“ More milk! There’s another mouth to feed’ cried out the farmhand, Otto, on the morning I was born … For my father, Nils, and for the midwife, I was however a disappointment. He was hoping to have a son and had promised the midwife fifty extra kronor if a son was delivered, but I squelched the transaction.”

“I grew up here, on the farm in Svenstad, in West Karup parish on the Bjäre peninsula. It has been in our family since Skåne became Swedish territory, and I am the seventh generation descendant of its founder, Wahlberg, a cavalryman of Karl XII.”

“In this picture I am about three years old. I remember that I absolutely did not want to be photographed alone … The girl holding me is Karin. She came to our farm as a vacation child from a poor home in Gothenburg and stayed until she married … As I was an only child, she came to be a sort of big sister to me.”

"Even as a child, I was not supposed to say ‘father’ and ‘mother’, but ‘Nils’ and ‘Stina’ … Nils was very friendly, generous, and full of humor, but he was stubborn. Stina, on the other hand, was impulsive and temperamental even though her outbursts were over as quickly as they had begun."

"My mother played the accordion with the power of a man and she sang along with an unusually strong, clear, and beautiful voice. She was often asked to sing at the village festivities in various localities. She was slim, graceful and very pretty."

"When I was four Otto bought me a child’s piano at the football fair in Båstad. It was the size of a large cigar box and had the range of an octave in C-major. The black half tones were merely painted. On this little piano I played all the melodies I could and sang within the octave range. What heaven!”

“I sang and played from morning till night. When I was more proficient I ran over to our neighbours and begged them to let me play their organ. Nils did not want his daughter to be disturbing the neighbours all the time so he bought a house organ for me for seventy-five kronor … I shall never forget my father hitching the horses to the wagon to fetch my organ.”

Photo: Birgit and her father on the cart horse in front of the family farm house, summer holidays 1961

"When he returned with the long-awaited music instrument, I threw myself on the sofa and buried my face in a pillow; for a long time I did not dare to look for fear the whole thing was a dream. When I look back on this event, so significant for me, I can still remember the feeling of happiness I experienced then."

“In grade school we had a clever and friendly teacher named Erik Pamp … The teacher and I were agreed that I should study further because I possessed the qualifications. My parents were also of this opinion – so Pamp and I thought - but they abruptly changed their minds, which cancelled out my dreams of further study.”

“For me it was as though the sun had gone out of my world and I knew not where to turn. The duties on the farm did not appeal to me as they were at that time one step from slavery.”

“After a period of piano and singing lessons from the acting cantor, David Pålsson, he let me start in the church choir. I was 14 years old and newly confirmed. Pretty soon I also got to start singing solos … We sang at all the church festivals, at weddings and funerals and at some non-profit events.”

Photo: Birgit with friends from the church choir on a picnic

"Ragnar Blennow was an imposing figure; tall, strongly built and oozing authority, which made one feel quite small … We began with Widéen. When I finished the song, he removed his clouded-over glasses and polished them, lost in thought. Finally he said, ’that was very beautiful. You, young lady, will certainly become a great singer.’”

"Like a mad woman, I cycled my way home up all the hills of Båstad - no mean feat at any time - rushed into the house, and cried out, ‘I have been discovered! I am going to be a great singer!’ Stina was surprised, happy, and proud while Nils continued to believe that what I could do already was quite enough. He did not believe in my future as a singer and he felt I had a good enough life at home on the farm.”

“Unfortunately, I didn't receive many lessons. Blennow became seriously ill and was in a clinic for a long time. My every day work was harvesting, digging potatoes, pulling weeds, and milking without a glimmer on the horizon of anything Blennow had made me hopeful. It made my work even harder to bear.”

"I had been thinking over my uncertain future for some time before I renewed contact with Ragnar Blennow. He began with a dressing-down in which he asked how much longer I was going to put off making a decision … ‘So Birgit will come to me for six months once a week for voice lessons, and then in the fall I will register her for the entrance examination for the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm.’ And these words were what I needed finally to force me to make a decision.”

“There were already a lot of students gathered in the waiting room at the Academy and we could hear the singers as they auditioned in the next room. Everyone seemed so advanced and worldly-wise. A few had studied in Rome, some in Paris. When asked where I had studied I answered, ‘in Sweden.’”

“When all the tests were over it was just a matter of waiting for the results … With shaking knees I went up to the bulletin board and - I thought I would faint. There it was - Number One: Birgit Nilsson. I believe seeing my name there was the happiest moment of my twenty-three years.”

"It was a very proud girl who telephoned Nils and Stina. They were very happy for me and, I think, Nils was especially proud to have his daughter’s success to hold over the neighbours' heads."

“The newspaper Ord och Bild was to celebrate an anniversary in the stock exchange and I was invited to sing. It was the bitter cold winter of 1942. A skillful dressmaker made for me a white dress with gold sequins at the waist and on the shoulders. It cost 150 kroner, which was about three times as much as my fee.”

“When I was studying in the Music Academy in Stockholm I did not have such easy high tones; some who heard me thought I was a mezzo-soprano. One day I was sitting alone at home at the farm trying unsuccessfully to get a grasp of how to produce a high C. My mother came in (she was then over sixty) and said calmly, ‘That's easy. There is nothing to it. Here's how it should sound —–,’ whereupon she nailed a radiant high C. That was a lesson for me to live by, I believe. Even when I had difficulty with other notes at times, I could always, at three in the morning, if need be, belt out a high C."

“My opera debut - as Agathe in Weber’s Der Freischütz on October 9, 1946 - was a substitute on three days’ notice, and I paid for it dearly in nerves and tears … I was poorly prepared, of course, and could not possibly do my very best under the circumstances. Moreover I had a conductor - Leo Blech - who was 75 years old and had long forgotten what it was like to be young and inexperienced …”

“Fortunately none of this was apparent to the critics, who gave me fine reviews the next day. But the Royal Opera put me on ice, labeled ‘unmusical and untalented.’"

Photo credit: © Enar Merkel Rydberg, Royal Swedish Opera Archives

“The summer in Skåne was wonderful, not least because I had recently become engaged to be married. I was happily oblivious to the Stockholm Opera which was closed for two months. When the season began I had absolutely no desire to return to Stockholm ... The moment I let myself into my apartment the telephone rang. It was the opera telling me that at 10 the next morning I was scheduled for stage rehearsal with Hans Busch. Inga Sundström was ill and had cancelled her engagement for Lady Macbeth."

“In all, there were 10 performances of Macbeth within the relatively short time of 21 days, and I looked forward to every one as a child looks forward to Christmas …Suddenly doors that had been hermetically sealed were open. I received offers from everywhere.”

Photo credit: © Enar Merkel Rydberg, Royal Swedish Opera Archives

“In the coming season I was to sing the role of Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer of Richard Wagner. The premiere was to take place on November 4, 1948, with Leo Blech conducting."

“With all that was happening professionally that year, I also got married. On September 10, I attained the elevated status of becoming Mrs. Bertil Niklasson. The wedding trip was postponed because of Leo Blech’s rehearsal schedule, but we managed to go to Paris in the spring of 1950 for our honeymoon."

"I sang my first Aida in the Spring of 1951 at the Stockholm Opera, where I have sung most of my roles for the first time… For a Wagnerian dramatic soprano, Verdi is technically more difficult than Puccini. His shadings and phrasings are considerably more subtle. In order to make it clear that he really wanted a note sung softly, Verdi often doubled and sometimes even tripled his pianissimo markings - one can even find such indications as pppppp. Such notations make a real impression on singers with an overabundance of power and energy who are used to singing a bold forte. With this role I began to restrain my vocal enthusiasm and to learn the difficult art of subtlety. “

Photo credit: © Enar Merkel Rydberg, Royal Swedish Opera Archives

"At this time I had not the slightest desire to leave the Stockholm Opera. First, I thought it expedient to become a first-class singer in Sweden rather than an average one internationally. Second, I commanded no foreign languages.”

"The guest conductors however, did not share my opinion. With Leo Blech, I already had a lovely success in Berlin; Knappertsbusch had plans to engage me in Bayreuth; Issay Dobrowen and La Scala offered me the role of Jaroslavna in Prince Igor. And now Fritz Busch came with an offer to sing Elettra in Mozart's Idomeneo in Glyndebourne in the summer of 1951. I hesitated as long as I could but finally “Father“ Busch`s persuasiveness won out and I accepted the engagement.”

Foto: © Roger Wood Photographic Collection, ROH Collections.

“I spent the greater part of the summer of 1953 in Germany, singing the soprano part in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Bayreuth and six performances of Fidelio in the festival at Bad Hersfeld. The opera was given in the ruins of a medieval church. What an atmosphere for Beethoven's music! The church had been inadvertently burned by Napoleon’s soldiers, who were using the sanctuary for their camp. The many intervening years had given the place a noble patina.”

“In the spring of 1954 the opera Salome by Richard Strauss was to be given in a new production … It was planned that I would sing the Salome, but I was not at all happy about that and fought against it tooth and nail. Until then I had sung exclusively noble characters with epic breath and seriousness. Here I would have to portray a 14-year-old animal disguised as human - with, however, by Strauss’ own indications, the voice of an Isolde!”

Photo credit: © Enar Merkel Rydberg, Royal Swedish Opera Archives

"After the curtain fell at the premiere there was at first a long and almost uncomfortable silence. But then the applause broke forth and seemed never to end. The audience was clearly moved and left the hall shattered. Some fainted, some felt ill, and the wife of the minister of finance suffered a miscarriage that night. The perverse and deprived Salome got the blame for it all.”

“Elsa in Lohengrin was my debut role in Bayreuth in 1954. Wolfgang Windgassen sang the part of Lohengrin, and Ludwig Weber played the King. We would later meet many times on the legendary Wagnerian stage.”

“There is something very special about the Viennese. Even on my first visit my heart started beating in three-quarter time … In Spring 1954 I was to make my first guest appearance. During the 10 years that the Staatsoper was not operational (because of war damage), operas were performed in the Theater an der Wien.”

“In this theatre I came to guest in four different roles within the space of nine days. And that was not the worst: I was singing each role for the first time in its original language.”

"It was September 1955 when Bertil and I, after a 48-hour (!) flight landed in Argentina's capital city … Teatro Colón had engaged me for four performances of Isolde … After our second performance, the threat of revolution in Buenos Aires became serious … Then it happened! At two in the morning, shellfire and a hail of bullets broke out … In my entire life I have never been so afraid. I promised myself, in the event that I survived this, never to come here again.”

"… In spite of my promises, the following year found me there once again … all in all, I was in Buenos Aires seven times. I sang Isolde in two different productions and sang in two different productions of the Ring … During my guest appearance in 1965, I sang Salome and Turandot. My artistic life would surely have been poorer had I not experienced Argentina and the unforgettable Teatro Colón.”

Photo credit: Tristan und Isolde, 1971 © Centro de Documentación Teatro Colón

"Offers streamed in from all parts of Europe and now there was interest from America. In 1956 I appeared at the Hollywood Bowl and at the San Francisco and Chicago operas … The Stockholm Opera began to see that it was going to be difficult to keep this bird in its cage. Therefore they suggested that I take a guest contract instead of a full engagement."

"My first première in Vienna came in the Spring of 1957 – now in the ‘new’ opera house – as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre. Up to then I had sung repertory productions, with very few rehearsals or none at all. Now for the first time I got to work on a production 'from the bottom up' and I was delighted. Herbert von Karajan conducted and directed ... His Walküre was vibrant with life and passion, and not a single bar lacked its own inner excitement.”

Photo credit Fayer © Birgit Nilsson Foundation

"This was not just any premiere at the opening of the 1958 season. The traditional day of the opening of La Scala is December 7. At that time I was the first non-Italian soprano to be given the honor of singing in the opening performance. On the day of the premiere fog lay so thick over Milan that I could hardly breathe … The fog actually crept into the auditorium.”

“The ten-yard-long train was unusually heavy and hard to move. In addition, it got caught on a nail as I made my way up the staircase, almost causing me to fall backwards. Finally I ascended to the top of the stairs and could begin singing … Hardly had the final tone been sung when the aristocratic public jumped out of their seats screaming, jubilant, embracing one another … Not in my wildest fantasy had I dreamed of such a reception! The fog disappeared.”

Photo credits © Erio Piccagliani / Teatro alla Scala

“It was Friday, December 18, 1959; in a few hours I would be singing for the first time on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. I hoped to crown my career with this debut as Isolde in the opera of all all operas, Tristan und Isolde.”

Photo credit Louis Mélançon © Metropolitan Opera Archive

“The act ended and the moment the curtain opened I was greeted with deafening jubilation. An uproar had broken out in the auditorium. The audience had risen to its feet and was screaming, stamping the floor, and applauding wildly … The ovation was deafening.”

Photo credit Louis Mélançon © Metropolitan Opera Archive

"It took quite some time for us to leave the opera house. I had given away most of the flowers but even for those I took we had to order an extra taxi. When the taxi driver saw the flowers he asked if I was ‘the girl’ in the interview he had read: ’who on the evening before her entrance exam for the Music Academy in Stockholm had milked 10 cows?’ I couldn't deny it, whereupon he replied, ‘then you deserve every single one of these flowers!’”

"The Met’s 1959 Tristan und Isolde was honoured as "The Best Show on Broadway,” but the performance became legendary for another reason. Without warning, all three Tristan tenors fell ill, but Met director Rudolf Bing solved the problem: Ramón Vinay, Karl Liebl and Alberto da Costa each sang an act - no Isolde has ever consumed so many Tristans in one night!”

Photo credit Louis Mélançon © Metropolitan Opera Archive

“For the festival of 1961 a new production of Turandot was planned. My ten-yard long, dark blue velvet train, lined with blood-red silk, was a heavy burden to ‘schlep’ up the many steps - and I had to sing the big aria from the back of the deep stage. They said it was as though I was singing from the Hotel Sacher, across the street from the rear of the Staatsoper. I was standing so high on the top of the steps, the audience in the balcony could see only my shoes. But they still claimed to have heard me. The distance to the conductor was overwhelming; I saw him as through the reverse end of opera glasses."

Photo credit Fayer © Birgit Nilsson Foundation

"When I learned that Wieland (Wagner) was planning a new production of Tristan und Isolde in 1962, I thought, "It's now or never. This will be my only chance to work on a role from the ground up with Wieland. What heaven! Wieland could bring out the most varied characterizations through the mere suggestion of a gesture … “

“Before, I always played Isolde in the first act as filled with hate and seeking revenge. But now the role received a new dimension. Except for an almost animal wildness in the tumultuous moments, Isolde’s longing was brought out in her voice, her body language, and her facial expression.”

Photo credit: Siegfried Lauterswasser © Deutsche Theater Museum

"Wieland achieved his greatest artistic triumph with this Tristan and engaged me for the Brünnhilde in the Ring he was going to direct in 1965. With exception of the year of the 1965 Ring, I sang Isolde every season until 1970.”

Photo credit: Siegfried Lauterwasser © Deutsche Theater Museum

“Signing autographs after Aida. At the Met, on October 14, 1963, I sang Aida in a new production. It was the season’s Opening Night … I had a serious gallstone attack the evening before and was awake all night, but after almost a month of intense rehearsal I thought it would be a terrible shame to miss the premiere. Somehow I managed, although I suppose I have given better performances.”

“In 1965 came a new production of The Ring of the Nibelungen, this time under the direction of Wieland Wagner. Once again the rehearsals were enormously interesting, in spite of the fact that Wieland was already showing the signs of serious illness. He had hoped to do further work on the production the following year - although it was tremendously effective from the beginning - but by then he was in the hospital. His death in 1966 was a hard blow to the world of opera.”

Photo credit: Siegfried Lauterwasser © Deutsche Theater Museum

“Elektra is a role I had been warned about all my life. Among other things, I was told that a singer who undertook this “voice-killing” part would be shortening her career by several years. And so I dutifully waited until 1965 before taking it on. I soon found that all the warnings had been greatly exaggerated. The part suited me perfectly. Elektra is no “screech role” as I had been led to believe. After a few dramatic outbursts in the first scenes, the rest of the part can be sung quite lyrically and with a slender tone.

Photo credit: Fayer © Birgit Nilsson Stiftelsen

“The role is taxing, of course, for Elektra never leaves the stage once she is on and she is musically active throughout the rest of the opera. But what a magnificent singing and acting part it is! Next to Isolde and Brünnhilde, it has become something of a favorite of mine, and, in spite of my rather late debut in the part, I have sung it on most of the principal operatic stages of the world.”

Photo credit: Fayer © Birgit Nilsson Stiftelsen

"An exclusive concert on the stage of the Stockholm Opera with my father as the entire audience.”

"On November 27, 1967, I sang my one hundredth Brünnhilde in Die Walküre … It was a new production, directed and conducted by Herbert von Karajan, and everyone had been complaining about the dense gloom that prevailed on stage. On opening night I received an anonymous present - a miner’s helmet with a lamp in front and Valkyrie wings on the sides."

photo credit © Louis Melançon / Metropolitan Opera Archives

“A new production of Tristan und Isolde was scheduled for December 1967. It was the third production in which I had participated in Vienna and without question the most beautiful …”

“I had by then sung Isolde about 150 times and I feared I was immune to any new ideas … But it is exciting and instructive to look at the situation from various angles when a better characterization is the goal. And very important: one is never too old to learn something new, particularly in this profession.”

photo credit Fayer © Birgit Nilsson Foundation

"In 1968 I became engaged – literally – to the standees of the Vienna Staatsoper! They took up a collection for a fantastic gift: a gold ring in which Isolde’s image is engraved. It is one of the most beautiful gifts I have ever received.”

Photo credit Fayer © Birgit Nilsson Foundation

““Musically, some of the most distinguished performances of Elektra in which I have ever taken part were at Covent Garden with Solti conducting. They stand out as high points in my career. Public and performers alike left the theatre breathless.”

“In 1977 I did Elektra at Covent Garden again. This time the conductor was Carlos Kleiber … the first conductor I had ever worked with who took to heart Strauss’s own suggestion, ‘play it like Mendelssohn’.”

Photo credit: Zoe Dominic

“I gave my last performance at Bayreuth in this production, in August 1970, after sixteen seasons of hard work and unforgettable experiences. It was the final performance of Wieland’s Tristan, and I didn’t want to sing in any other.”

“Despite the many curtain calls, there was an atmosphere of sadness and regret hanging over this performance. As the last chord died away, there was a great stillness that seemed to last forever until the audience could bring itself to applaud. It was one of the strongest experiences I have ever had.”

Photo credit: Nationalarchiv der Richard Wagner-Stiftung, Bayreuth

“I have had many tenors. I should say, I have had many wonderful tenors on stage. There were Jussi Björling, Set Svanholm, Carlo Bergonzi, Ramón Vinay, Karl Liebl, Wolfgang Windgassen, Jess Thomas, Franco Corelli, Giuseppe di Stefano, Max Lorenz, Helge Brilioth, Plácido Domingo, Richard Tucker, James McCracken, Torsten Ralf, José Carreras, to mention a few. There was even Beniamino Gigli, when I was very young.”

“But Jon Vickers was different, very different, both as an artist and as a human being. I will always remember the Tristan film that we did together at the 1973 Orange Festival in France. I have never seen an artist perform a role more realistically, especially in the third act. His eyes! I can still see them. That was no longer make-believe, that was real drama - and I was almost fearing for his well-being.”

“In 1973, after ten years of toil, the opera house in Sydney was finally to be dedicated … I was soloist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the opening concert in the large hall. Sir Charles Mackerras, an Australian well known in Europe and the United States, conducted, and, because the building had cost several million dollars over its original budget, he asked me to begin the concert with Elisabeth’s song of greeting from Tannhäuser, ‘Dich teure Halle.’”

“On March 4, 1974, I had a serious accident during a rehearsal at the Metropolitan. During the quick scene change in the first act of Götterdämmerung, the stagehands somehow failed to properly attach some steps leading to a raised platform. When I started to make my exit down these steps, they collapsed, and I fell with them. I landed hard and then discovered I couldn’t move my right arm. Still in full Brünnhilde gear, I was taken to the Roosevelt Hospital. My shoulder was dislocated, and I had to be anaesthetized before they could put it back into place.”

Photo credit: Beth Bergman

“The premiere of the new production of Götterdämmerung was only four days off, and I simply couldn’t bear the idea of not singing. By the morning of the opening, my dreadful headache had almost disappeared, and I decided to go ahead with the performance … I will never forget the ovation when Jess Thomas and I made our entrance. A lump came to my throat, and I was close to tears. It took me several minutes to get control of myself. What a fantastic evening. The audience virtually helped me up with their approval and good will. Several critics maintained that it was the best Götterdämmerung I had ever sung. But it was two years before I had the full use of my arm again.”

Photo credit: Beth Bergman

“Ultimately I decided to add another role to my repertoire: the Dyer’s Wife in Die Frau ohne Schatten.”

“The Dyer’s Wife was a wonderful role. Compared with the goddesses, Valkyries, ice-cold princesses, or other bloodthirsty characters that I often portrayed, she was one of the few women of flesh and blood."

“In December 1975 I sang the role for the first time with Klobučar conducting in Stockholm. In 1976 I sang it with Sawallisch in Munich and in 1977 came Vienna …”

“My opera career, which I had intended to close earlier, was prolonged … Frankfurt, Hamburg, Berlin, Buenos Aires, San Francisco, New York - all offered me guest appearances as the Dyer’s Wife, and I did really love the role. So it wasn't until June 1982 that I finally ended my opera career.”

photo: Vienna State Opera, 1977 photo credit: Fayer © Birgit Nilsson Foundation

“Everyone knew that my last performances in Vienna were planned as part of the festival … I feared that after twenty-eight years of such a close friendship with my wonderful Viennese public, I would never be able to keep the sound of tears out of my voice … Therefore I cancelled my final performance on June 30 and wrote a letter to the director in which I stated my reasons.”

Photo credit: Metropolitan Opera 1980 © James Heffernan

“Instead of June 30, my last opera appearance was in Frankfurt on June 16, where I was engaged to sing Elektra. It was a great performance and I felt I was in my best form, as though it was the high point of my career. At the end of that Elektra I said to my colleagues: "this was my final performance. And I was at peace with this decision.”

Photo credit: © Beth Bergman, 1980

Birgit Nilsson had long been convinced that she would never teach, with her own experience of disastrous singing teachers it felt like too much of a responsibility. But it would turn out that she became a highly valued and popular singing teacher during the large number of master courses she gave when her career was over.

Photo credits: © Beth Bergman

Birgit Nilsson had long been convinced that she would never teach, with her own experience of disastrous singing teachers it felt like too much of a responsibility. But it turned out that she became a highly valued and popular singing teacher during the large number of master courses she gave when her career was over.

Photo credits: © Erika Davidson

"In interviews, it often happens that a journalist can ask in which place I have sung the longest, or where I preferred to perform. Quite reflectively, I usually say that at the Stockholm Opera I have sung for 35 years, in Vienna and Munich 28, at Metropolitan 22 and so on. It was not until now that it struck me that in my hometown Västra Karup I have sung the longest.”

"For many years I have given benefit concerts for the Bjäre Heritage Society. I derive a great deal of satisfaction from being able to lend a helping hand to the preservation of traditions, buildings and artifacts from the area where my family has lived for so many generations and where I was born and spent my childhood and youth.”

From 1965 to 1984 Birgit Nilsson sang regularly at these local charity fundraising concerts, following which she remained closely involved both as organizer and presenter until 2002. In that year she joined the young singers on stage in the church at Västra Karup to sing Auld lang Syne and presented the Birgit Nilsson Stipendium.

Birgit Nilsson encountered many difficulties during the first years of her career and knew how important it was to have support and encouragement. She also saw many young colleagues who could not resist the temptation of accepting difficult roles far too early in their careers. So when her teacher and mentor, Ragnar Blennow, died in September 1969 and she was unable to attend the funeral, Birgit honored him by creating a Stipendium for young singers.

The first Stipendium was awarded in 1973 and today it is presented annually at the church of Västra Karup, where each new recipient performs and is presented with 200 000 Swedish Krona. Previous recipients have included Gitta-Maria Sjöberg, (pictured in 1998), Hillevi Martinpelto, Karl-Magnus Fredriksson, Susanne Resmark, Anna Larsson, Nina Stemme and Malin Byström.

Birgit Nilsson also established a Stipendium for young singers at the Manhattan School of Music in New York.

"It's summer, and the beautiful Bjäre has dressed in her most beautiful attire. I sit by the stone circle, which is located at the highest point of the farm and look out over the sparkling sea. My ancestors once sat here, ready to defend their village from invaders. To the southwest, Kullaberg rises towards the waters of Skälderviken and straight to the west, Hallands Väderö is glimpsed, softly embraced by the Kattegatt's salty waves ... Bjäre only gets more beautiful with each passing year. Here I sit and think back on sunny and carefree childhood days in Bjäre - about life here and elsewhere - and about the people I have met along the way.”

On 25 December 2005, Birgit Nilsson passed away at the age of 87. The private funeral took place in January 2006 and Birgit was buried in the family grave at Västra Karup church, alongside her parents. Her husband and "faithful companion", Bertil Niklasson, was to die a year and months later and was buried alongside her.

In 2009 the Birgit Nilsson Prize was awarded for the first time. Plácido Domingo (secretly chosen by Birgit Nilsson before her death) was presented with the Prize by H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf at a festive ceremony at the Royal Swedish Opera.

The Prize is usually awarded every third year to an artist or institution that has made a major contribution to classical music. At one million US dollars, it is the largest prize in classical music. Subsequent recipients have been Riccardo Muti (2011), the Vienna Philharmonic (2014), Nina Stemme (2018) and Yo-Yo Ma (2022).

Photo credit: © Kristian Löveborg

In accordance with her will, Birgit Nilsson’s family home in Svenstad was converted into a museum and opened in 2010. Today visitors can take a guided tour of the farm-house, explore exhibitions about her life and career in the converted barn, follow a 9km hiking trail across the rolling countryside which Birgit loved so dearly and drink coffee in the stable where she once milked the cows.

With masterclasses, recitals and concerts which take place each August during the Birgit Nilsson Days, her legacy lives on.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of her birth, the Metropolitan Opera in New York mounted a major new exhibition and the Birgit Nilsson Foundation produced three special products documenting her career; a 700 page commemorative book titled An Homage; a DVD documentary titled A League of her Own; and a 31 CD box set of The Great Live Recordings.

Also celebrating the 100th anniversary, Sweden’s ‘Riksbank’ created a new 500 SEK bank note dedicated to Birgit Nilsson.