When the former chief prompter or "sufflös" of the Royal Swedish Opera died she left a collection of recordings on steel wire to a younger colleague to be presented to the Archive of the Royal Opera together with photos, films and other recordings made during a long professional life at the Stockholm Opera. As I work on an eight volume series of CDs titled as from the Royal Swedish Opera Archives in cooperation with Caprice, the collection was shown to me by the colleague who took on the responsibility to transfer it to the Opera. As a test, we have managed to transfer the wires from four of the fifty boxes left by Bodén and recorded mainly in the early 1950s.
The most sensational find is a 30 minute radio recording of Mozart's Don Giovanni from sometime before 1954. In quite good sound, Birgit Nilsson can be heard at the age of 33 or 34 singing donna Anna's grand recitative - with Gösta Björling, brother of Jussi, as Don Ottavio - and the vengeance aria from act I in Swedish. This is done with passionate grandeur and an accuracy rare among budding Brünnhildes in this tricky part. Nilsson is also heard in the first act finale. Sigurd Björling is Don Giovanni or rather Don Juan, ferocious and suave, a larger than life macho seducer. As SB did not appear in any stage performance of this opera in Stockholm between 1942 and 1956 and never sang it with either Lily Furlin (Elvira) or Paul Höglund (Masetto), who both left the Royal Opera around 53/54, the recording can be fairly well dated as between 1950 and 1953. The absence of applause points to a transmission without an audience. At least the portion featuring Nilsson's solo from this unknown Don Giovanni will be included in the 8th volume of our series,as Mozart at the Royal Opera, due in the autumn.
There is also a somewhat abridged first act of Verdi's Aida, sung (mainly) in Swedish with Birgit Nilsson - a portion missing from the 1956 recording issued in our series. So we can perhaps in the future complete the impression of Nilsson's early Aida with the first act trio, ensemble and "Ritorna vincitor". With her on stage - and clearly before an audience - are Brita Hertzberg, Torsten Ralf (singing Radames in Italian), Sven Nilsson and Leon Björker and, if I date the recording plausibly to the spring of 1952, the conductor is Arne Sunnegårdh, better known as vocal coach - and sometimes teacher - to Nilsson and three generations of Swedish singers.
Several other wire recordings in this collection merit interest. 77 minutes from Natanael Berg's Judith from the 1954 revival with Siw Ericsdotter and Joel Berglund is a real rarity. Dramatic soprano Ericsdotter is under-recorded for her important career and Berglund mainly known for his Wagner. Strange to hear them in this opera from the 1930s, vocalising with great heft a philosophical dispute on tyranny and war from male and female points of view as well as on the relation between violence and lust. Strong stuff and one wonders what it meant to a Swedish audience in 1936 and 1954 respectively.
Until now, only a short excerpt has been published on Lp from the famous Göran Gentele / Sixten Ehrling production of Menotti's Consul from 1952 with Brita Hertzberg, Hugo Hasslo and Gertrud Pålson-Wettergren. Now we might be able to hear considerably more of this landmark production in the rejuvenation of the Royal Opera in the 50s. Many of the Bodén recordings duplicate recordings in better sound in the archives of the Swedish Radio and the Royal Opera but in many cases she recorded performances which have not been preserved. E.g. excerpts from Tiggarstudenten (Bettelstudent) - there is very little operetta from the opera house in any or our archives - as well as from Peterson-Berger's Arnljot, Wagner's Parsifal (with Einar Beyron, Sigurd Björling and Sven Nilsson), aria concerts with singers like Ingeborg Kjellgren, Anders Näslund and Olle Sivall, as well as more regular repertory like Tosca, Traviata, Zauberflöte in performances different from them preserved elsewhere.
One tantalizing item still missing - there are many, really - for our Mozart CD is the tape of Idomeneo listed in the deposition of the Royal Opera at the SLBA (National Sound Archive) but not found anywhere. Who stole it? Please step forward - we will not put you behind bars. Or did nobody else record and preserve any transmission of the 1956-57 production where Set Svanholm, Nicolai Gedda, Elisabeth Söderström and Hjördis Schymberg joined in the first ever production of this early Mozart opera at the Royal Swedish Opera?