Lillian Nordica

A cabinet card portrait of the American soprano Madame Lillian Nordica (1857-1914).

Born Lillian Norton at Farmington in Maine, she trained as a singer at Boston and later, at Milan. As Madame Nordica she made her operatic debut at Brescia in 1879, and from that time took high rank among the prima donnas, appearing in all the principal capitals of Europe, at the Beyreuth Festival, and in America, particularly at the Metropolitan Opera, where her frequent partner was Jean de Reszke. Like many singers, she had a huge confrontation with Nellie Melba, who for one season insisted on ‘exclusive rights’ to the role of Brunnhilde, despite the inappropriateness of her voice for the part. Nordica, however, ended up with the upper hand; Brunnhilde was a disaster for Melba, and Nordica’s role as première Wagnerian soprano was restored.

[See Ira Glackens’s excellent biography Yankee Diva for a full account of Nordica’s operatic career, as well as her disastrous personal life.]

Photographed by Elliott and Fry of 55 Baker Street, London.