Die Walkure- Hojotoho! sung by Birgit Nilsson (1972, San Francisco)

[1sumiresan2]

Phänomenal!!!

[poufrette]

le meilleur Hojotoho que j'ai jamais entendu!!!!!!!!

[birgitnilsson]

To hell with trills. Who needs then when we are in front of this unique vocal phenomenon.....?

[Dunhamsky]

I happened to rehearse and perform in a RING cycle with Nilsson in the early seventies.. It was quite an experience! Her vocal technique was nothing short of incredible, and her acting and understanding of the text quite deep, albeit she chose to use a stage dialect when singing Wagner even though she happened to speak fluent German as one of her many languages.

Arrow

[LazyBoy9476]

@Dunhamsky I ENVY YOU

[wotan10950]

She takes a good shot at the trills, but doesn't really succeed. On the other hand, who has ever flung out those high phrases and made it sound so easy? Only the great Nilsson!

[birgitnilsson]

@wotan10950 Not only the great Nilsson, but NIlsson the Unique.

[The99Gambo]

Her Turnandot (with Jussi B) was fantastic too.

[orovalleydude]

Thanks for posting! She was 54 years old when she did this: astounding...

[Greatfan2011]

This cry is better at 54, in 1972 - than the one she gave at Teatro Colón in 1967, prove that Miss Nilsson studied a lot her own singing !

[Anibaal]

¡Gracias! Gracias por subir este documento imprescindible en los archivos enciclopédicos de youtube. Se hacía imperioso tener el grito de guerra de NILSSON!! hace cuanto que existen videos de NILSSON en youtube y nadie se dignaba a subir el grito de guerrra!!! qué voz!! qué agudos!! qué colocación de cañón!! Insuperable

[henhz]

German is a beautiful language.

[Shahrdad]

Some years ago, there was an article in Opera News called "The Trill is Gone." The writer, who is also a vocal coach, stated that voices that have the tightest focus often have the most difficulty trilling. They just seem unable to let go of the voice enough and achieve the perfect balance between control and lack of it which leads to the voice vibrating freely between two pitches. This can also explain Caballe's lack of a trill. He also says that with enough practice, it can be learned.

[Shahrdad]

Thanks so much for posting this. It's quite impressive. But I still do not hear a trill. I hear her hitting the top note of the trill, and I think she is hoping the voice will find its groove and start vibrating between the two notes, but all that comes out is a vibrato. It's certainly not the clean articulation between the two notes one hears from Leider or Callas (in the Salgo Gia from Nabucco).

[Greatfan2011]

@Shahrdad I am a Nilsson's greatest fan, thus my nick. But I love trills too. Some singers have it in superlative form like Bergonzi, or, of course, Sutherland. Nilsson's try is not perfect, I admit, it is more like ' moving the vibrato '. I agree. But you must take into account that trills are purely glottal and she needed all the breath support for the war cry. Nilsson had filati but not trills. Corelli had no trills either.

[ketillflatnefur]

@Shahrdad few if any wagnerians had a real trill - it's really a different kind of voice. Some can sort of trick you into maybe believing they are doing it, but most can't. Nilsson otherwise had a lot of fleixibility and was able to articulate well. you seem to not be familiar with the wagnerian tradition and vocal history.

[Shahrdad]

@ketillflatnefur You should look at an article in Opera News called "The Trill is Gone" . According to the author, trills are something that are teachable and used to be taught. Even large-voiced singers could trill well (Flagstad, Ponselle, Leider, and recently Eaglen). I have heard Nilsson attempt some florid music, but never very successfully; her training just did not equip her for florid music the same way Leider's Italian training did.

[ketillflatnefur]

@Shahrdad Also, Leider's voice jiggles so much she often sounds like she is almost trilling most of the time in dramatic passages. What does Callas have to do with the wagnerian traidition? I love her singing of Wagner, but it is not Germanic in any sense, nor does it need to be.

[VivaMariaCallas]

@ketillflatnefur I think he's just talking about trills in general, and Callas certainly has a fantastic trill. Plus, she did sing Brunnhilde.

Also, it's important to note that being able to trill is not the same as having a flexible voice. Caballe's was very flexible, yet she couldn't trill.

[Shahrdad]

@ketillflatnefur If you listen to Leider in her prime, there is no wobble at all, and the trills are perfect. Jane Eaglen, likewise, could trill beautifully. Callas sang Isolde, Brunnhilde, and Kundry to great acclaim, and we must not forget that Wager's favorite opera was Norma and that he wrote for voices that were trained in the Italian bel canto school, in which trills were required and necessary. What we think of as Germanic singing probably is a product of the 20th Century.