk out onto it, and you have to learn to project." She did not like her early instruction. She said that she was successful because of the native talent. "My first voice teacher almost killed me ... [T]he second was almost as bad."[5]

Death

Nilsson died on 25 December 2005 at her home near Kristianstad in Skåne. She was aged 87. No cause of death was released. She was survived by her husband Bertil Niklasson (died March 2007), a veterinary surgeon whom she had met on a train and married in 1948. They had no children.[6]

Honours and awards

Birgit Nilsson Media

  • Nilsson as Lady Macbeth in the opera by Giuseppe Verdi at the Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm, 1947.

  • Photo of Birgit Nilsson, Swedish Wagnerian Soprano, at home

  • Ribbon bar: Order of the Crown. Prussia.

  • Ribbon bar for several danish medals:* * The Medal of Honour for the Battle of Copenhagen 1801 * The Medal of Merit * The Medal for Noble Deeds * The Medal for Saving Lifes from Drowning * The Royal Medal of Recompense * The Medal for Enterprising Icelanders * The Medal Ingenio et Arti * The Lifeboat Institution's 50 Years Jubilee Medal * The Lifeboat Institution's 100 Years Jubilee Medal * King Christian IX's Medal for Bravery 1879 * King Christian X's Military Commemorative Medal 1914 * Commemorative Medal of t

  • Order of the Vasa - Ribbon bar

  • St Olavs Orden kommandør med stjerne stripe

  • DE-NI Der Niedersächsische Verdienstorden (Bande) BAR

  • Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Commandeur ribbon

References

  1. ↑ "About Birgit". Birgit Nilsson Foundation. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  2. ↑ "Birgit Nilsson" (in en). The Independent. 12 January 2006. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/birgit-nilsson-6111958.html. Retrieved 1 June 2022. 
  3. ↑ "Honours and Awards". BirgitNilssonPrize.org. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Birgit Nilsson (soprano)". Gramophone. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Holland, Bernard (12 January 2006). "Birgit Nilsson, Soprano Legend Who Tamed Wagner, Dies at 87". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/12/arts/music/birgit-nilsson-soprano-legend-who-tamed-wagner-dies-at-87.html. Retrieved 17 May 2017. 
  6. ↑ Birgit Nilsson, 87; Wagnerian Soprano Known for the Power of Her Voice and Personality. 12 January 2006. https://articles.latimes.com/2006/jan/12/local/me-nilsson12. Retrieved 29 April 2018. 
  7. ↑ Unless otherwise indicated, this section is sourced from "Honours and Awards". BirgitNilssonPrize.org. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  8. ↑ Leach, H.G.; American-Scandinavian Foundation (1966). The American-Scandinavian Review. American-Scandinavian Foundation. p. 203. Retrieved 29 April 2018. The Leonie Sonning Prize for 1966 was recently awarded the Swedish singer BirgitNilsson. The amount of the Prize is 50,000 Danish kroner. The Leonie Sonning Prize was awarded for the first time in 1959, with Igor Stravinsky being the recipient. The 1965 winner was conductor Leonard Bernstein.
  9. ↑ Theatre in Denmark. Danish Centre of the I.T.I. 1966. p. 3. Retrieved 29 April 2018. This year's Leonie Sonning Music Prize was given to Birgit Nilsson, who visited The Royal Theatre on May 17th, 1966, for a guest performance in "Fidelio". Birgit Nilsson honoured yong Danish singers by donating her salary for this performance to be used as a scholarship for two young female singers.

Sources

  • Nilsson, Birgit, My Memoirs in Pictures, translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal, Garden City: Doubleday, 1981; ISBN 0-385-14835-6.
  • Nilsson, Birgit, Mina minnesbilder, Stockholm: Bonnier, 1977; ISBN 91-0-042069-7
  • Nilsson, Birgit, La Nilsson, Stockholm: Fischer, 1995; ISBN 91-7054-756-4.
  • "Birgit Nilsson, Soprano Legend Who Tamed Wagner" by Bernard Holland, The New York Times (12 January 2006)
  • "Så höll han allt hemligt", ('So he kept everything secret'), [on why Nilsson's death was kept a secret for 16 days] by Pelle Tagesson, Aftonbladet (13 January 2006)
  • Blum, David, "The Farm Girl and the Stones", chapter 5 in David Blum, Quintet, Five Journeys toward Musical Fulfillment (Cornell University Press, 1999).

Other websites

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