Opera on the Move in the Nordic Countries during the Long 19th ...

The Björling ‘<strong>Opera</strong>’
in opera. The middle child, Johan Jonathan (Jussi), forged an international
career and was one of the greatest singers of the twentieth century (Liljas
2007, pp. 19-20 Footnotes 2 and 6). There was a fourth son, Karl (Kalle,
1917-1975), who did not benefit from the intensive education his father
gave his brothers and was brought up by an aunt in the province of Dalecarlia
(Liljas 2007, pp. 26f; cf. Björling & Farkas 1996, p. 36).
Unfortunately, David Björling was unable to witness his sons’ successful
careers: he passed away unexpectedly during a tour in 1926. All in all,
the Björling boys performed over 900 times between the years 1915 and
1926. 7
Substantial traces of David Björling’s pedagogy
One of the few remaining traces of David Björling’s ideas is his booklet entitled
How to sing: Care of the Voice Organs, Its Importance for the Health and
Well-being of Man (Björling n.d.). 8 The
booklet was written in the USA, where
interest in David Björling as a singing
teacher for children was significant
(Björling & Farkas 1996, p. 40). 9 The
interest was focused, above all, on the
results early singing education could
produce, and David Björling was invited
to music schools in order to demonstrate
his method (cf. Björling 1945, p.
37). Aside from their vocal technique,
the boys’ well-developed pitch and ex-
traordinary mnemonic capacities also
attracted attention.
Another interesting turning point
was the production of six gramophone
recordings of the boys’ trio at the
American Columbia Phonograph Com-
7 Since the dissertation was published in 2007, evidence of several other performances
has come to light (cf. the Jussi Björling museum archive).
8 Information about the year and place of publication is missing. The booklet was
published as a facsimile in Eriks Förlag in Stockholm, 1978. Cf. Liljas 2007, p. 332.
9 The text is in both Swedish and English, implying that the booklet was written in the
USA. See Liljas 2007, pp. 335-354 for a presentation and analysis of the text.
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Illustration 2. During the USA tour
1919-1921 the Björling boy trio recorded
six gramophone records with Columbia
Records in New York. The old 78s were
brought to Sweden by coincidence. The
Radio reporter Sven Jerring found them
in a music-shop in Chicago 1937.