February 8 meeting held at Redemption Lutheran Church in Wauwatosa. A Rags to Riches Story – Christina Nilsson
The life of Christina Nilsson, the famous Swedish opera singer, was told by SAHSWI member Carol Gustafson, her great, great niece. Christina was born August 20, 1843 in Sjöabol/Snugge outside Växjö and died November 20, 1921. Christina sang at the opening night of the New York Met in 1883. She was very popular in the USA, Russia, the UK and France.
Carol talked about her visit to Christina’s homestead, now a museum in Sweden as well as her visit to the mansion Villa Vik and mausoleum in Växjö. It’s a fascinating story of a poor girl from southern Sweden who became a world renown opera singer.
After the presentation Carol and Mary Stetson, artistic name “Goda Vänner”, performed 2 songs written by Christina Nilsson. They also sang and invited to the audience to join in singing Christina’s signature Swedish Folk song: “Fjorton ar tror jag visst att jag var” translated “I think surely I was fourteen years old”. She also shared a link to the song performed by Mia Marianne and Per Filip.
More information about this exclusive story will follow.
