Detailed Chronology of Jussi’s Performances On the Web!
"A Jussi Björling Chronology, with comprehensive information both in Swedish and English about 3127 performances (991 of which were sung by Jussi as a child up to 1927), is now available on this site for the first time. It has just been published by the Jussi Björling Society in Sweden, is also available on their site, and has been generously shared with JBS-USA.
A complete list of the opera companies with which Jussi sang, and the number of performances with them, is also published here for the first time.
The chronology has been compiled by me and Roger Alderstrand, and those who own the Swedish large-format book ”Jussi: sången, människan, bilderna”, edited by Jacob Forsell and published in 2010, are already familiar with an earlier version which was included there. We have since then been able to add 124 performances, largely due to the digitization which has made many old newspapers easily available.
Forsell’s book is very attractive and richly illustrated, and might therefore be of interest also to those who don’t know Swedish. A few copies, the very last ones, are still available at a favorable price from the Jussi Björling Museum in Borlänge and from JBS-USA through the SHOP button on this website. English translations of the captions are also available as companion to the book.
Commentaries and corrections are always welcome!"
- Harald Henrysson, 2017
Jussi’s Performance Chronology
JUSSI MADE MORE THAN THREE THOUSAND PERFORMANCES in concert, opera, radio and TV. As early as at the age of four he made his debut together with his brothers Olle and Gösta at Trefaldighetskyrkan (Trinity Church) in Örebro on 12 December 1915. His very last performance was at Skansen, Stockholm on 20 August 1960. On 9 September the same year he passed away at his beloved summer house on Siarö.
3127 performances by Jussi Björling are known and dated (April 2017). Of these he sang 991 times as a child together with his father (until 1926) and his brothers, 2136 times as an adult tenor.
These numbers include opera performances (Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci on the same evening are registered as two performances), concerts, solo performances, radio programs (even those without a studio audience), etc. Of the total number, 931 are complete operas.
Through extensive detective research Harald Henrysson and Roger Alderstrand have managed to compile a list of all these performances. For their laborious work they were in 2011 awarded the Prize of The Jussi Björling Society. The complete chronology was published on the web for the first time in April 2017 (see below).
By clicking the links below you will get various kinds of information about Jussi’s career.
Chronology of Performances: Foreword & Introduction
Chronology of Performances: Detailed List
Jussi Björling on the Opera Stage