Thursday May 17th, 2018 - The great Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson (above) would have been 100 years old today. The diva was at her peak during my early years of being an opera fanatic. I heard her on the Texaco broadcasts as the Brunnhildes, Isolde, Tosca, Aida, the BALLO Amelia, Leonore, Elisabeth/Venus, and Salome before finally getting to experience her in live performance as Turandot - my first opera at the New Met - in 1966. The impact of her voice in the House was astonishing.
I saw Nilsson's Turandot (above) four more times in the ensuing seasons, and also a thrilling Tosca that she sang during the Met's 1970 June Festival opposite Corelli and MacNeil.
Above: Birgit Nilsson and Jess Thomas as Tristan and Isolde
In 1971, Nilsson was my first Isolde on the opening night of the August Everding/Gunther Schneider-Siemssen production of TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, with Jess Thomas, Mignon Dunn, Thomas Stewart, and John Macurdy, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf. Here is her Liebestod from that evening:
Birgit Nilsson - Liebestod - Met 11~18~71 - Leinsdorf
As the 70s progressed, Nilsson's sense of pitch became unreliable, and we began to avoid her performances. But in her heyday, when we called her 'The Great White Goddess' or - simply - 'The Big B', she was magnificent.
~ Oberon