1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nilsson, Christine

NILSSON, CHRISTINE (1843–), Swedish singer, was born at Wederslöff, near Wexiö, Sweden, on the 20th of August 1843. Her father was a poor working man, and she used as a girl to sing and perform on the violin at popular gatherings. In 1857 a wealthy man, M. Tornérhjelm, perceiving the unusual beauty of her voice while she was performing at a fair in Ljungby, provided the means for giving her a proper musical education, and in 1860 she was heard in the concert halls in Stockholm and Upsala, and then went to Paris, where, after four years’ study, she made her début in the role of Violetta at the Théâtre Lyrique on the 27th of October 1864. Between that date and 1872, when she married M. Auguste Rouzaud, she was the leading prima donna. Her first appearance in London was in 1867. A year later, on the 9th of March, she made her first appearance in the Paris Opera House as Ophélie in Hamlet; and she visited the United States in 1870. She sang in St Petersburg in 1872; in America in 1873–1874 and in 1882; in Germany and Austria between 1876 and 1877; and in the next few years in Spain and Scandinavia; but after her marriage her appearances in public were rare. M. Rouzaud died in 1882, and five years afterwards Madame Nilsson married Count A. de Casa Miranda, and finally retired from the stage.