Jussi Björling
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Johan Jonatan ["Jussi" Björling] (5 February 1911 – 9 September 1960) was a Swedish tenor and one of the most highly regarded opera singers of the 20th century. Björling was one of the few non-Latin tenors to rival the Italian dominance of the opera world at that time. He is well-regarded as having possessed the best singing technique in recorded history.
Björling was born in Borlänge. He studied singing with his father, David, an accomplished vocalist, and made his debut public appearance at the age of four with the Björling Male Quartet. The group performed in concerts throughout Sweden and the United States for eleven and a half years.
Björling made his professional operatic debut as the Lamplighter in Manon Lescaut at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm in 1930. This was soon followed by Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Arnoldo in Rossini's William Tell and Almaviva in Rossini's The Barber of Seville. This in turn led to engagements in Europe and the USA. Björling made his American concert debut in Carnegie Hall in 1937; the following year, he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Rodolfo in La bohème.
Björling went on to become one of the principal singers at the Metropolitan Opera during the 1940s and 1950s (with an interruption during World War II). He sang many major tenor roles in operas in the French and Italian repertoire, including Il Trovatore, Rigoletto, Aida, Un Ballo In Maschera, Pagliacci, Cavalleria Rusticana, Faust, Romeo & Juliet, La Boheme, Tosca and Manon Lescaut. Many of his recordings of these roles are still considered the best by any tenor in this repertoire. In December, 1940, Arturo Toscanini invited him to sing the tenor part in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in New York, a recording of which exists. He also performed the Verdi Requiem under Toscanini in 1939 in Lucerne, Switzerland, and in November 1940 in New York.
Björling was much admired for his innate musicality and his seemingly effortless technique. His limited acting ability was considered his main weakness, but at that time operatic acting was not considered a negative. He was known as the "Swedish Caruso". His son, Rolf, a successful tenor in his own right (although not at the level of his famous father), and his grandson, Raymond are inheritors of the "sound".
His widow, Anna-Lisa Bjorling, published a biography with the cooperation of Andrew Farkas that described Bjorling as a loving family man and generous colleague. However, Anna-Lisa also acknowledged the destructive influence of Bjorling's alcoholism.
On March 15, 1960, Björling suffered a heart attack before a performance at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He died of heart-related causes six months later in Sweden at the age of forty-nine.
His name is now used with the prestigious Jussi Björling Music Scholarship at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota.
External links
- [The Jussi Björling Society]
- [Jussi Björling Museum] (Swedish and English)
- [Jussi Björling profile]
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