Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Bust A Move (Move A Bust): New Location For Jussi's Bust, Beau Kaplan, Dan Shea

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

Several months after the JB bust vanished from sight at the Met, we learned in mid-March that the Bjorling bust was back on display in the concourse gallery, conspicuously located between busts of Verdi and Caruso! Several of our members documented this fact with photographs: our thanks to Bea Bobotek, Beau Kaplan, and Bill Lessard for sending us copies. And special thanks to the Met's Archivist Bob Tuggle for his patience in dealing with our members' anxieties! Mr. Tuggle explained that a new photo gallery had also been installed in the bust's previous home, with some 70 singers represented, and …

Birgit Nilsson: La Nilsson, My Life In Opera, Andrew Farkas

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

The American edition of Birgit Nilsson 's memoirs has a long and unhappy history. The book barely hit the best seller list on the domestic Swedish market in 1995, when I urged the publisher for whom I edited an Opera Biography series to issue the book in English. The company was reluctant to invest the cost of translation on top of Mme Nilsson's demands for a large advance against royalties, and they declined. Appreciating the value and broad interest of the book, I recommended it to another publisher. They enthusiastically jumped at the opportunity and negotiated a contract with Mme …

New Issues On Cd And Mp3

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

Jussi Bjorling, songs and opera arias 1936-1955

La Boheme, 1948, Metropolitan Opera Manon Lescaut, 1956, Metropolitan Opera

Naxos 7: Land du valsignade

Testament CD: JB in Song

2009 Jussi Bjorling Conference, Sue Flaster

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

The Board of the Jussi Bjorling Society-USA is happy to announce a Jussi Bjorling conference to be held in beautiful Charleston, South Carolina, May 15, 16 and 17 of 2009. Quite a bit o f time has passed since our big gathering in Sweden, and the important year of 2011 is still a long way off. Don't miss this opportunity to see old friends, make new ones, hear wonderful music and learn a bit more about our tenor and his fellow musical Swedes.

The Twenty-Sixth Of September 1953 Was A Great Day, Brigit Nilsson

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

I was to sing Tosca for the first time with Jussi Bjorling. I admired him endlessly and was afraid l would not be able to please him. God knows, one had heard of all the peculiarities of great singers, and I was certain t hat Jussi would have many of his own. My fears proved to be unfounded. He was the most considerate and uncomplicated partner one could awish for, with a voice that mirrored the Swedish spring with fresh birch groves, blue sky, and dew-fresh grass. And beneath this smoldered an Italian fever like the lava of Vesuvius.

A Warm Note From Marion Merrill, Marion Merrill

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

Thank you so much for the current Jussi Journal. I was deeply saddened, to learn of the passing of Anna-Lisa and Janet. I had often thoughf of Anna-Lisa as "mia sorella Svenska." Bob and l would often address her as such with great affection. We did stay in contact and Veronica Bjorling kept m up to date when Anna-Lisa no long could.

New Honors For Dan Shea, Bengt Krantz

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

Today, on Jussi's "official" birthday, the Scandinavian Jussi Bjorling Society held its annual meeting at the Jussi Bjorling Museum in Borlange. We want to announce that during this meeting, the society appointed two new honorary members: Dan Shea and Raymond Bjorling, and that Mats Carlsson became the first recipient of Juss i Bjorlingsallskapets Pris (The Jussi Bjorling Society Prize ).

Hallo Jussifriends, Stefan Olmars

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

The Bjorling family lived for hundreds of years in the small village of Voxna. Jussi's grandfather was a blacksmith here. And David and his three young sons came here to sing in the small wooden church twice. These are the reasons why each summer l organize a concert in this church. Some 15 people from JBS USA visited us during last year's concert. This is a recording from that concert and here are a few comments, mainly for you who were not there. The singers were Bengt Krantz (baritone) , President of JBS Scandinavia and Mats Carlsson (tenor). Mats has …

We Meet An Honorary Advisor: Joan Baez In South Carolina, Sue Flaster

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

One of the most accomplished folksingers of the 1960s, Joan Baez has influenced nearly every aspect of popular music throughout a career that is still going strong.

Editors' Note

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

In this newsletter you will find a wide variety of topics from new CD (and MP3) issues to an overview of last summer's activities in the North. The re is also an article about Joan Baez, one of our honorary advisors. In the future, we plan to make short pieces about our advisors a regular feature of the newsletter, and perhaps of the Journal as well. These are people who care deeply about the music of Jussi Bjorling, and we should know more about them!

Side Bar

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

No abstract provided.

6. News Of Two Young, Singers Of Special Interest To Jbs Members

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

1. We are very proud that Julia Rolwing, winner of the $500 Jussi Bjorling Prize at the 2005 Yrjo Kilpinen Society art song competition in Madison, has gone on to win First Place in the Wagnerian Voice category of the 2007 Liederkranz Foundation competition. You can see her photo in the June issue of Opera News. And just this month, the Wagner Society of New York awarded Julia its highest honor, the Robert Launch Memorial Award.

5. Leonard Warren Archive To Be Housed At Ucsb.

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

It's clear that some universities are performing valuable work in maintaining archives of all kinds, perhaps more effectively than huge governmental archives like the Library of Congress. Thus we were pleased to learn from JBS-USA members Barry and Muriel Crawford that they had donated their definitive Leonard Warren Archive of recordings and memorabilia to the Performing Arts Collection at the University of California-Santa Barbara's Davidson Library.

4. The Hunt For Lost Broadcast Material In Good Sound, At Plates Like The Library Of Congress.

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

This is a huge task but very little new has been accomplished during 2007 aside from the points mentioned above about the 1947 Met Trovatore, the coming new Bluebell CD, and Greg's CD. We have renewed our contacts with the Idabelle Firestone Library, the Bell Telephone archive, V AI. the Nostalgia Company, the Library of Congress, the NY Public Library archives of sound and other organizations. specially useful and enjoyable was a January visit to NYC to hear Seth Winner in two lectures about the Toscanini archive, and· the opportunity to consult with him about practicalities: What procedures are …

3. New Re-Releases Of Bjorling Recordings.

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

There is a stream of multiple re-issues of many of the most famous of Bjorling's recordings available now in Europe, due to the copyright laws there: After 50 years, published recordings go into the public domain. Thus all of Jussi's complete operas up to 1957 have been re-released by companies like Naxos, Urania, and many others. Production values of these CDs vary, so 'caveat emptor'! A key point is that improvements in the sound of a later edition of a recording also are copyrighted for 50 years, and sometimes those improvements are worth having. As we learn of the most …

2. New Releases Of Bjorling Recordings, Including A Brand-New 78 Rpm Disk!

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

Word has come from EMI that the two 78 rpm test pressings that Jussi made on September 4, 1929, and that supposedly were destroyed in 1930 [see the Henrysson "JB Phonography," pp. 76 and 160], actually do still exist! The Historic Masters organization ["HM"] intends to celebrate this fact by enabling a limited release of a 78 with these two sides: some 200-300 copies will be pressed (and sold probably for about $30-40 each). The two songs that Jussi chose for this occasion were Geehl's "For you alone" and Leoncavallo's "Mattinata," both sung in Swedish. While you certainly are familiar …

1. Bjorling-Events In Borlange, Mora, And Voxna During July.

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

Harald Henrysson and friends from the JB Museum and the Scandinavian JB Sallskapet have put together some very attractive programs for Bjorling Society members who join a JBS-USA tour during July. Here's a brief outline:

Editor's Note, Greg Fitzmaurice, Sue Flaster, Kendall Svengalis, Laura Homonnay-Demilio, Dan Shea, Art Skantz

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

Greetings and welcome to your first publication from us since January's Newsletter: Here we bring you news of some new developments, hinted at in the list above, about special parts of the music world that we care deeply about. We regret that the Journal Issue that we promised for Spring publication has been delayed : your hardworking volunteer Board and Its Editor simply haven't found time yet to pull together issue #16, scheduled now for mid-October. But for now we are eager to report on our activities over the past few months since our last Newsletter.

Front Matter

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

No abstract provided.

February Newsletter, Dan Shea

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

This is to express again our sincere thanks for your essential support! We love keeping track of Jussi Bjorling's splendid career with you, but your moral and financial support validates and enables what we do as a group.

(5). Issue No. 16 Of Our Jbs Journal Coming Soon - Aiming For March?

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

We are now assembling some excellent material for our next issue Journal issue, which concentrates on Jussi Bjorling in Pagliacci and Cavalleria rusticana For instance Harald Henrysson has found reviews of Jussi as Canio in Pagliacci, in all the seasons when he assumed that role in Sweden as well as reviews from Nuremberg and Vienna in 1937. Harald assembles this material to give a vivid picture of our young tenor's assumption of this difficult role, and how his acting matured in the years between 1936 (!) and his last performance in 1955.

(4.) How About A Scandinavian Holiday During July 2007

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

You're invited: Join our friendly , international group of music lovers in Borlange during July 3-8 for programs at the JB Museum there as well as concerts at the nearby "Music on Lake Siljan" festival. On July 8 we'll travel to nearby Voxna, to join a small festival organized by the Scandinavian Jussi Bjorling Society on July 9.

(3). Jussi In The News, At Chicago's Lyric Opera In Autumn 2006.

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

Jussi Bjorling was a mainstay for the new Lyric Opera company as it willed itself into being, first in the spring of 19$4 with a brilliantly-cast Don Giovanni (Steber, Simoneau), and then consolidating its formula of attracting the greatest singers with promises of interesting repertoire(+ good salaries, if not lavish new productions). Thus Maria Callas famously opened the fall season in Norma (with Simionato), Traviata (with Simoneau and Gobbi), Lucia (with di Stefano); check the database .at lyricopera. org!

(2) News Of Recent And New Recordings Of Interest

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

All members of JBS-USA and JBAS-UK .during the current year should have received the new Bluebell ABCD103 set with rare and previously unreleased operatic performances by JB from the archives of Swedish Radio, 1934-51. Our chapters of JBS -helped underwrite this release by committing to purchase almost 600 copies of the 2-CD set, which at least in the US is not available except by mail order purchase from Europe.

(1) News Of Our Jbs Website

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

During the next few weeks you'll be able to watch our new website under construction, updating some of the old articles and adding new. design features, articles, photographs, and -finally- sound clips. Webmaster Michael Mayer is helping us revamp the previous site, and we urge you to browse the current status of the ".org" site and . offer your ideas about what else to include (for now, you can send those to this editor at dshea@ chorus.net).

Editor's Note, Greg Fitzmaurice, Sue Flaster, Laura Homonnay-Demilio, Dan Shea, Art Skantz, Kendall Svengalis

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

This Newsletter is your first communication from us since June, when we mailed you a copy of the Bluebell 2-CD set called "Jussi Bjorling - Radames. Alfredo, Romeo" of previously unreleased and rare opera recordings from the Swedish Radio archives, 1934-1951. Many of you wrote of your reactions to bearing these souvenirs of live performances from Stockholm, and we'll quote some of those below.

Full Issue

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

No abstract provided.

Mini-Newsletter Of The Jussi Bjorling Society, Greg Fitzmaurice, Sue Flaster, Laura Homonnay-Demilio, Dan Shea, Art Skantz, Kendall Svengalis

Newsletter of the Jussi Björling Societies of the USA & UK

Warm greetings from the Directors of JBS-USA! We are pleased to bring you news about:

• A new 2-CD album from Swedish Bluebell with much never-before-released material from the archives of Swedish Radio: prime Bjorling material from 1934-1951, and a complimentary copy is coming soon to YOU.

• A gathering in Minneapolis, June 10-11, will feature Anders Bjorling and Harald Henrysson at the American Swedish Institute, a JBS business meeting, and concerts by the Schubert Club of St Paul

• Harald Henrysson awarded the Jussi Bjorling Prize for 2006 at a ceremony in Stora Tuna.

Last February's issue of the …