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The Swedish tenor Nicolai Gedda (born July 11, 1925) is a famous opera singer and recitalist. Having made some two hundred recordings, Gedda is said to be the most widely-recorded tenor in history. Gedda's singing is best known for his beauty of tone, vocal control, and musical perception. [1]
BiographyNicolai Harry Gustav Gedda (Nikolaj Ustinov in Russian) was born in Stockholm to Swedish parents, Nikolaj Gädda and Clary Linnea Lindberg. Due to the early death of his father, he was raised by his Russian stepfather Mikhail Ustinov, a distant relative of Peter Ustinov, who sang bass in a Don Cossack choir and was cantor in a Russian Orthodox church. Gedda grew up bilingual and learned English, German, Italian, and Latin.
Opera CareerAn early appraisal of Gedda's singing was offered by Walter Legge, regarding the first audition in which he heard Gedda sing for the role of Dmitry in a planned recording of Boris Godunov. "On my arrival at the airport I was asked by a swarm of journalists if I were not interested in hearing their excellent young Swedish voices. Naturally I was interested, but I did not expect either the front page stories that appeared next morning or the mass of letters and almost incessant telephone calls asking to be heard. I had to ask the Director of the Opera for a room for a couple of days to hear about 100 young aspirants. The first to sing to me (at 9.30 in the morning) was Gedda who had I believe sung only once in public. He sang the Carmen Flower Song so tenderly yet passionately that I was moved almost to tears. He delivered the difficult rising scale ending with a clear and brilliant B flat. Almost apologetically I asked him to try to sing it as written -- pianissimo, rallentando and diminuendo. Without turning a hair he achieved the near-miracle, incredibly beautifully and without effort. I asked him to come back at 8 that evening and sent word to my wife that a great singer had fallen into my lap and to Dobrowen that, believe it or not, this 23-year-old Gedda was the heaven-sent Dmitry for our Boris."[2] In 1952, at the age of 27, Gedda made his debut at the Royal Swedish Opera, performing the role of Chapelou in Adolphe Adam's Le Postillon de Longjumeau. In this same year he also performed the role of Nicklausse in Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann and the tenor role in Der Rosenkavalier. After an audition in Stockholm, Gedda gained the attention of conductor Herbert von Karajan, who took him to Italy. In 1953, he made his début at La Scala as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni. In 1954, he made his Paris Opera debut in the tenor role in Weber's Oberon, and was given a permanent contract for several years. In 1957, Gedda made his Metropolitan Opera début in the title role of Gounod's Faust, and went on to sing 28 roles there over the next 26 years, including the world premieres of Barber's Vanessa and Menotti's The Last Savage. Gedda made his Royal Opera House Covent Garden début in 1954 as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto and has since returned to sing Benvenuto Cellini, Alfredo, Gustavus III in Un Ballo in Maschera, Nemorino and Lensky.
Art SongIn addition to his opera performances, Gedda cultivated an active parallel career as a recitalist, with a large repertoire of French, German, Scandinavian, and Russian art songs. Gedda's language skills, intellectualism and intense musicality, as well as his extensive recordings, have rendered him particularly indispensable in this genre.[3] Autobiography
Notes
External link
fr:Nicolai Gedda fi:Nicolai Gedda sv:Nicolai Gedda
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