# Birgit Nilsson



## GeorgeMcW (Jun 4, 2018)

I just read that today is Birgit Nilsson’s birthday. What are people’s favourite Nilsson performances/recordings? 

I also get a sense not everyone loves Nilsson, and I’m curious why, coz I love her (Isolde, Brünnhilde).


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

It would be her 101st.

My favorites are her _Gotterdammerung_ Brunnhilde and her Elektra (I don't care for the opera, but when you can sing it as she could it's not to be missed).


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Ho Jo To Ho 
Turandot


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

nina foresti said:


> *Ho Jo To Ho*
> Turandot


I'm not sure about how good a Santa Claus she would have made, but I agree about Turandot!

Nilsson is one of those singers who sang a small number of roles really well, but wasn't suited to a wide range of rep (L. Price and Berganza are other examples of this type of singer). I love her Turandot (especially as it often came in a package that included Corelli) and Elektra, but that's pretty much it as I don't like the sound of her voice. I am of the opinion that there is a relationship between a singer's spoken voice and their natural singing voice. If you listen to Nordic people (including Nilsson) speaking the vowels sound as though they are placed high in the mouth and they lack an open, throat based quality. I'm not saying that that is technically wrong. Far from it, people should sing how they talk to a certain degree, but the sound these singers create isn't to my taste. That's at least my theory why I'm not keen on not only Nilsson, but also Flagstad and Stemme too.

N.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

The Conte said:


> I'm not sure about how good a Santa Claus she would have made, but I agree about Turandot!
> 
> Nilsson is one of those singers who sang a small number of roles really well, but wasn't suited to a wide range of rep (L. Price and Berganza are other examples of this type of singer). I love her Turandot (especially as it often came in a package that included Corelli) and Elektra, but that's pretty much it as I don't like the sound of her voice. I am of the opinion that there is a relationship between a singer's spoken voice and their natural singing voice. If you listen to Nordic people (including Nilsson) speaking the vowels sound as though they are placed high in the mouth and they lack an open, throat based quality. I'm not saying that that is technically wrong. Far from it, people should sing how they talk to a certain degree, but the sound these singers create isn't to my taste. That's at least my theory why I'm not keen on not only Nilsson, but also Flagstad and Stemme too.
> 
> N.


I'm not sure if I go along with your theories as two of my favourite tenors (Bjoerling and Gedda) are Swedish, but, like you, Turandot and Elektra are the only roles I can really take Nilsson in. Mind you I don't really like *Elektra* (can't remember the last time I heard it) and I'd still prefer Sutherland as Turandot, though of course she never sang it on stage. Looking through my collection, I see that I don't have a single Nilsson recording.

I'm told that hearing her in the flesh was a totally different experience, and I'm prepared to believe it. It must have been difficult to record such a large and penetrating voice. Incidentally, Flagstad sounds quite different to my ears, the voice much warmer than Nilsson's.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Tsaraslondon said:


> I'm not sure if I go along with your theories as two of my favourite tenors (Bjoerling and Gedda) are Swedish, but, like you, Turandot and Elektra are the only roles I can really take Nilsson in. Mind you I don't really like *Elektra* (can't remember the last time I heard it) and I'd still prefer Sutherland as Turandot, though of course she never sang it on stage. Looking through my collection, I see that I don't have a single Nilsson recording.
> 
> I'm told that hearing her in the flesh was a totally different experience, and I'm prepared to believe it. It must have been difficult to record such a large and penetrating voice. Incidentally, Flagstad sounds quite different to my ears, the voice much warmer than Nilsson's.


That's interesting, it IS the Nordic women who sing (and talk) with squashed vowels and I haven't noticed it from the men. Note that it's not the _sound_ of the voice per se, but rather the pronunciation of the vowels (and I'm thinking of pronunciation in a rather wide sense of the word). Whatever words we wish to use to describe it, it's the reason why native Italians say that Russian sopranos all sound the same (not literally true of course, but they tend to pronounce Italian vowels in a similar way).

I will have to listen to Gedda and Bjorling speaking to see if there is a correlation.

N.


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## GeorgeMcW (Jun 4, 2018)

Woodduck said:


> It would be her 101st.
> 
> My favorites are her _Gotterdammerung_ Brunnhilde and her Elektra (I don't care for the opera, but when you can sing it as she could it's not to be missed).


I do love her Brünnhilde- especially on the Solti remastered, with some editing her voice doesn't come out as sharp as some of the earlier versions.


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

I'm fortunate to have heard her live but I most vividly remember not her Wagner but her singing of "Ozean, du Ungeheuer" from Oberon. The role is Rezia, FWIW. But there is nothing of hers I do not like unless she strays into Mozart. Viva Birgit! Heil dir!

Kind regards, :tiphat:

George


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

My favorite recording is her singing Sibelieus and Grieg songs. Favorite opera is Elektra and a live Die Gotterdammerung.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

I've just undertaken an interesting experiment listening to the following singers' voices both singing and speaking:

Kirsten Flagstad
Birgit Nilsson
Nina Stemme
Nicolai Gedda
Jussi Bjorling

Gedda doesn't sound Swedish when talking that language and could almost be a German speaking! Of the five singers he has the most full and rounded vowels. The other four all speak with thin vowel sounds as if they have been previously squashed to fit through a slit. In some ways it's as if they are avoiding the vowels and just flitting over them. This is most evident with Nilsson and only partially a feature with Bjorling, so the extent to which it happens varies across the four.

The interesting thing is that this avoidance of full, grounded vowel sounds is present in their singing to the same degree that it is in their speaking voices. It's really obvious with Nilsson and just about perceptible from Bjorling. I hasten to point out that I'm not criticising their technique - a singer should sing how they talk - but it's something that I personally find unattractive. It depends on taste.

I have recordings of Nilsson as Turandot, Elektra and Salome and her Turandot with Corelli is probably my favourite recording of that opera (although Sutherland, Pavarotti and Caballe is a contender for that slot).

I'm not keen on Nilsson as Brunhilde, however one of her early recordings from Bayreuth caught her in fresh, youthful voice and I enjoyed it far more than I expected to.

N.


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## howlingfantods (Jul 27, 2015)

One of my favorites. To me, she's so good as Isolde, Brunnhilde and Turandot that there's only a competition for second place. I don't think she has the ideal warmth and agility for some of the Italian rep that she sang but I still think she's very worth listening to in that rep--the Aida is a particular standout, and if you don't mind some smudged coloratura, her Lady Macbeth is excellent. And venturing a half step out of opera, her Verdi Requiem is outstanding.

I often feel when I'm listening to her that I've never noticed how effortful other singers are in that same repertoire, everything (other than coloratura) comes so easy for her.

I don't know that I find the basic sound of her voice attractive. For the first decade or so I was listening to opera, I found her voice unattractive enough to not particularly like recordings with her on it before I flipped and started listening to her on repeat for awhile. There's something almost not human about her voice--like she makes sounds that come out of a steam whistle more than a human person. But the quality of her singing is so great that, to me, it almost is irrelevant that the actual timbre isn't one that I initially appreciated.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Those who find Nilsson's timbre unpleasantly bright would have had a somewhat different impression in the acoustics of the opera house. I heard her as Isolde and as the _Gotterdammerung_ Brunnhilde at the Met in 1972 and was slightly surprised that her sound came across as a bit darker and mellower than what I'd heard on recordings. The other thing I recall distinctly is the way in which her voice seemed to become lighter and fresher as the evening progressed. My guess is that she did very little warming up before these marathon roles, feeling techncally secure enough to let the voice "find itself" over the course of the evening. Given the raging, ranting and raving Isolde does right out of the gate, such an approach would seem to require a lot of self-confidence! Nilsson remarked that at the end of Tristan she felt as if she could sing it again from the beginning. Given how she sang the "Liebestod" that night - with perfect ease, freshness and beauty - I don't think she was joking. I can understand why other singers speak of her with a certain awe.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

howlingfantods said:


> There's something almost not human about her voice--like she makes sounds that come out of a steam whistle more than a human person.


Ha ha. I know what you mean. A friend of mine played her "Ho jo to ho" (on the Solti set) for an acquaintance who wasn't into opera, and the guy just about exploded in amazement that a human could make a sound like that. I still have that feeling when I listen to her live Turandot (with Corelli under Gavazzeni). It just dawns on you that what you're hearing can't be real. I think this - besides her sheer competence at meeting the music's demands for range and power - is what makes her a great Brunnhilde. A valkyrie isn't a creature like you and me, after all.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Nilsson is a voice one must certainly admire - just listen to her power over the orchestra live in Tristan with Bohm at Bayreuth. If anyone cannot admire this they need to oil their admiring complex. However, I must confess she is not a voice I really love as it is very steely and not particularly rounded. Someone said she was rather one-dimensional but that one dimension was pretty formidable. She was an absolutely great artist no doubt. I have her as Lady Macbeth in which she has exactly the right voice even though the actual coloratura is sometimes beyond her. As Isolde and Brunnhilde she was incomparable in her way but to love I prefer Dernersch or Price as Isolde.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

Woodduck said:


> Those who find Nilsson's timbre unpleasantly bright would have had a somewhat different impression in the acoustics of the opera house. I heard her as Isolde and as the _Gotterdammerung_ Brunnhilde at the Met in 1972 and was slightly surprised that her sound came across as a bit darker and mellower than what I'd heard on recordings. The other thing I recall distinctly is the way in which her voice seemed to become lighter and fresher as the evening progressed. My guess is that she did very little warming up before these marathon roles, feeling techncally secure enough to let the voice "find itself" over the course of the evening. Given the raging, ranting and raving Isolde does right out of the gate, such an approach would seem to require a lot of self-confidence! Nilsson remarked that at the end of Tristan she felt as if she could sing it again from the beginning. Given how she sang the "Liebestod" that night - with perfect ease, freshness and beauty - I don't think she was joking. I can understand why other singers speak of her with a certain awe.


This is fascinating and it's true that big voices aren't quite captured by a studio microphone faithfully (especially sopranos). I'm glad you got to hear her live.

N.


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## Diminuendo (May 5, 2015)

Turandot for me. Well anytime she is paired with Corelli. Nilsson is a singer that I rarely listen, but certainly with an amazing voice. Nilsson and Corelli really made a great pairing. Although Corelli was great with many other sopranos like Callas and Tebaldi. I love this video where Corelli suprises Nilsson in a talk show.






There are other videos of this talk show appearance in which Corelli sings L'ultima Canzone. He sounds better than late in his career. I guess he could finaly relax and not be a nervous wreck about performing. It always amazes me that someone who is so talented could be so nervous. Well we are all human in the end. This was filmed in 1981 so his voice did improve after he retired.


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