retour à la vie, Elijah, the Verdi Requiem and The Dream of Gerontius; while his song repertoire extended beyond Swedish composers and folksongs to Schubert, Schumann, a wide range of Russian romances from Glinka to Rachmaninoff, mélodies, Janáček's The Diary of One Who Disappeared, and many Russian folksongs. Honours In 1965 he became a Swedish Court Singer and in 1966 he was inducted into the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. In 1968 he was a recipient of the Swedish royal medal Litteris et Artibus. In 1976 he was awarded the Gold Medal for the Promotion of the Art of Music (Swedish: För tonkonstens främjande) by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and in 2007 he received the Caruso prize. In 2010 he received the Legion of Honor (Légion d'honneur), the highest French decoration, from then president of France Nicolas Sarkozy. Gedda was a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and in 1994 he was made an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy. Personal life Outside music Gedda had many hobbies, as a keen sportsman, a connoisseur of painting and sculpture, and well-read in literature, often reading works of major novelists in the original where he commanded the language. He also had a passion for visiting zoos, saying that if he did not have to travel for his profession he would like "to keep a complete menagerie in my home". His first marriage was to the pianist Nadine Sapounoff-Nova (1953–1961), his second to Anastasia Caraviotis, an American of Greek origin (1965–1991), and last from 1997 to the journalist and writer Aino Sellermark. He published his first memoir, Gåvan är inte gratis (The gift is not free) in 1977, with the help of his future wife, Aino Sellermark. This was translated as Nicolai Gedda: My Life and Art, which Amadeus Press published in 1999. His death on 8 January 2017, aged 91, was not announced by his family until 9 February 2017. He died after a heart attack at his home in Tolochenaz in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. Partial discography The following is a selection of Gedda studio recordings, either mentioned in the main text, appearing in Opera on Record volumes 1 & 2, or receiving a rosette in the Penguin Record Guide books. Bach B minor Mass, (tenor solo) Philharmonia Chorus and Orchestra, Otto Klemperer EMI 1967 Bellini - I Puritani (Arturo) Ambrosian Chorus, London Philharmonic