...in high heels, and with a sweater casually sliding off her shoulder. Without calling attention to it, she adjusts and the magnificent sounds are not affected in the least. The rest of us couldn't evev talk under those circumstances without halting for a moment of readjustment.
I saw her Turandot Salome and Electra in the 60s. I was barely 20. She was and remains a phenom. I was in the standing room section at the old Met, and recall like it’s yesterday how her voice sailed over the orchestra in Strauss’ Salome. As glorious as her voice is on recordings it’s carry power in person was unmatched. A friend of mine in the the Met chorus told me how humble she was, eating with them, running out to the vegetable market near the old Met in the cold. So down to earth and of course it’s all there in her voice. Gratitude for Birgit and her wonderful parents who nurtured her great talent.
Also I met Nilsson back stage after Salome, because a huge fan of hers, my friend Jim, was not shy and was no stranger to going backstage. She seemed so accessible to her public. She took off her dark wig very nonchalantly. She was alone. Jim said she negotiated her own contracts at that stage of her career. She was friendly but I was too dumbfounded to speak. Another time, I saw her getting out of a Volkswagen bug at Lincoln center for a matinee she was to perform. I saw her another time in the 60s when she attended a Schwarzkopf recital, it was said to study lieder. Again she seemed alone. The last time I saw her she was walking by herself down Columbus avenue the 1970s toward the Met: I was looking out the window of the Rockinghorse cafe on Columbus avenue. Scouts honor, not long before I saw Zinka Milanov on 72nd toward Columbus avenue. Zinka lived in my building at 15 west 72nd and it was great fun to hear her humming at the mailbox. My friend the composer Richard Hundley would sometimes play lessons she taught and I met her. As I observed Nilsson walking south on Columbus I thought OMG she and Milanov perhaps have just crossed paths unknowingly -so forever after I called Columbus ave at 72nd the corner of Nilsson and Milanov . Oh well, 50 plus years later these are my indelible memories and musings. I feel so blessed to have Nilsson and Milanov in my life. Hope you enjoyed !
Those are wonderful anecdotes. I love seeing her, in a documentary,còoking Swedish meatballs for her fans on a hot plate in her hotel room. They all exchanged gifts. She gave each of them a gift. She was herself a gift from the gods, a divine presence among us.
@@Bravilor I do not know which youtube you are referring to. Of course, there is "A League of Her Own," which is a beautiful tribute to her, and I am sure you know of that. I did have, but cannot now find(!) a b&w documentary that is also quite excellent. It has a section in which she cooks dinner for some fans in her hotel suite, and they exchange Xmas presents. If you come across this, please let me know. Somehow, I have lost it.
@@Operafreak9 Yeah the one you are talking about with the meatball and gifts I am sure I have seen on youtube before. I wonder if it is in connection with the scene where someone leads a horse into a recording session?
At the same time, I saw Ms. Nilsson when visiting Lord and Taylor surrounded by an excited flock of fans and minions and she laughed and talked with them as she perused the displays.
I met her once - at a book-signing. I mentioned that it was my birthday, and she autographed the book with a great big flourish! And she was wearing sensible shoes!!
Hate to pontificate but Wagner disdained the redemption by love designation. It is actually the " Glorification of Bruenhilde," a title she has earned as the individual who brings the 16 hours together in a meaningful conclusion. It is first sung by Sieglinde in the Magnificat moment when Sieglinde sings it at the top of her lungs when Bruehilde rescues her from suicide by telling her she is pregnant with Siegfried. Sieglinde sings of the sublime wonder and the magnificence of Bruenhilde to this leitmotif. Wagner used it only twice in the 16 hours, so it is apparent it was core to his conception..
@@Operafreak9 Any words to express my gratitude for this precious information couldn't be enough... It's impressive it happended again... The same with the scaring so wrongly called "liebestod", what a misconception to call that, a death love, when Isolda surpassed life itself to an upper state as wagner called it "Verklärung" what means transfiguration.
Thank you for this great response and for your insight into Isolde's Verklaerung. It is a thrilling experience to share insights into the miracle that was Wagner. Thanks
@@moisessalaslopez5352 Thank you so much for this very kind response to my posting. I love your exuberance. There is much I would like to say about Parsifal, but before we get into meanings (another posting?), let's start with the response that others have had similar to yours. But before I forget, I think the best thing you can do is to get the Met DVD of the 2013 production with Kaufmann, Pape, and Dalyman. THAT is quite an experience. RESPONSES: Let's start with Nietzsche, who as you know, fell out with Wagner over Parsifal, and some other things, but when Nietzsche was honest with himself, he could not resist the music's soulful intensity. He said, "The glories Parsifal promises us can comfort us in all matters where we need comfort." then he said," after hearing the Prelude, "a sublime and extraordinary feeling...and event of the soul...an awful severity of judgement which sees through the soul, piercing it as with knives." "Only Dante is comparable," he said, "nobody else." Father Owen Lee, who is one of the best commentators on Wagner said he came out of Parsifal performances with "the music streaming through me, carried out of myself, seeing my experience--indeed, feeling that I was seeing all experience--at a higher level of awareness, unable to speak, put in touch with a power greater than myself." Mahler wrote," Emerging speechless from the Festspielhaus, I realized that I had undergone the greatest and most soul-wrenching experience in my life, and that I would carry this experience with me for the rest of my days. "Sibelius said, " Nothing else in all the world had made so overwhelming an impression on me. All my innermost heartstrings throbbed, " and Hugo Wolf who declared ,"Parsifal by far the most beautiful and sublime work in the whole field of art," added," My whole being reels in the perfect world of this." Father Lee mentions a colleague at St. Michael's College, Etienne Wilson, who" wept openly in the midst of a lecture at the thought of Wagner's medieval myth in music, and said that nothing in art meant more to him than Parisfal's purity, steadfastness, and sense of compassion' and he said" it "is the greatest of operas, highest in the heaven of heavens." This could go on forever, but your response to Parsifal, I can assure you, is not unlike that of many great composers,a rtists, teachers, priests, and everyday people.
...in high heels, and with a sweater casually sliding off her shoulder. Without calling attention to it, she adjusts and the magnificent sounds are not affected in the least. The rest of us couldn't evev talk under those circumstances without halting for a moment of readjustment.
I saw her Turandot Salome and Electra in the 60s. I was barely 20. She was and remains a phenom. I was in the standing room section at the old Met, and recall like it’s yesterday how her voice sailed over the orchestra in Strauss’ Salome. As glorious as her voice is on recordings it’s carry power in person was unmatched. A friend of mine in the the Met chorus told me how humble she was, eating with them, running out to the vegetable market near the old Met in the cold. So down to earth and of course it’s all there in her voice. Gratitude for Birgit and her wonderful parents who nurtured her great talent.
Also I met Nilsson back stage after Salome, because a huge fan of hers, my friend Jim, was not shy and was no stranger to going backstage. She seemed so accessible to her public. She took off her dark wig very nonchalantly. She was alone. Jim said she negotiated her own contracts at that stage of her career. She was friendly but I was too dumbfounded to speak. Another time, I saw her getting out of a Volkswagen bug at Lincoln center for a matinee she was to perform. I saw her another time in the 60s when she attended a Schwarzkopf recital, it was said to study lieder. Again she seemed alone. The last time I saw her she was walking by herself down Columbus avenue the 1970s toward the Met: I was looking out the window of the Rockinghorse cafe on Columbus avenue. Scouts honor, not long before I saw Zinka Milanov on 72nd toward Columbus avenue. Zinka lived in my building at 15 west 72nd and it was great fun to hear her humming at the mailbox. My friend the composer Richard Hundley would sometimes play lessons she taught and I met her. As I observed Nilsson walking south on Columbus I thought OMG she and Milanov perhaps have just crossed paths unknowingly -so forever after I called Columbus ave at 72nd the corner of Nilsson and Milanov . Oh well, 50 plus years later these are my indelible memories and musings. I feel so blessed to have Nilsson and Milanov in my life. Hope you enjoyed !
Those are wonderful anecdotes. I love seeing her, in a documentary,còoking Swedish meatballs for her fans on a hot plate in her hotel room. They all exchanged gifts. She gave each of them a gift. She was herself a gift from the gods, a divine presence among us.
@@Operafreak9 I can no longer find the clips where she meets her fans, do you have a link? or know what the video is called
@@Bravilor
I do not know which youtube you are referring to. Of course, there is "A League of Her Own,"
which is a beautiful tribute to her, and I am sure you know of that. I did have, but cannot now find(!) a b&w documentary that is also quite excellent. It has a section in which she cooks dinner for some fans in her hotel suite, and they exchange Xmas presents. If you come across this, please let me know. Somehow, I have lost it.
@@Operafreak9 Yeah the one you are talking about with the meatball and gifts I am sure I have seen on youtube before. I wonder if it is in connection with the scene where someone leads a horse into a recording session?
This whole clip is just amazing. Nilsson was a titan
At the same time, I saw Ms. Nilsson when visiting Lord and Taylor surrounded by an excited flock of fans and minions and she laughed and talked with them as she perused the displays.
I met her once - at a book-signing. I mentioned that it was my birthday, and she autographed the book with a great big flourish! And she was wearing sensible shoes!!
Lucky man!
Amazingly beautiful
What a find - Is this from the recording sessions of the Solti Ring Cycle?
Exactly!
Fantastic
Great
Класна Біргіт.
Someone can tell me if the masterpiece that sounds at 7:15 is a leitmotif of another part? I need to discover it if it exists
it is called redemption through love or somethin like that.
Hate to pontificate but Wagner disdained the redemption by love designation. It is actually the " Glorification of Bruenhilde," a title she has earned as the individual who brings the 16 hours together in a meaningful conclusion. It is first sung by Sieglinde in the Magnificat moment when Sieglinde sings it at the top of her lungs when Bruehilde rescues her from suicide by telling her she is pregnant with Siegfried. Sieglinde sings of the sublime wonder and the magnificence of Bruenhilde to this leitmotif. Wagner used it only twice in the 16 hours, so it is apparent it was core to his conception..
@@Operafreak9 Any words to express my gratitude for this precious information couldn't be enough... It's impressive it happended again... The same with the scaring so wrongly called "liebestod", what a misconception to call that, a death love, when Isolda surpassed life itself to an upper state as wagner called it "Verklärung" what means transfiguration.
Thank you for this great response and for your insight into Isolde's Verklaerung. It is a thrilling experience to share insights into the miracle that was Wagner.
Thanks
@@moisessalaslopez5352 Thank you so much for this very kind response to my posting. I love your exuberance. There is much I would like to say about Parsifal, but before we get into meanings (another posting?), let's start with the response that others have had similar to yours. But before I forget, I think the best thing you can do is to get the Met DVD of the 2013 production with Kaufmann, Pape, and Dalyman. THAT is quite an experience. RESPONSES: Let's start with Nietzsche, who as you know, fell out with Wagner over Parsifal, and some other things, but when Nietzsche was honest with himself, he could not resist the music's soulful intensity. He said, "The glories Parsifal promises us can comfort us in all matters where we need comfort." then he said," after hearing the Prelude, "a sublime and extraordinary feeling...and event of the soul...an awful severity of judgement which sees through the soul, piercing it as with knives." "Only Dante is comparable," he said, "nobody else." Father Owen Lee, who is one of the best commentators on Wagner said he came out of Parsifal performances with "the music streaming through me, carried out of myself, seeing my experience--indeed, feeling that I was seeing all experience--at a higher level of awareness, unable to speak, put in touch with a power greater than myself." Mahler wrote," Emerging speechless from the Festspielhaus, I realized that I had undergone the greatest and most soul-wrenching experience in my life, and that I would carry this experience with me for the rest of my days. "Sibelius said, " Nothing else in all the world had made so overwhelming an impression on me. All my innermost heartstrings throbbed, " and Hugo Wolf who declared ,"Parsifal by far the most beautiful and sublime work in the whole field of art," added," My whole being reels in the perfect world of this."
Father Lee mentions a colleague at St. Michael's College, Etienne Wilson, who" wept openly in the midst of a lecture at the thought of Wagner's medieval myth in music, and said that nothing in art meant more to him than Parisfal's purity, steadfastness, and sense of compassion' and he said" it "is the greatest of operas, highest in the heaven of heavens." This could go on forever, but your response to Parsifal, I can assure you, is not unlike that of many great composers,a rtists, teachers, priests, and everyday people.
Un-fucking-believeable!
I hate Wagner’s music with a passion but that Voice!! Notes plucked from practically nowhere and as large as an oil-tanker!