Page 30 - Birgit Nilsson Book

After her retirement from the operatic stage Birgit Nilsson continued her involvement in the world of singing with masterclasses at the Manhattan School of Music. For ten years she listened and gave advice to young singers. She warned them of the dangers and pitfalls that might lie ahead of them — based on her own early experience of bad teachers — and the necessity of thorough preparation for performance. On those occasions when she was asked to present an award or prize to a young artist she would frequently emerge from the wings with a resounding Brünnhilde battle-cry of “Ho-jo-to-ho!”
Throughout her career Nilsson managed her own affairs and bookings and knew her worth. There are numerous tales of her altercations with producers, directors and conductors. However, such disagreements were always in the interests of the musical and dramatic aspects of the performance and were not attributable to mere whim. Her understanding of the need to preserve vocal resources — despite her legendary stamina and vocal prowess —meant that when Wieland Wagner asked her to sing all three Brünnhildes in four days she refused point blank.
A Nilsson performance guaranteed a full house and when the Metropolitan Opera’s Rudolf Bing was asked if Nilsson was dif cult he replied: “Not at all. You put enough money in and a glorious voice comes out.”. Nilsson’s relationship with Herbert von Karajan was never easy and she was frequently irritated with his seemingly endless lighting rehearsals — not least his pitch-dark production of Walküre at the Met which occasioned one colleague to counter with a gift to Nilsson of a miner’s helmet complete with lamp and Valkyrie wings!
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