Nicolai Gedda
Nicolai Gedda -- possessor of one of the widest-ranging repertoires ever, phenomenal technique, and a bright, resonant voice with clarion high notes and a seductive mezza voice -- had one of the finest singing careers of the 20th century. He excelled in music of English, French, German, Italian, Russian, American, and Swedish composers, and was equally adept in traversing styles from the Baroque to the contemporary; he was as noted a performer of oratorio and songs as of opera. His performances were masterpieces of authentic style, from language and diction to phrasing. While performing Samuel Barber's Vanessa, in which he created the role of Anatol, critics consistently acclaimed his diction as the finest in the cast, even though he shared the stage with Rosalind Elias and Eleanor Steber -- both native speakers of English.
Gedda's father was Russian, his mother Swedish, and in 1929 his parents moved to Leipzig, where his father became cantor and choirmaster of a Russian Orthodox Church. As a child he sang in the church and performed Russian songs at weddings and parties. Having no wish to remain in Germany as the Nazi party rose to power, the family returned to Sweden in 1934.
As a teenager, he developed a strong ambition to become an opera singer, but unable to come up with the money to fund his studies, he became a bank teller, though he continued to participate in singing competitions. A wealthy bank client who was also an instrumentalist with the Stockholm Opera happened to hear Gedda mention his aspirations, and asked Karl-Martin Oehmann, a music teacher who had himself been an operatic tenor, to take him on as a pupil. Gedda later credited the development of his spectacular technique to Oehmann's teaching. Shortly thereafter, he won the Christine Nielsson Scholarship, which enabled him to begin music studies at the Stockholm Conservatory as a full time pupil in 1950.
In 1952, Gedda's recording and performing careers began simultaneously. Walter Legge, the famous producer for EMI, was in Sweden, and agreed to audition some of the students. He was immediately bowled over by Gedda's voice, musicianship, and technique; given that Gedda spoke fluent Russian, he signed him on the spot to take on the role of Dmitri in his upcoming recording of Boris Godunov, starring Boris Christoff -- all despite the fact that Gedda had yet to make his stage debut (which came only a short time later, in a production of Adolphe Adam's Le Postillon de Lonjumeau)! This began a lifelong association with EMI.
He made his La Scala debut in the 1952-1953 season as Don Ottavio (Mozart's Don Giovanni), and Carl Orff asked him to create the role of the Bridegroom in Il Trionfo dell'Afrodite; his Paris Opera debut in 1954 was as Huon in Weber's Oberon, and his Covent Garden debut in 1954 was as the Duke of Mantua. These were soon followed by debuts at Salzburg (Don Ottavio, 1957) and the Metropolitan Opera (Faust).
His life-long association with EMI made him one of the most widely-recorded tenors, though in the compact disc era, EMI had been rather dilatory in re-releasing many of his recordings.
© TiVo
Similar artists
-
Massenet: Werther
Victoria de los Angeles, Nicolai Gedda, Orchestre de Paris, Georges Prêtre
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1969
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninov & Tcherepnin: Mélodies
Nicolai Gedda, Alexis Weissenberg
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 5 mei 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini: The Barber of Seville
Beverly Sills, Nicolai Gedda, Sherrill Milnes, James Levine, London Symphony Orchestra
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini : La Bohème (Intégrale)
Thomas Schippers, Coro del Teatro dell'Opera, Roma, Mirella Freni, Nicolai Gedda, Mariella Adani, Mario Basiola II
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 19 okt. 2009
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nicolai Gedda The Early Records 1952-1956
Opera - Released by Archipel on 28 nov. 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tenor Par Excellence
Klassiek - Released by Regis Records on 1 jan. 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Elijah
Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Gwyneth Jones, (Dame) Janet Baker, Nicolai Gedda, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, New Philharmonia Orchestra
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 4 sep. 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nicolai Gedda: The First Ten Years, 1952-1962
Vocale muziek (wereldlijk en religieus) - Released by Bluebell on 1 apr. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stolz: Die schönsten Melodien (Best-Loved Melodies)
Nicolai Gedda, Gottlob Frick, Symphonie-Orchester Graunke, Robert Stolz, Wolfgang Anheisser, Anneliese Rothenberger
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 28 feb. 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pfitzner: Palestrina
Nicolai Gedda, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Bernd Weikl, Karl Ridderbusch, Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Rafael Kubelik
Klassiek - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 jan. 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini
Klassiek - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 jan. 1972
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini - La bohème
Thomas Schippers, Mirella Freni, Nicolai Gedda, Coro del Teatro dell' Opera di Roma
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1964
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Récital (Mono Version)
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1954
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Auber: Fra Diavolo
Nicolai Gedda, Mady Mesplé, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monté-Carlo, Marc Soustrot
Opera - Released by Warner Classics on 1 jan. 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kálmán: Die Csárdásfürstin
Anneliese Rothenberger, Nicolai Gedda, Willy Mattes, Symphonie-Orchester Graunke
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 16 jan. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Delibes: Lakmé, extraits (Mono Version)
Gianna d' Angelo, Nicolai Gedda, Georges Prêtre, Orchestre Du Theatre National De L'opera-comique
Divers - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gedda à Paris - Airs d'opéra français chantés en français (Stereo Version)
Nicolai Gedda, Orchestre National de France, Georges Prêtre
Klassiek - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck, C.W.: Orphee et Euridice
Nicolai Gedda, Janine Micheau, Liliane Berton, Chœurs de la Société des concerts du Conservatoire, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, Louis De Froment
Opera - Released by Profil on 1 jan. 1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Christ on the Mount of Olives, Op. 85
Klassiek - Released by Warner Classics on 8 nov. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Magic Flute, K. 620
Klassiek - Released by Chemodanov Production on 1 feb. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gounod : Faust (Mono Version 1953) (Mono Version)
Victoria de los Angeles, Nicolai Gedda, André Cluytens, Paris Opera Orchestra
Volledige opera's - Released by BNF Collection on 1 jan. 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo