The Swedish tenor, whose career spanned more than half a century, has died aged 91.

Swedish tenor Nicolai Gedda, whose international opera career stretched from his debut in 1951 through to his retirement 2003, has died at the age of 91. The tenor was one of the giants of opera in the 20th century, appearing in more than 200 recordings and collaborating with artists such as Maria Callas, Herbert von Karajan, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Jessye Norman.

Gedda worked at a bank before deciding to pursue a career as a singer. He studied with Carl Martin Oehman and at the Swedish Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm before making his debut in 1951 at the Swedish Royal Opera in the premiere of Swiss composer Heinrich Sutermeister’s Der rote Stiefel. Two years later Gedda made his La Scala debut as Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni before creating the role of the Groom in Carl Orff’s Il Trionfo di Afrodite, under the baton of Karajan, at the same theatre. This was followed by debuts for Paris Opéra, Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, with which he sang for 22 seasons.

Gedda had a talent for languages, speaking and...