La Nilsson : my life in opera / Birgit Nilsson ; foreword by Sir Georg Solti ; afterword by Peggy Tueller ; translated from the German by Doris Jung Popper.

Author/creator Nilsson, Birgit
Other author Popper, Doris Jung, translator.
Format Book
Publication InfoBoston : Northeastern University Press ; Hanover, NH : Published by University Press of New England, ©2007.
Descriptionxii, 308 pages, 32 pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Subjects
Nilsson, Birgit.
Singers--Biography.

Uniform titleNilsson. English
Contents My debut at the Met -- When the little one came into the world -- The Royal Academy of Music and the Opera School in Stockholm, 1941-1946 -- The Stockholm Opera -- Rudolf Bing -- City of my dreams -- In a word --Bayreuth -- Buenos Aires -- The battle of the high Cs -- Beautiful Italy -- Fans, fanatics, and experts -- Making recordings -- Bertil, my number one admirer.
Abstract First published to wide acclaim in Sweden (1995) and in Germany (1997), the autobiography of opera legend Birgit Nilsson (1918-2005) is finally available in an English translation. From her humble roots in rural Sweden to her artistic triumphs in Stockholm, Bayreuth, Milan, and the Metropolitan Opera House, this candid memoir reveals the personality behind one of the great voices of the past century. Weaving together the private and professional, Nilsson chronicles her idyllic childhood in Vastra Karup, the early recognition of her unique natural abilities, and her first tentative steps into a wider artistic world. After achieving national acclaim in Verdi's Lady Macbeth, she went on to establish herself as the dominant Wagnerian soprano of her generation, appearing at the Bayreuth and Munich Festivals, and the Vienna and Bavarian State Opera Houses, creating, along the way, definitive performances of Sieglinde, Bruennhilde, and Isolde. The book details her rise to international stardom with behind-the-scenes recollections of her phenomenal triumph as Turandot at La Scala in 1958 and her headline-making Met premier in Tristan und Isolde the following year. Nilsson's long and illustrious career (she performed until 1984), her celebrated professional and personal relationships, her friendships and rivalries, are all recounted with a down-to-earth wit and an engagingly odd admixture of ego and selfeffacement. She tells it all: the legendary quips, the often prickly relationships with Met impresario Rudolph Bing and conductor von Karajan, the infamous story of the stalker "Miss N," and the touchingly rendered relationship with her beloved husband, Bertil Niklasson. What emerges from these pages is a diva in the old mold: a giant voice matched by an oversize personality, a professional who expected the same level of perfection from others that she demanded of herself, and a woman who loved and lived life with joy and good humor ... and oh, that voice. Includes 56 photographs and a discography.
General noteIncludes discography (pages 261-294) and index.
LCCN 2006101273
ISBN9781555536701 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN1555536700 (cloth : alk. paper)

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Music Stacks ML420.N697 A313 2007 ✔ Available Place Hold