Please Give Me a Penny

Historical Notes

Christina Nilsson, Countess de Casa Miranda, (August 1843-1921) was a Swedish operatic soprano. She was born Kristina Jonasdotter in the village of Sjöabol, near Växjö, Småland. From her earliest years, she demonstrated vocal talent. She taught herself to play on the violin and flute, and sang in the peasants' fairs in Sweden with her brother. She was discovered by a prominent civil servant at the age of 14. After four years' study in Paris, she had her operatic début in 1864 as Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris. After this success she sang at major opera houses in London, Saint Petersburg, Vienna and New York. Christina Nilsson was married in Westminster Abbey to the French banker Auguste Rouzaud, who later died in 1882. In 1887 she married Angel Ramon Maria Vallejo y Miranda, Count de Casa Miranda, who died in 1902. In correspondence, Nilsson often signed her first name as Christine, and during the last part of her life she was generally known as the Countess de Casa Miranda. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Nilsson