Description

LILLIAN NORDICA, ORIGINAL NAME LILIAN NORTON, (BORN MAY 12, 1857, FARMINGTON, MAINE, U.S.—DIED MAY 10, 1914, BATAVIA, JAVA, DUTCH EAST INDIES [NOW JAKARTA, INDON.])

 

 

 

 

Nordica established herself as one of the foremost dramatic sopranos of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She had a powerful yet flexible voice and the ability to perform an unusually wide range of roles in the German, French and Italian operatic repertoires. Nordica grew up from the age of six in Boston, studied at the New England Conservatory of Music, and then gave recitals in the United States and London before resuming study in Milan. In 1879 she made her debut in Milan as Donna Elvira in W.A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni and in Brescia, Italy, as Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata. After singing in many Italian, German, and Russian cities, she made her Paris Opéra debut in 1882 as Marguerite in Charles Gounod’s Faust. In 1887 Nordica first appeared in London at Covent Garden and until 1893 performed there and at Drury Lane in such parts as Lucia, Donna Elvira, and Aida. In 1894 she was engaged at Bayreuth, Germany—the first American to be so honoured—as Elsa in Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin, and her tumultuous reception was such that she thereafter concentrated on Wagnerian parts. In 1895 she sang Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, where she remained until 1909, excelling especially as Brünnhilde and Kundry. After retiring from the Metropolitan, she launched a world farewell tour that ended in 1913 when her ship grounded in the Gulf of Papua in December. She contracted pneumonia and died of complications of the disease. Nordica’s Hints to Singers, which included many of her letters, was published in 1923.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

Götterdämmerung 28 February 1903 Immolation – Nordica

Götterdämmerung 28 February 1903 Immolation – Nordica

Götterdämmerung 23 January 1903 Immolation – Nordica

Huguenots 11 March 1901 Act IV duet – Nordica, J. de Reszke IRCC

Huguenots 11 March 1901 Act IV duet – Nordica, J. de Reszke IRCC

Huguenots 11 March 1901 Act IV duet – Nordica, J. de Reszke IRCC

Siegfried 19 January 1903 Act III Duet – Nordica, Anthes IRCC IRCC

Tristan 9 February 1903 Love Duet – Nordica, Anthes IRCC IRCC

Tristan 9 February 1903 Love Duet – Nordica, Schumann-Heink, Anthes IRCC

Tristan 9 February 1903 Love Duet – Nordica, Anthes

Tristan 7 January 1903 Isolde’s Transfiguration – Nordica IRCC IRCC

Tristan 9 February 1903 Isolde’s Transfiguration – Nordica IRCC IRCC

Walküre 21 February 1903 Hojotoho! – Nordica IRCC

Walküre 16 January 1903 Hojotoho! – Nordica, Schumann-Heink, van Rooy

Walküre 21 February 1903 Sieglinde’s Farewell – Nordica, Gadski, Bispham IRCC

Annie Laurie (Scott) 30653 30653-1 Columbia, New York 1911-02-02

Dämon (Stange) 30483 30483-2 Columbia, New York 1910-04-29

From the land of the sky blue waters (Omaha Indian Tribal Song) (Cadman); Mighty lak’ a rose (Nevin) 30486 30486-1

Gioconda (Ponchielli) Suicidio! (mx altered from 30652) 30133 30133-2 Columbia, New York 1911-02-02

Gioconda (Ponchielli) Suicidio! 30133 30133-1M-3-1 Columbia, New York 1906-04-03

Hunyadi László (Erkel) Ah rebegés 30144 30144-1 Columbia, New York 1907-05-23

Mandoline (Debussy) (RustBrooks 1911-02-02) 30657 30657-1 Columbia, New York 1911-02-03

Mignon (Thomas) Io son Titania (Rust Brooks 1911-02-02) 30661 30661-1 Columbia, New York 1911-02-03

Serenade (R Strauss) 30677 30677-1 Columbia, New York 1911-02-16

Tristan und Isolde (Wagner) Liebestod (mx renumbered from 30658) 30652 30652-1 Columbia, New York 1911-02-10

Trovatore (Verdi) Miserere (w. Reseninil) rr IRCC237 30137-2M-5-2 Columbia, New York 1906-04-03

Trovatore (Verdi) Tacea la notte placida rr IRCC232 30134-1M-6-1 Columbia, New York 1906-04-03

Walküre (Wagner) Ho-jo-to-ho! unpubl 30659-1 Columbia, New York 1911-02-03