| Biography | Lillian Nordica (December 12, 1857??May 10, 1914) was an American opera singer who had a major stage career in Europe and her native country.
Nordica established herself as one of the foremost dramatic sopranos of the late 19th century and early 20th century due to the high quality of her powerful yet flexible voice and her ability to perform an unusually wide range of roles in the German, French and Italian operatic repertoires.
rShe was born Lillian Allen Norton in a small Cape Cod style farmhouse built by her grandfather on a hill in Farmington, Maine. The Nordica stage name was bestowed by an Italian maestro at the beginning of her operatic career. He convinced her that European opera-goers would not tolerate a diva with a plain sounding, Anglo-American name. The adopted name, Giglia Nordica, meant "Lily of the North" but she soon became known as "Madame Nordica" or simply as "Nordica". |