A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Nilsson, Christine

by Alexis Chitty

NILSSON, Christine, was born Aug. 20, 1843, near Wexiö in the district of Wederslof, Sweden, where her father was a very small farmer on the estate of Count Hamilton.^[1] From an early date she showed great aptitude for music, and her voice proved the means of her introduction to Baroness Leuhusen, née Valerius, herself formerly a singer, from whom the young vocalist received some lessons. She was afterwards instructed by Franz Berwald of Stockholm, and in six months sang at Court. Miss Nilsson accompanied the Baroness Leuhusen to Paris, and studied singing under M. Wartel. She made her début at the Théâtre Lyrique Oct. 27, 1864, as Violetta, in a French version of La Traviata; and afterwards appeared as Lady Henrietta, Astrifiammante, and Elvira (Don Giovanni), etc. She remained at the Lyrique nearly three years, after which she came to England, and made her first appearance June 8, 1867, at Her Majesty's as Violetta, with great success, subsequently playing in the other characters mentioned above, and as Margaret in Faust. The same season she sang at the Crystal Palace, and also at the Birmingham Festival in oratorio, for which she was instructed by Mr. Turle, organist of Westminster Abbey, more especially with regard to the traditional style of Handel's songs. On Oct. 23 she took farewell of the Théâtre Lyrique by creating the principal part in ^[2]Les Bluets of Jules Cohen. She was then engaged by the Académie de Musique for the part of Ophelia in Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet, in which she appeared on its production March 9, 1868, with very great success.

In 1868 Miss Nilsson reappeared in Italian Opera at Drury Lane, whither the company had migrated by reason of the fire at Her Majesty's, with the same éclat as before, and added to her repertoire the rdles of Lucia and Cherubino. In that year she sang 'From mighty kings,' and 'Wise men flattering,' at the Handel Festival. She sang in the autumn at Baden-Baden, appearing for the first time as Mignon, and in the winter returned to the Académie, Paris. In 1869 she played Ophelia in the production of Hamlet at Covent Garden. In the autumn she made a provincial tour, singing later in London, at Exeter Hall, in the Messiah, Creation, Hymn of Praise, etc., and returning to Paris for the winter.

In the summer season of 1870, Mr. Wood having taken Drury Lane for Italian Opera, Miss Nilsson was engaged as one of the stars, and she then played for the first time in England as Alice, the Countess (Figaro), Desdemona, and Mignon. On July 17 she sang the scena 'Ah perfido,' at the Philharmonic, on the commemoration of the centenary of Beethoven's birth, with a beauty of conception and expression which can never be forgotten by those who heard it.

From the autumn of 1870 to the spring of 1872 Miss Nilsson was in America singing in concerts and Italian opera under M. Strakosch, when she added Flotow's comic opera 'L' Ombre' to her other parts. She returned to Drury Lane in the summer of 1872, and on July 27 was married at Westminster Abbey to M. Auguste Rouzaud of Paris [App. p.731 "died Feb. 22, 1882"]. From 1872 to 1877 Madame Nilsson sang every season in Italian opera at Drury Lane and Her Majesty's, creating Edith in Balfe's Talismano, June 18, 1874, and Elsa on the production of Lohengrin at Drury Lane in 1875, a part which she had previously played in America. During the winter and spring of these last years, Madame Nilsson has either sung in the provinces in opera or at concerts, or been engaged at the Opera of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vienna, etc. She paid a second visit to America for the winter seasons of 1873 and 74. She has only once visited her native country in a professional capacity, viz. in 1876, when she made a tour in Scandinavia with remarkable ^[3]success. [App. p.731 "she created the parts of Margaret and Helen of Troy in Boito's 'Mefistofele,' when that work was produced in England, July 6, 1880. She played at the same theatre in 1881, since when she has only been heard in concerts. She married Count Casa di Miranda in March 1887. She has retired altogether into private life since her farewell concerts, the second and last of which took place June 20, 1888."]

Her voice is of moderate power, great sweetness, brilliancy, and evenness in all the register, the compass being about two and a half octaves, from G natural to D in alt.^[4] Her style is especially suited to the more pathetic parts of opera, being peculiarly excellent as Elsa, Margaret, and Mignon; for Valentine, while looking the part to perfection, she lacks the necessary physique. During her earlier seasons her success was helped by a certain naïveté of look and manner which was very charming.

[ A. C. ]

1. This little farm, called Sjöabol, was afterwards purchased by Miss Nilsson, after the death of her parents, with her first professional earnings, and giren to her eldest brother.
2. An opera which fell flat in spite of her singing.
3. She is at present (Feb. 1880), singing at Madrid.
4. It was formerly nearly three octaves, but she has spared the higher part lately on the advice of Rossini, on acount of the great strain.