Gota Ljungberg

Göta Ljungberg (October 4, 1893 - June 28, 1955) was a major Swedish Wagnerian soprano of the 1920s who sang throughout American and Europe and left an important recorded legacy.

Born in Sundsvall, she studied at the Stockholm Opera School with the physician and vocal coach Gillis Bratt. She undertook further studies with Mme Charles Cahier in Stockholm and also in Milan and Berlin.

She debuted as Gutrune in Wagner's Götterdämmerung with the Stockholm Opera in 1917. She remained one of the leading singers there until 1926 when began her international career.

She went on to sing at most of the principal opera houses in Europe and America and "was acclaimed not only for her singing, but also for her acting and dramatic intensity"

At the Berlin State Opera, she often appeared in Wagner but also as Tosca, Santuzza (Cavalleria rusticana) and Elektra, as well as in musicals.

Her Royal Opera House London debut was in 1924 as Sieglinde (Der Ring des Nibelungen) under Bruno Walter. She later appeared there as Salome, Kundry (Parsifal), Tosca and Elisabeth (Tannhäuser).

She sang at the Metropolitan Opera from 1932 to1935 as Isolde (Tristan und Isolde) and Brünnhilde as well as Salome.

Voice problems eventually caused retirement but as late as 1938 she gave a set of songs with orchestra in concert in Copenhagen

1924: Richard Strauss: Salome, cond. Coates. She has a "large range of vocal colour... this long lament, so beautifully sung here by Mme. Ljungberg."

late 1920s: Richard Wagner: Ring excerpts, conducted by Albert Coates and Leo Blech. "The sexy, passionate Ljungberg"

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