Sigrid Arnoldson by Nadar

Sigrid Arnoldson (1861-1943); Swedish soprano.

She received her first vocal training from her father -the tenor Oscar Arnoldson- and from the Swedish baritone Fritz Arlberg. In 1882/83 she gave her first concerts in Sweden and Norway. She continued her studies in Paris with Moritz Strakosch, Mathilde Marchesi and Desirée Artôt. In 1885 she made her professional opera debut at Prague as Rosina in Rossini's "Il barbiere di Siviglia". With that same part of Rosina she made in 1886 her debut in Moscow at the Bolshoi Theatre and in 1887 in London at the Drury Lane Theatre. The critics described her as the "New Swedish Nightingale" and as the succcessor of the unforgotten Jenny Lind. In the following years she made guest appearances at Berlin, London, Paris (Opéra-Comique and Théâtre Lyrique), Denmark, Italy, Monte Carlo, St, Petersburg, Warsaw, Amsterdam, The Hague and Basel. In 1893/94 she debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Baucis in Gounod's "Philémon et Baucis". As a follow-up to her engagement at the Metropolitan, she undertook a major concert tour through the United States. In 1896/97 she made guest appearances at Bremen, Leipzig and Frankfurt am Main. The whole career of the artist was featured by worldwide tours, concerts and guest appearances. From 1912 on she worked as a vocal teacher; first at Vienna for 25 years and later at Stockholm. Her voice is preserved on several recordings made in Berlin between 1906 and 1910. There excists also a private recorded cylinder from the early days of sound recording (1889 !!).

For Rosina's aria "Una voce poco fa" sung by Sigrid Arnoldson go to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=linp02QM_7c

On the photo she is seen as Mignon in the eponymous opera by Ambroise Thomas.