THE TEN GREATEST SOPRANOS Heard Live 3 Birgit Nilsson

This is a selection of videos of the Ten Greatest Sopranos I had the joy to hear in live performance. The order is simply when I first heard them. They are all from my impressionable student days, chosen because every one of these great singers gave performances as vivid to me now as when I first heard them. Every one was more than just a voice and they all sang, in their very different ways, so as to move, excite and enchant.

I heard Birgit Nilsson just once, when she deputised at very short notice as Isolde. My memory of this magnificent Soprano is of her stillness, dignity and power. There were no extraneous histrionics and her huge voice was at one with the orchestra, yet always audible and never overwhelmed.

The set was a plain sloping disc, modified with suitable additions for the three different scenes. It stood before a dark blue cyclorama and was sensitively lit with patches of light amidst dappled shadows. The stage picture was agreeable to contemplate for all the three long acts.

What I remember most are the final moments when Nilsson stood for the Liebestod, firm as a rock, lit almost halo-like from above. With her soaring voice, this was the Isolde one had dreamt of hearing.


nb video cropped to eliminate the running time numbers

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Ten
• Greatest
• Sopranos
• Heard
• Live
• Opera
• Covent
• Garden
• Birgit
• Nilsson

[VivaRenata]

Nice project, but please don't place Nilsson in the same category as Flagstad. I heard Nilsson live many times, and only regret that I'm not older than I am today. I wish I were old enough to have heard Flagstad live. Nilsson only gives us a pale imitation of what this music might be. And for those out there who don't like my opinions, VivaRenata is Swedish but appreciates the greatest Wagnerian soprano of all times, born in our neighbouring country Norway.

[CharlotteinWeimar]

@VivaRenata I appreciate your comments. Each soprano is in this selection on their own merits because of the impression they made on me at the time & not in any way as a comparison. Fortunately I heard Kirsten Flagstad in her very last performance, singing Grieg songs in the Royal Albert Hall, & very wonderful she was. Hers was a huge, all enveloping, warm voice quite different from Nilsson's. However, in her own way, Nilsson was truly impressive & undeniably one of the finest I heard.

[ebony1911]

I first heard Nilsson's Isolde in 1972 at the Met with Jess Thomas. She was in spectacular voice Everything worked. I thanked God that I'd survived Viet-Nam in tact to hear that voice and participate in the Grandeur that was Nilsson's Isolde. No one who saw Nilsson in the Curse ever forgot it or saw it equalled by other Isoles. Her stamina in the second act..WOW!!. She sang the liebestod without the slightest effort. It was the greatest operatic performance of my life. It was broadcast.

[CharlotteinWeimar]

Thanks so much for all the "live" comments. It is so special to have genuine memories of wonderful performances in the opera house because recordings don't tell the whole story.

[CharlotteinWeimar]

If you heard this great singer live, please post a description.

[Greatfan]

Birgit Nilsson was a miracle of charisma and personality above anything else, including her magnificent voice. She projected herself more than her voice, which was cold and fresh, and sometimes steely yet with a special roundness that made the result more human. I saw her many times, most of them in Buenos Aires, and once in a glorious Turandot in Paris. Her high C in Siegfried was a bell, like a huge bell banging all over the opera house. It was not just big, it was a miracle.

[Operanut9]

@lawdocdc89 Yes, you are so correct. The lack of "wobble' was one of her greatest strengths, but many find that unsettleing since they are accustomed to singers with pronounced wobble.

[tented]

A truly great soprano, singing some of the greatest music ever written. Thank you for sharing this. You are extremely fortunate to have heard her live.

[bellini7verdi]

muy buena.......pero escuchen a.....HANNE LORE KUHSE.....MUCHO MAS DRAMATICA ROMANTICA Y CONTUNDENTE.UNA SOPRANO ALEMANA DE LOS 70....MUCHO MAS ENERGETICA Y WAGNERIANA QUE birgit nilsson........busquenla......­...y quedaran boquiabiertos.....es estremecedora........mucho mas que esto que escuchan como de aqui a LIMA

[lawdocdc89]

Cannot quibble with the choices. Flagstad had the timbre of a woodwind. Think about a performance of Walkure with Crespin as Brunhilde, Nilsson as last minute sub as Siglinde! Think of Tosca with Visi d'arte sung on her stomach!

Nilsson's lack of wobble throws a lot of people.

[lawdocdc89]

Cannot quibble with the choices.  Flagstad had the timbre of a woodwind. Think about a performance of Walkure with Crespin as Brunhilde, Nilsson as last minute sub as Siglinde! Think of Tosca with Visi d'arte sung on her stomach!

[lhrlyc]

you were so lucky - I have not had the chance to hear her live - I would giove [almost] anything to see my shortlist of "missed" singers, and Nilsson is right up there along with Callas

[halavey]

Amazing I heard her in 74 sing with Jose C. In Los Angeles as Tosca and she could sing softly with that big voice and then open up and blow you away but she blended with him-- a young Jose and it was beautiful.

[pellmeli]

I heard her in Chicago, San Francisco, and NYC. To see and hear her sing this piece of music in a sitzprobe leaning back in her chair with a sweater over her shoulders remains an unforgettable image.