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

The Björling ‘<strong>Opera</strong>’
A mature and well-developed, masculine chest-centred voice was favoured
in the older Italian School, and even transposition was preferred in
order to contain the voice within a register. This solo singing ideal, which
to a great extent aimed at an expressive tenor voice, had a piercing power
reaching far beyond Italian borders that was transported further into later
time eras. It was restored through the efforts of teachers such as Nicola
Vaccai (1790-1848) and Francesco Lamperti (1813-1892) attempting to recreate
a lost art (Celletti 1991, p.196; Stark 1999, p. xviii, 157, 59f, 197; Liljas
2007, p. 83).
It seems from the above analysis that David Björling had his roots in an
older Italian tradition. There appear to be recurring similarities between
his methods and the didactic principles of the Lamperti School. Taken in
context, the Lamperti School promoted both an older Italian voice ideal and
individual-centred education. Experiencing some form of revival around the
late 1800s and early 1900s, it has been called the natural or the national
school (Brown 1957; Stark 1999; Liljas 2007, pp. 194, 435).
The pedagogue
David Björling rigorously controlled his children’s progress. One consequence
of his uncompromising attitude was that the boys were not allowed
to attend singing lessons at their local school.
It seems that he was very careful to ensure consistency and quality in
their vocal development. Their schedule included daily singing lessons,
which started with a few minutes of throat massage. 28 Björling was anxious
to explain that the vocal training was part of the musical upbringing
he wanted his children to have, and was an indispensible element of their
general upbringing (Björling n.d.). Was this an attempt to legitimise the
training in the eyes of a doubting public, or does the statement reflect a
deeper philosophy?
In recreating David Björling’s pedagogical profile it would be useful to
go back to the didactic starting points of vocal training. From this perspec-
27 Isak Berg became familiar with Italian vocal traditions as a pupil of Giuseppe Siboni
(1780-1839) at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen (Berg 1868; cf. Liljas 2007,
p. 368).
28 Märta Björling-Kärn (1904-1997) recalls that the singing lessons lasted for one hour
every morning. She was also a pupil of David Björling. For more details about the
singing lessons see Björling-Kärn 1990; 1995 and other sources in Liljas 2007, pp.
303-307.
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