Jussi Björling

Jussi Björling (5 February 1911 – 9 September 1960) was a Swedish tenor widely regarded as one of the finest operatic voices of the 20th century. He spent many seasons at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, with fewer appearances at major European houses such as London’s Royal Opera House and Milan’s La Scala. His repertoire focused on Italian, French, and Russian opera, which he performed with refined taste. In a 1999 poll by Classic CD magazine, music critics ranked him the greatest singer of the century.

Early life

Born Johan Jonatan Björling in Stora Tuna, Dalarna, Sweden, his birth was recorded as 5 February by the midwife, though church records mistakenly listed 2 February—the date he celebrated throughout his life. His Finnish grandmother gave him the nickname Jussi. His father, David, a skilled singer, taught Jussi and his brothers Olle and Gösta, forming the Björling Male Quartet.

Jussi made his public debut at age five, and the quartet toured Sweden and the United States for eleven and a half years. After David’s death in 1926, the group disbanded, and Jussi worked as a lamp salesman in Ystad. He made his radio debut in 1928 and, after auditioning for John Forsell, entered the Opera School and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

Career

His first stage appearance was as the Lamplighter in Manon Lescaut at the Royal Swedish Opera on 21 July 1930. His official debut as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni followed on 20 August, with Forsell as the lead.

He also debuted as Arnold in William Tell and as Jonatan in Saul og David. He signed with the Royal Swedish Opera, taking on 53 roles by 1938, including Erik, Almaviva, the Duke, Rodolfo, and Florestan. He was the first Swedish performer to sing Dick Johnson, Luigi, Elemer, and Vladimir, notably sharing the stage with Feodor Chaliapin in 1935.

In July 1931, he gave his first adult recital outside Sweden at Copenhagen’s Tivoli. He frequently performed recitals, favoring lighter summer programs in Scandinavia and more serious works abroad.

Between 1936 and 1937, he appeared in Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Dresden, and Nuremberg, singing opera in Swedish alongside German ensembles. He made his London recital debut and first American tour in 1937, with a Carnegie Hall concert and Chicago opera appearances. On 24 November 1938, he debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as Rodolfo in La bohème, remaining on its roster until 1941 while also singing in San Francisco and Chicago.

For the 1940–1941 Met season, he sang King Gustave III in a new staging of Un ballo in maschera set in Sweden. In December 1940, Arturo Toscanini invited him to perform the tenor part in Beethoven’s Missa solemnis in New York; a recording survives. Björling also sang the Verdi Requiem under Toscanini in Lucerne in 1939 and New York in 1940, both recorded.

He debuted at London’s Royal Opera House in 1939 as Manrico in Il trovatore. During the war, he performed in Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Budapest, and made his Italian debut in Florence in 1943, again as Manrico. In 1944, King Gustaf V appointed him a Royal Court Singer.

Returning to the U.S. in 1945, he sang frequently at the Met, starting with the Duke in Rigoletto. His roles included major tenor parts in Il trovatore, Aida, Cavalleria rusticana, Faust, Roméo et Juliette, La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, and Manon Lescaut. He opened the 1950–1951 season as Don Carlo, but his relationship with manager Rudolf Bing soured, leading to absences in the mid-1950s.

He also performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and San Francisco Opera. At La Scala, he sang in Rigoletto in 1946 and Un ballo in maschera in 1951. A planned Paris debut in 1953 fell through, and aside from recitals in the UK, Yugoslavia, East Germany, and South Africa in 1954, he rarely performed outside Scandinavia and the United States.

On 15 March 1960, Björling suffered a heart attack before a La bohème performance at Covent Garden but insisted on singing despite the pain.