CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 5/9/2018

Almost like a thunderbolt out of the sky: Birgit Nilsson

Featured images—of Birgit Nilsson taking her curtain call after a September 1966 performance of Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera, New York—are reproduced from Verlag für modern Kunst's exquisite new 712-page homage to the Swedish soprano. Often referred to as the last of the true Wagnerians, Nilsson was "one of the most magnificent opera singers of all time," according to Placido Domingo. He describes his first experience performing with her in Turandot: "Turandot was sitting in her palace, high above the arena's enormous stage, and Birgit's voice seemed to me almost like a thunderbolt out of the sky. I don't know why—maybe for acoustical reasons, maybe for psychological ones—but the farther away I stood, the more monumental her voice seemed. Sometimes I was so overwhelmed with admiration that I almost forgot to sing my own part. It was one of the high points of my life, not only as an artist but also as a worshipper of great singing." This book is produced to the highest possible printing standards, with special details like a clothbound, magnetized slipcase and a removable facsimile of the 500 Swedish krona banknote with Nilsson's portrait on it. Also available: Nilsson's autobiography, La Nilsson: My Life in Opera.