Born in a peasant family in a village near Växjö, Smalandia, she was "discovered" by a prominent civil servant when, aged fourteen, she was playing the violin at a market. He became her patron so she could have her voice educated. In 1860 she gave concerts in Stockholm and Uppsala. After four years' study in Paris, she had her début 1864 as Violetta in Giuseppe Verdi's opera La Traviata at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris. After this success she would sing at the opera houses in London, St. Petersburg, Vienna and New York.
Christina Nilsson was twice married: In 1872 to the French banker Aug. Rouzeaud, and in 1887 to the Spanish count Casa di Miranda.
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