Jussi Björling

Jussi Björling was a Swedish tenor born on 5 February 1911 in Stora Tuna, Borlänge, Dalarna. He died on 9 September 1960. A leading operatic singer of the 1900s, he spent many seasons at New York’s Metropolitan Opera and also performed, though less often, at London’s Royal Opera House and Milan’s La Scala. His repertoire covered Italian, French, and Russian operas, which he sang with discernment. In July 1999, a survey of music critics for the UK magazine *Classic CD* named him the greatest singer of the 20th century.

His surname sometimes appears as Bjoerling or Bjorling in English. He was known as Jussi, a childhood nickname from his Finnish grandmother. His father David, a skilled singer, taught Jussi and his brothers Olle and Gösta; the four performed together as the Björling Male Quartet. Jussi made his first public appearance at age five. The quartet toured Sweden and the United States for eleven and a half years. After David died in 1926, the group disbanded, and Jussi sold lamps in Ystad. In 1928 he made his radio debut and, after an audition with John Forsell, entered the Opera School and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

His first stage role was 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 1930, with Forsell singing the title part. Two more official debuts came later that year: Arnold in *William Tell* and Jonatan in *Saul og David*. He then signed with the Royal Swedish Opera, where he learned 53 roles by 1938. These included Erik, Almaviva, the Duke, Wilhelm Meister, Faust, Vasco Da Gama, Rodolfo, Tonio, Florestan, and Belmonte. He was the first Swedish Dick Johnson in *La fanciulla del West*, Luigi in *Il tabarro*, Elemer in *Arabella*, and Vladimir in *Prince Igor*—the last opposite Feodor Chaliapin in 1935.

In July 1931 he gave a recital at Copenhagen’s Tivoli, his first adult performance outside Sweden. He often sang recitals, especially summer ones in Scandinavian parks, but chose more serious programs for tours abroad. In 1936–1937 he performed in Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Dresden, and Nuremberg, singing Swedish operas within German ensembles. He made his London recital debut and his first American tour as an adult in 1937. That year he also debuted at Carnegie Hall and sang opera in Chicago. On 24 November 1938 he debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as Rodolfo in *La bohème*, staying on the roster until 1941 while also appearing in San Francisco and Chicago.

For the 1940–1941 season at the Met, he sang King Gustave III in *Un ballo in maschera* in a new staging—the first set in Sweden. In December 1940 Arturo Toscanini invited him to sing the tenor part in Beethoven’s *Missa solemnis* in New York; a recording survives. Björling also performed Verdi’s Requiem under Toscanini in 1939 in Lucerne and in November 1940 in New York; that performance was later released on LP and CD. He debuted at the Royal Opera House in London in 1939 as Manrico in *Il trovatore*. During the war he stayed in Europe, singing in Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Budapest, and made his Italian debut at Florence’s Teatro Comunale in 1943 in *Il trovatore*. In 1944 King Gustaf V named him a Royal Court Singer.

After the war, in 1945, he returned to the United States and sang frequently at the Met, starting with the Duke in *Rigoletto*. His roles there included many from the French and Italian repertory: *Il trovatore*, *Rigoletto*, *Aida*, *Un ballo in maschera*, *Cavalleria rusticana*, *Faust*, *Roméo et Juliette*, *La bohème*, *Madama Butterfly*, *Tosca*, and *Manon Lescaut*. He sang Don Carlo in the 1950–1951 season opener, 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 was canceled. Apart from recitals in the United Kingdom, some performances in Yugoslavia, East Germany, and South Africa in 1954, he rarely appeared outside Scandinavia and the United States.

On 15 March 1960, before a performance of *La Bohème* at Covent Garden, he had a heart attack. He insisted on singing despite it.