Not Joking

Wagnerian soprano, Jane Eaglen, writes a reminiscence of the great Birgit Nilsson in today's Slate.

Recalls Ms. Eaglen:

As I was first learning the role of Turandot [in the Puccini opera of the same name], "In Questa Reggia," the big aria [Turandot] starts with, was very daunting — a difficult aria as soon as you set foot on the stage. Joseph [Ward, Eaglen's teacher] told me that he once asked [Nilsson, perhaps the most stellar Turandot of the last century], in an elevator, how she went on and sang that aria cold, and she replied, "I just use it to warm up the voice."

Why is it I think Nilsson, famous as a jokester, wasn't in the least joking about that.