Born in
Stockholm, Arnoldson was taught by her father
Carl Oskar Arnoldson, a respected
tenor, and by
Fritz Arlberg, a famous Swedish
baritone. She later had further studies in Paris. She made her professional opera debut in 1885 at the
Prague National Theatre as Rosina in
Gioachino Rossini's
The Barber of Seville. The part became her calling card at a number of important houses, including her first and very successful appearances at the
Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1886. Arnoldson made her London debut in 1887 in
Gioachino Rossini's
The Barber of Seville at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane along with
Fernando de Lucia,
Mattia Battistini and
Edouard de Reszke. As Rosina, she was said to be "Young, pretty, and of engaging manner, with a good voice and method, and considerable talent as an actress" and to have "won public favour with the greatest of ease". Apart from a poorly received Zerlina (
Don Giovanni) in 1887, her success there was considerable, and she was engaged to sing at the
Royal Opera, Covent Garden in 1888 and again between 1892 and 1894.
The Musical Times called her Cherubino (
The Marriage of Figaro) "charming", and her work as George Fox's Nydia in the eponymous opera "a graceful impersonation" She was engaged in 1890 by
Max Strakosch for an American tour of some 60 concerts for the sum of 250,000 Francs. Her Barcelona debut at the
Liceu in 1891 was reported as being "most enthusiastically received". She debuted at the
Metropolitan Opera in New York as Baucis in
Philémon et Baucis in 1893, despite the fact that in 1892 it had been reported that "her voice was smaller than ever". In 1897 she is recorded as having sung two "hackneyed show pieces" at a
Royal Philharmonic Society concert in London, which were "rapturously applauded" yet earlier that year she was appearing with "immense success" at the
Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg in Italian opera. 1898 saw her giving a series of performances at the
Berlin State Opera. As late as 1906 she achieved a "triumph" at the
Opéra de Monte-Carlo in
Anton Rubinstein's
The Demon. Arnoldson's other roles included Elsa from
Richard Wagner's
Lohengrin, Nedda in
Pagliacci, Susanna in
The Marriage of Figaro, Papagena in
The Magic Flute, Oscar in
Un ballo in maschera, Marguerite de Valois in
Les Huguenots, and Sophie in
Werther with
Jean de Reszke. She also portrayed both Micaëla and the title heroine in
Georges Bizet's
Carmen. She sang the latter impersonation as a last-minute substitute for an indisposed
Emma Calvé at Covent Garden in 1903. She had never sung the role before or ever intended to assail it onstage. She did, however, know the music, as she was accustomed to learning all the parts within the operas she sang in. The performance was later called by
Gramophone her "solitary failure"; but given the circumstances of the performance that judgement seems ungenerous. By 1910 Arnoldson was a member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Music. She retired from the stage in 1911, after which she taught singing in
Vienna for over 25 years. She moved to Stockholm in 1938 where she continued to teach up until her death in 1943. ==References==