Nilsson, Christine (1843 - 1921) 

Swedish soprano

Christine Nilsson as Marguerite in Faust by Gounod (Motisi collection)

After her debut on the operatic stages of her native country, Christine Nilsson (née Kristina Törnerhjelm) began her international career as Violetta in La Traviata by Verdi at the Théâtre-Lyrique in Paris. By 1868, she was singing at the Opéra de Paris, where she created the role of Ophelia in Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet. The following year, she also took on the role that was to become one of her favorite, that of Marguerite in Faust by Gounod. She performed it at the inauguration of New York's Metropolitan Opera House in 1883.

Never one to shy away from a challenge, Nilsson was the first singer to perform the double role of Margherita and Hélène de Troie in Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele at Her Majesty's Theatre in London in 1880.

Extremely popular, Nilsson's concert tours throughout Europe, the United States and Canada drew huge crowds. However, in September 1885, the party turned tragic: a panic killed several of the audience in front of the balcony of Stockholm's Grand Hotel.

Christine Nilsson is one of the singers who, from Jenny Lind to Birgit Nilsson, via Jussi Björling and Nicolaï Gedda, gave Swedish singing its letters of nobility.

Discover the artist's world through various documents: each image opens the door to one of his interpretations, his portraits in civilian clothes, his autographs or press articles about him from the period