Birgit Nilsson
November 3, 2009 10:53 AM Subscribe
A big, blunt woman with a wicked sense of humor, Ms. Nilsson brooked no interference from Wagner's powerful and eventful orchestra writing. When she sang Isolde or Brünnhilde, her voice pierced through and climbed above it.
It was not just the sheer size of her voice that overwhelmed recording studio microphones. It was the almost physical presence of her shimmering sound that made it so distinctive.
It was not just the sheer size of her voice that overwhelmed recording studio microphones. It was the almost physical presence of her shimmering sound that made it so distinctive.
I am still as saddened by her death as I was the day I heard of it. Nilsson has probably as much to do with my love of Wagner as the music itself. Her voice was a dragon, and the woman herself was an elemental force.
I think I'm going to go put on my much better encoded version of that performance from Gotterdammerung linked to above, and wish for a singer of her power and endurance to come again very soon.
posted by strixus at 11:10 AM on November 3, 2009 [2 favorites]
I think I'm going to go put on my much better encoded version of that performance from Gotterdammerung linked to above, and wish for a singer of her power and endurance to come again very soon.
posted by strixus at 11:10 AM on November 3, 2009 [2 favorites]
Hojotoho!
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:24 AM on November 3, 2009
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:24 AM on November 3, 2009
It was all downhill after Red Sonja.
posted by euphorb at 12:37 PM on November 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by euphorb at 12:37 PM on November 3, 2009 [1 favorite]
Ah, to be a soprano and have all my best one-liners recorded for posterity...
posted by nosila at 2:16 PM on November 3, 2009
posted by nosila at 2:16 PM on November 3, 2009
Not to be confused with Brigitte Nielsen.
Because that's totally what I did.
posted by cestmoi15 at 2:36 PM on November 3, 2009
Because that's totally what I did.
posted by cestmoi15 at 2:36 PM on November 3, 2009
"teh original "fat lady" in the wellknown "it ain't over until the fat lady sings"
posted by infini at 11:09 AM
You never heard of Helen Traubel?
posted by Cranberry at 2:44 PM on November 3, 2009
posted by infini at 11:09 AM
You never heard of Helen Traubel?
posted by Cranberry at 2:44 PM on November 3, 2009
Wonderful post. I will be searching out some of her recordings. I also enjoyed the Miss N., model-mauled-by-lion-turned-stalker story.
posted by tellurian at 4:22 PM on November 3, 2009
posted by tellurian at 4:22 PM on November 3, 2009
> "teh original "fat lady" in the wellknown "it ain't over until the fat lady sings"
> posted by infini at 11:09 AM
>
> You never heard of Helen Traubel?
> posted by Cranberry at 5:44 PM on November 3 [+] [!]
Or Frida Leider or Kirsten Flagstad or Lotte Lehman among the Wagnerian sopranos of the first rank; or, say, Rosa Sucher or Gertrud Bindernagel among the less well known. Actually the job of singing loud enough to be heard over a Wagner-sized orchestra long enough to get through a Wagner-length opera just calls for a figure of some heft. I doubt there's ever been sylphlike slip-of-a-thing soprano who could do it. I certainly can't think of any. (Though in fairness to Flagstad she was already very great when she was still young and pretty.)
And as the picture of Gotthelf Pistor in theTarzan Siegfried outfit with Gertrude Bindernagel reminds us, the same is pretty much true for the guys. Lauritz Melchior, by consensus the greatest Wagnerian heldentenor ever, was in no danger of blowing away in a light breeze. (N.b. in that pic he's dressed as Othello, not anything Wagnerian.) And then there's Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld, who was drafted to sing Tristan by Wagner himself.
posted by jfuller at 4:27 PM on November 3, 2009 [4 favorites]
> posted by infini at 11:09 AM
>
> You never heard of Helen Traubel?
> posted by Cranberry at 5:44 PM on November 3 [+] [!]
Or Frida Leider or Kirsten Flagstad or Lotte Lehman among the Wagnerian sopranos of the first rank; or, say, Rosa Sucher or Gertrud Bindernagel among the less well known. Actually the job of singing loud enough to be heard over a Wagner-sized orchestra long enough to get through a Wagner-length opera just calls for a figure of some heft. I doubt there's ever been sylphlike slip-of-a-thing soprano who could do it. I certainly can't think of any. (Though in fairness to Flagstad she was already very great when she was still young and pretty.)
And as the picture of Gotthelf Pistor in the
posted by jfuller at 4:27 PM on November 3, 2009 [4 favorites]
As a boy Beese, my father explained to me that opera plots already required so much suspension of disbelief that ignoring the heft of the singers was a trivial addition to the burden.
In wondering whether Leonie Rysanek might have been an exception to the skinnies-can't-sing-Wagner rule, I did a Google image search. She seems sturdy enough here - which I link to as demonstration of Nilsson's famous quip that what a Wagnerian soprano most needs is a comfortable pair of shoes.
posted by Joe Beese at 7:01 AM on November 4, 2009
In wondering whether Leonie Rysanek might have been an exception to the skinnies-can't-sing-Wagner rule, I did a Google image search. She seems sturdy enough here - which I link to as demonstration of Nilsson's famous quip that what a Wagnerian soprano most needs is a comfortable pair of shoes.
posted by Joe Beese at 7:01 AM on November 4, 2009
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posted by infini at 11:09 AM on November 3, 2009