NILSSON, (MRTA) BIRGIT

ne Svennsson born May 17, 1918, West Karup, Swed. Swedish operatic soprano, celebrated as a Wagnerian interpreter and known for her powerful, rich voice. On the advice of a local choirmaster, she went to study with Joseph Hislop in Stockholm, where she joined the Royal Opera and made her debut in 1946 as Agathe in Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischtz. A year later she achieved a major success there as Giuseppi Verdi's Lady Macbeth. Other successes followed, particularly in Vienna and Bayreuth, where between 1954 and 1970 her Wagnerian roles included Isolde, Sieglinde, and Brnnhilde. In 1957 Nilsson made her debut at Covent Garden, London, as Brnnhilde in the complete Ring cycle of Richard Wagner, and in 1958 she first appeared at La Scala, Milan, in the title role of Giacomo Puccini's Turandot. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, as Isolde in 1959. Her other significant roles include Richard Strauss's Salome and Elektra, Ludwig van Beethoven's Leonore, and Carl Maria von Weber's Rieza. In 1975 she appeared in the demanding role of the Dyer's Wife in the first performance in Stockholm of Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten, which she repeated in San Francisco in 1980 and New York City in 1981. In 1969 the Austrian government gave her the honorary title of Kammersngerin (court singer), and in 1981 the Swedish government issued a postage stamp in her honour.