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Lillian Nordica (1857-1914), American operatic soprano, nee Norton, was born in a small farmhouse built by her grandfather on a hill just outside Farmington, Maine.

The Nordica pseudonym was bestowed by an Italian maestro at the beginning of her operatic career. He convinced her that Europeans would not tolerate an American name on the stage. The adopted name Giglia Nordica meant Lily of the North and she soon became known as Madame Nordica.

As a youth Nordica possessed an inherent fondness for music. She loved the sounds of singing birds and running brooks. When she was eight her family moved to Boston, Massachusetts to continue the musical education of her sister Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina died before her eighteenth birthday. Family hopes were soon placed on Lillian and her musical education began soon thereafter.

She trained as a singer at Boston, and later at Milan. She graduated from the New England Conservatory in Boston with the highest honors at the age of 18. She made her debut at the Conservatory as a soloist with the Handel and Haydn Society.

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 in Europe, including the Bayreuth Festival, and also in America, particularly at the Metropolitan Opera, where her frequent partner was Jean de Reszke.

Like many singers, she had a huge run-in with Nellie Melba, who for one season insisted on "exclusive rights" to the part of Brunnhilde, despite the inappropriateness of her voice for the part. Nordica was enraged, but ended up with the upper hand: Brunnhilde was a disaster for Melba, and Nordica's role as a premier Wagnerian soprano was restored.

Lillian Nordica was an ambitious, adventurous singer, and had a huge repertoire, that included Aida, Brunnhilde in Wagner's Ring Cycle, Tristan und Isolde, La Traviata, Faust, Lohengrin, and Le Nozze di Figaro. Unfortunately, the records she made were late in her career and do not show her at her best. Nevertheless they show her considerable range as a singer, as she is able to sing both coloratura (Io son Titania) and heavier dramatic parts (Mild und leise). Nordica can also be heard in some of the Mapleson Cylinders, where the size and flexibility of her voice can be better heard.

The Lillian Nordica biography, Yankee Diva, written by Ira Glackens, goes into great detail both about Nordica's successful operatic career and her disastrous personal life. Nordica married three times, (the middle one being to a minimally talented tenor named Zoltan Dome). Her third marriage was to wealthy New York banker George W. Young. All the marriages were unhappy.

In 1913, she embarked on a recital tour to Australia. She nearly missed the ship leaving Sydney on her return, but wired the captain asking him to wait for her. It would prove to be a fatal mistake. The Tasman wrecked into a coral reef, where it remained for three days, and Nordica suffered from exposure and never recovered. She lingered for months, seeming to improve, only to fail again. She died on May 10, 1914, on the island of Java. Her death was a result of nervous prostration and pneumonia. Nordica's body was returned to America and buried near the old homestead in Maine.

Despite her unfortunate personal life, Nordica was known as a kind and generous person. She wrote a nice treatise called Hints to Singers which is appended at the end of Yankee Diva. Hints to Singers is notable for its lack of pretentiousness and its down-to-earth, commonsensical advice.

Contents 1 References 2 Media 3 References 4 External links

• Kennebec Maine Journal, Music, Augusta, Maine, Historical Series, VI of VI, October 23, 1976, Page 7.
• Syracuse Herald, Lillian Nordica's Voice Is Stilled by Death on Other Side of the Globe, Far From Her Friends, Monday Evening, May 11, 1914, Page 5.

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

• Marston Records has reissued Lillian Nordica recordings