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Just in: Bayreuth rings in a Finn

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norman lebrecht

July 11, 2019

We hear from Scherzo magazine in Spain that Camilla Nylund has pulled out of the Peralada Festival in order to sing the vacant Elsa at Bayreuth.

Comments

Helena says:

July 11, 2019 at 12:10 pm

“Rings in a Swede”? Don’t know which Swede you might mean because Camilla Nylund is a Finn.

Tamino says:

July 11, 2019 at 7:59 pm

She is born in the formerly Swedish part of now Finland, to parents who are apparently, guessing by the family name, of Swedish descent. So she is as much a Finn, as Herbert Blomstedt is US-American? By birthplace?

Reply
- Jean says:
  
  July 12, 2019 at 11:09 am
  
  With that logic, Americans, Australians, Irish, and everyone with an English-sounding name, are just plain English…?
  And Mexicans are simply Spanish ?
  
  All the tax books were kept in Swedish for 600 years. My grandfather had a Swedish name but he was 0% Swedish. He was given a Swedish name because of the tax records.
  
  Reply
- Helena says:
  
  July 12, 2019 at 5:38 pm
  
  To Tamino: I don’t know how much you know about the Finnish history, but as a Finn I have no idea what you mean by “formerly Swedish part of now Finland”. Sweden and Finland were one kingdom from the medieval times till 1809, when Finland became part of the Russian empire for 108 years because of the turmoil caused by a certain Napoleon Bonaparte. There are a lot of Swedish speaking people in Finland, with Swedish family names, but they are native Finns. Swedish is an official language in this country, although about 90% of Finns speak Finnish as the first language. Camilla Nylund is a Finn – the fact that she is from the western coast of Finland and has Swedish as the first language doesn’t make her less Finnish.
  
  Reply
  - Tamino says:
    
    July 12, 2019 at 9:14 pm
    
    You are certainly correct, but all this only shows, how arbitrary the concept of nationality actually is. Who am I? I’m human. And I speak the language of my ancestors and try to speak more to reach out to other fellow humans. And luckily music is my life, so I’m part of the most universal human language and culture.
    Finn, Swede, Russian, whatever, who cares?
    
    Reply
    - Saxon Broken says:
      
      July 14, 2019 at 5:29 pm
      
      “I speak the language of my ancestors”
      
      Unlikely, since language is evolving all the time. New words are coined and old words fall out of use on a continuous basis. Grammar can and does also change. Go back enough generations and it is unlikely we will understand what each other are saying, even if we think we are speaking the same language.