Eva Nansen
| Eva Nansen | |
|---|---|
Fridtjof Nansen and Eva Nansen in fall 1889
|
|
| Born |
Eva Sars 17 December 1858 Christiania (now Oslo), Norway |
| Died | 9 December 1907 (aged 48) Lysaker, Norway |
| Occupation | Opera singer |
| Spouse(s) | Fridtjof Nansen |
| Children | Odd Nansen |
| Parent(s) |
Michael Sars Maren Sars |
| Relatives |
Georg Ossian Sars (brother) Ernst Sars (brother) |
Eva Helene Nansen (née Sars; 17 December 1858 – 9 December 1907) was a celebrated Norwegian mezzo-soprano singer. She was also a pioneer of women's skiing.
Born in Christiania (now Oslo), she was a daughter of priest and professor of zoology Michael Sars (1805–1869) and his wife Maren Sars (1811–1898), and sister to biologist Georg Ossian Sars and historian Ernst Sars. Through her mother, she was a niece of poet and critic Johan Sebastian and writer Elisabeth Welhaven, and a first cousin of architect Hjalmar Welhaven and police chief Kristian Welhaven.
In September 1889 she married Fridtjof Nansen, the polar explorer and later winner of the Nobel peace prize for his work with refugees. They had several children, including Odd Nansen, a notable architect. She died of pneumonia on 9 December 1907 at Lysaker.
Eva Sars studied singing for five years with her sister Mally and her brother-in-law, baritone singer and composer Thorvald Lammers. Her debut as an operatic singer came in 1881, in the Musikforeningen, a forerunner of the Oslo Philharmonic. She studied with Désirée Artôt in Berlin in 1886 and 1887. She specialized in the romance song form, and made her concert debut as a mezzo-soprano romance singer in 1886. She appeared at numerous concerts, nationally and internationally, between 1880 and 1900. Included in her opera repertoire were "Elsa's Dream" from Wagner's Lohengrin and "Gretchen" in Schumann's Scenes from Goethe's Faust. Her Scandinavian concert tours together with pianist Erika Lie Nissen were met with great enthusiasm. She was regarded as one of Norway's most prominent romance singers. Her last public concert was in December 1899, when she performed the newly composed Haugtussa song cycle, based by Edvard Grieg on Arne Garborg's poems.
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