BIRGIT NILSSON - MAGAZINE PAGE SIGNED 1970 CO-SIGNED BY: WOLFGANG WINDGASSEN, GIORGIO TOZZI - HFSID 76154

BIRGIT NILSSON, GIORGIO TOZZI and WOLFGANG WINDGASSEN. Magazine Page signed: "Birgit Nilsson", "To Jan,/missed you/this evening -/Love/Giorgio/Tozzi" and "Windgassen", 62 p, 8¼x10¾. San Francisco, circa October-November 1970. Program for a San Francisco Opera production of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. Signed on main cast page. Nilsson sang the title role of Isolde, Windgassen was Tristan, one of his most famous roles, and Tozzi was King Marke. Regarded as the finest Wagnerian soprano of her time, BIRGIT NILSSON, born in 1918 in Sweden, made her debut at the Royal Opera in Stockholm in 1946. In 1956, she made her American debut with the San Francisco Opera, and in 1959, debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Isolde in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. That same year, Nilsson debuted at Bayreuth as Elsa in Lonengrin, returning there regularly until 1970 in the roles of Isolde, Sieglinde and Brünnhilde. Also known for her performances as Elektra and Salome, Nilsson retired from the stage in 1984. Bass-baritone GIORGIO TOZZI, born in 1923, had made his professional debut (as George Tozzi) on Broadway in The Rape of Lucretia in December 1948. He made his debut at La Scala in 1953, the year he became the Metropolitan Opera's leading bass-baritone (appearing in over 400 performances from 1953-1973). Tozzi, who was also a film and television actor (in dramatic as well as operatic roles), was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical (1980, The Most Happy Fella), received three Grammy Awards and was awarded a gold record for the sound track of South Pacific (Tozzi's singing was dubbed in for Rosanno Brazzi). German tenor WOLFGANG WINDGASSEN (1914-1974), the son of tenor Fritz Windgassen, took his father's place at the Stuttgart Opera House in 1945. From 1951-1970, he was a member of the artistic (singing) staff of the Bayreuth Festival, and, since Wagnerian tenors were in short supply after Bayreuth reopened after WWII, Windgassen sang every tenor role from Erik to Siegfried, although he would be best remembered for Tristan. Cover worn and waterstained at left edge. Overall, fine condition.