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

30 Juvas Marianne Liljas
Consequently, David Björling’s singing pedagogy was defined as unorthodox
and seen in its most extreme form as a danger to children’s voices. There
are signs that he was stigmatised just because his peers did not understand
his principles. A future STIM 21 chief wrote:
I dare to say that the propaganda Mr B carries out with his young ones
is fully destructive. […] If Mr B means this could constitute an example
to follow in the matter of child singing, I must give due warning about
the consequences. […]Three things were of the highest class; the ticket
price, the well fitting tuxedos and the preliminary advertising for the
so-called concert. If I have made Mr B defenceless in the North of Helsingland,
I assume I have done good and blessed work. 22
(Erik Westberg; Hr. Björling’s Concert, Hudiksvalls Posten, 20 June
1918) 23
Many regarded the powerful song ideal as harmful and questioned how
healthy tone building was. Despite the criticism, David Björling stressed
the advantages and declared that it was too early to evaluate his teaching
work. The ideal was a hearty and natural sounding voice – voce piena e
naturale – with the role model drawn from the older Italian school (cf. Stark
1999, pp. 35, 59, 157, 163), which might have been particularly difficult to
identify in children.
Although they were children the Björling boys were well developed in
terms of tone building and appearance, reflecting the norm among adult
scholar singers. In order to reduce the technical difficulties David Björling
limited their vocal register and encouraged his sons to sing with full voice
until the “support” was established. He wrote in his booklet How to sing
that children may not sing pianissimo, apparently because it can create tension
in the throat and give rise to nasality. Singing with an open throat gives
a much fuller sound and is linked to the establishment of breath support and
resonance (Björling n.d., p. 4). The establishment of “support” was also a
21 STIM stands for The Swedish Composers International Music Society (“Svenska
Tonsättares Internationella Musikbyrå”), which was founded in 1923.
22 “Jag vågar t.o.m. påstå att den propaganda herr B. bedrifer med sina små, är i högsta
grad fördärflig. Menar herr B. att detta skall vara ett efterföljansvärt exempel i fråga
om barnsång, då måste jag på det bestämdaste varna för efterföljd .[…] Tre saker voro
fullt förstklassiga, biljettpriset, den välsittande fracken och reklamen som föregick den
s.k. konserten. Har jag oskadliggjort herr B. i norra Helsingland anser jag mig ha gjort
ett gott och välsignelserikt arbete.”
23 Erik Westberg (1892-1944), composer and conductor in the north province of Sweden,
was appointed managing director of STIM in 1923-44 (Åke Brandel in Sohlmans
musiklexikon bd 5 1979, p. 790).