NICOLAI GEDDA - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 155272

NICOLAI GEDDA
Small 3½x5½ signed b/w bust photo by Electrola and EMI of tenor Nicolai Gedda in a suit and tie
Photograph signed "Nicolai Gedda" in blue ink. 3½x5½ overall, 3½x5¼ image, one surface, printed on cardstock. Captioned: "Nicolai Gedda". Photograph by Electrola and EMI. German-language list of recordings on verso. Known for his huge and international repertory, incredible technique and control and bright voice, Swedish tenor Gedda, born in 1925, had wanted to be an opera singer as a teenager, but couldn't scrape together the money for lessons, so he became a bank teller. He happened to mention his aspirations to a wealthy bank customer, who persuaded teacher Karl-Martin Oehmann to take him on as a pupil. Gedda premiered in 1952 with the Royal Swedish Opera as Chapelou in Adolphe Adam's Le postillon de Lonjumeau and made his Teatro alla Scala debut in 1953 as Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni. He also sang almost 30 roles at the Metropolitan Opera between 1957 and 1983. A singer of unusual endurance, he continued singing into the new millennium and into his late 70s. He is also one of the most recorded tenors in opera history, owing to a long association with EMI, and has 200 or so recordings to his credit. Lightly toned and creased. Reproduction and negative errors in image. Lightly chipped top, left and right edges. Light scratches on image (not visible head-on). Otherwise in fine condition.