# Birgit Nilsson Sings the Queen of the Night



## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

Sorry, no link! I post this somewhat provocative headline :lol: in honor of my receiving today _La Nilsson -- My Life In Opera,_ the great diva's autobiography. Full of a self-deprecating sense of humor, the book is one I have only started but one that promises to be an immensely enjoyable read. The Foreword is in the form of a letter addressed to "My Dear Birgit" from Sir Georg Solti. Here's just the crucial bit:

"We had just finished a concert performance of _Salome_ in Chicago and were waiting backstage to go out and accept the applause of the audience. Suddenly you began vocalizing the Queen of the Night's aria, a piece that your colleagues in their best years and best form feared. And this after singing Salome? I was speechless but your only comment was, 'Oh, that is no problem for me.' This, for me, explains your long and extraordinary career: no matter what problems--musical or other--you came up against, we, your devoted fans, were never aware."

I promise to add some other tempting morsels to this thread as I get deeper into the book, and encourage others who own it (or not) to do the same.

I got to see Birgit Nilsson perform live only once, in Woolsey Hall at Yale, about 1969. What I remember most clearly, other than her regal bearing, was the unusual _shape_ of her voice. Most voices are larger in the middle and smaller at the bottom and, especially, the top. Not hers. If she could sing loudly enough, she could sing the highest notes. I don't think she had a pianissimo high C, but who wanted that anyway? I remember she sang the "Ozean, du Ungeheuer" from Weber's _Oberon,_ with that _réjouissance_ in E-flat at the end when Rezia is sure she sees Hüon's ship in the distance. That climactic high C was the most enormous, gorgeous, deafening sound I ever heard in a concert hall. Both I and my friend Joe were absolutely gobsmacked that such a voice existed.

Bis später!

George


----------



## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

So, in the book Nilsson reveals that she has perfect pitch, something she thought all persons had. I always wondered how she was able to learn so many Strauss-Wagner roles and seemingly always be in the center of the pitch around ever-shifting tonalities. (My own sense of pitch, while quite well-developed as a singer, is very much relative -- I relate each note I sing to the note before it or to the surrounding harmony, like most singers. I can't imagine ever trying to sing a 12-tone/atonal piece.)

But I digress. In her opening preview "MY Debut at the Met" (in _Tristan und Isolde_, a radiant triumph, of course) she talks about how Wagner feared that Tristan could be banned. "The music was so strong and moving and so seductive that he feared for the sanity of the singers and the audience." She mentions that the first Tristan, Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld, died shortly after the premiere.

Then this provocative bit. "One speaks of Mozart, Verdi, and Strauss lovers, but of Wagner fanatics. His music not only strengthens the personality of the singer but raises the standard of his performance and deepens his expressiveness. Wagner himself was addicted to his own musical 'drugs.' "

More later. Such a fun read!


----------



## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

I was lucky enough to attend recitals by Nilsson and Pavarotti in the same venue within a month or two of each other. Both of those voices floored me.


----------



## Dins (Jun 21, 2011)

I have been meaning to read La Nilsson for quite a while, but Barelytenor's post finally made me do it. Its a very interesting read, i started yesterday and I am halfway through. It is interesting to read her thoughts about her colleges and the conductors she has worked with. 

To say that Karajan and Birgit did not get along well is somewhat of an understatement for example. 
She writes this about Karajan (roughly translated since i'm reading this in Swedish of course) "He used some refined methods against singers who dared to have a different opinion. He "ran" over them. He could drown them, he could cue the orchestra before the singer had finished the phrase, he could increase the tempi in the good singable parts, etc. etc. I sit in my dressing room and hear through the speakers which singer that presently was was in trouble with the maestro."


----------



## rsmithor (Jun 30, 2011)

*Birgit Nilsson Voice?... In Salome... A working Laser?*



Barelytenor said:


> Sorry, no link! I post this somewhat provocative headline :lol: in honor of my receiving today _La Nilsson -- My Life In Opera,_ the great diva's autobiography. Full of a self-deprecating sense of humor, the book is one I have only started but one that promises to be an immensely enjoyable read. The Foreword is in the form of a letter addressed to "My Dear Birgit" from Sir Georg Solti. Here's just the crucial bit:
> 
> "We had just finished a concert performance of _Salome_ in Chicago and were waiting backstage to go out and accept the applause of the audience. Suddenly you began vocalizing the Queen of the Night's aria, a piece that your colleagues in their best years and best form feared. And this after singing Salome? I was speechless but your only comment was, 'Oh, that is no problem for me.' This, for me, explains your long and extraordinary career: no matter what problems--musical or other--you came up against, we, your devoted fans, were never aware."
> 
> ...


I had the pleasure of seeing the Chicago Symphony at Carnegie Hall... (many times) But this was Salome with Birgit Nilsson... After it was all over I was left gasping for air... The ovation was deafening, lasting 20 mins or more... I was hanging in the front row, second tire box, just off stage left... Ms Nilsson standing center stage with the other soloists, in a long gown, and in flat shoes... As the concert moved on... every time Solti whipped the orchestra into a louder crescendo... waves of sound rolled like thunder through our seats at Carnegie Hall... Ms Nilsson would spread her stance a bit, stand flat footed and she would just sing... her notes would get louder... she'd just focus her voice, aim and it would cut through those waves of sound like a surfer cuts through a great wave... and on and on the evening went... onto the next wave... Ms Nilsson was ready and as cool as cool can be... What a Salome... (sounding like a 14yr old... Ha... Not) What a night... (I saved the program, it rests in my Solti/Nilsson Salome LP) After hearing her sing live, as an Audiophile, I instantly understood why her voice, Birgit Nilsson's voice, is almost unrecordable... what microphone, what audio tape, could stand a direct blast from her voice. (it's no wonder she didn't like the sound of her voice, recorded... Her recorded voice must have paled to the sound she heard coming back at her in those great opera houses she's sang in worldwide) That night her voice WAS a laser beam... cutting through the largest sound that Richard Strauss, The Chicago Symphony, Carnegie Hall and Solti could muster.... Awesome!!!... and I'm sure it will never be repeated in my lifetime...








Richard Strauss, Salome, Carnegie Hall, 1974

The 1974 concert performance of Salome. Salome Narraboth: George Shirley; Jokanaan: Norman Bailey; Salome: Birgit Nilsson; Herodes: Ragnar Ulfung; Herodias: Ruth Hesse; Page: Sandra Walker. Carnegie Hall, New York. December 18, 1974. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti...


----------

