I saw her star in Tristan and Isolde in 1973 at the Antique D'Orange in Provence......simply amazing!
Birgit Nilsson, whose prodigious voice, unrivaled stamina and thrilling high notes made her the greatest Wagnerian soprano of the post-World War II era, has died. She was 87.
A funeral was held Wednesday at a church in her native town of Vastra Karup in southern Sweden with only her closest relatives attending, said Fredrik Westerlund, the church's vicar. He did not know when Nilsson died or the cause of death.
Born on a farm in Vastra Karup, Nilsson reigned supreme at opera houses around the world during her long career, which began with her debut in 1946 at the Stockholm Royal Opera as Agathe in Weber's "Der Freischutz" and continued until the mid-1980s when she retired.
She sang a wide variety of dramatic soprano roles, but her reputation was based especially on her mastery of a handful of the most punishing in the operatic repertory. Chief among these was Isolde in Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde," which she sang for her sensational debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1959.
It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story...
AGATHA CHRISTIE, Life magazine, May 14, 1956
