The Cavalier daily :: Tuesday, December 15, 1970 :: University of Virginia Library

Soprano Birgit Nilsson first
came to the attention of
international operatic audiences
through her performance of Elektra
in Mozart's "Idomenco" at the
Glyndebourne Festival in the
fifties. Her career has been a steady,
sometimes dramatic, climb to the
top, where she now is and is very
likely to remain. Each year this
extraordinarily talented woman
achieves new heights in the operatic
world. The only standard she tops
from year to year at this stage of
her career is that peak she herself
establishes. Brigit Nilsson has no
competition in her repertoire.

Triumph

This concert turned to be
another specifically "Nilsson
Triumph." Miss Nilsson started her
recital with Beethoven's concert
aria, "Ah! Shmerzan" and
Traume" seemed best, and then
songs by Richard Strauss which
were the best lieder of the evening.

Songs of Sibelius, Rangstrom
and Grieg followed in part two of
Miss Nilsson's program. One can tell
when Miss Nilsson is warming to
her audience in that she gets
"chatty" about the pieces. This
attitude on her part of course is
appreciated since it means she is
going to sing more perfectly than
before. By far the greatest success
of the evening was her rendering of
Verdi's aria from La Forza Del
Destino, "Pace, pace, mio Dio."
Her stage presence here was
consummate.

Miss Nilsson gave the most
effective reading of Verdi that I
have heard on or off the stage. I
purposely moved from the
orchestra section to the last row of
the balcony. Without the aid of any
electronic equipment, Birgit Nilsson
filled University Hall with perfectly
supported sound in each register of
her voice. Her coloration, dynamics
and fantastic vocal placement are
simply astounding.

Enthusiastic

The audience was so enthusiastic
that Miss Nilsson performed three
encores: "Visi d'Arte" from
Puccini's "Tosca," an Italian song,
and "Vienna, City of My Dreams"
to which she gave her
characteristically understated waltz.
No one is likely to hear that much
perfect sound in University Hall. It
is good to know that Miss Nilsson, a
phenomenon of the operatic world,
filled University Hall with sound so
perfectly pure where rock groups
using thousands of dollars worth of
equipment cannot.

***

Professor Donald Loach
effectively led the University of
Virginia Glee Club through its
Thirtieth Annual Christmas Concert
in Cabell Hall last Friday evening.
The house was packed, but it was
well worth standing to hear the
Glee Club briskly pace through
some very fine works by Jacob
Handel, Giovanni Palestrina, Francis
Poulenc, Heinrich Schutz, Dietrich
Buxtchude, Halsey Stevens, and of
course the traditional Christmas
carols. It was a remarkably well
balanced program, and the Club
was in excellent voice.

Responsive

The first part of the program
seemed to me the best in that the
Club seemed more responsive to the
works. The stage was attractively
decorated in the spirit of Christmas,
and the Glee Club proceeded from
various parts of Cabell Hall onto
the stage singing Handel's "Alleluia."
Especially notable were three
diverse settings of the traditional
"Hodie Christmas natus est" by
Poulenc, in Medieval Plainsong, and
finally Heinrich Schutz's setting.
The vocal coloration of this group
improves each year under the
direction of Mr. Loach.

Sing Along

It has become part of this
annual event that the audience be
drawn into singing familiar carols.
This year was no exception, and
with a full house singing the extra
ingredient seemed most fitting for
Christmas. The division of the
house for the "Twelve Days of
Christmas" should a part of
the tradition. Mr. Loach's
enthusiasm is contagious so the
singing from the stage and audience
was full and round. The concert
seems to me a very happy gift
from the University to itself and the
community at this special time of
year: "tidings of comfort and
joy."