Jussi Björling's son! (Rolf) - Di quella pira (Live!)

[0Gioacchino]

Rolf inherited the Björling sound. Shame he did not learn the technique.

[PEAinSwe]

There are FOUR generations Björling singers - Jussi was the second generation.

[SHICOFF1]

I heard him in recital in the 60's in Chicago and he was very good and the middle sounded like his father but not the top. Nice fellow also I did go backstage to meet him. He was rather tall I remember and appreciated his fans..He was married to a Chicago lady.

[FenianandLimey]

Holy cow. He looks just like him. His voice is incredible. This is either a joke video or some agent or marketing director SOMEWHERE is an asshole.

[GermanOperaSinger]

@FenianandLimey It's not a joke. Rolf Bjoerling was Jussi's son and was a professional tenor himself.

[ellandelachapelle]

My dears. If you want to hear a REALLY great Swedish tenor (resemblent of Jussi) listen to Erland Hagegård! (b. 1944. Didn´t have a world career. Which he would have merited.) (several audios and one video here on YouTube.)

[Castorlac]

Met Raymond for the first time when working as a singer myself, in the 1980's. We were double-booked as singers at a funeral. As the family explicitly had asked me to sing - I knew them as being my neighbours - Raymond had to leave. I said: "I'll hope we will be able to meet another time under more pleasant circumstances". "So do I", he said. We did. His voice resembles Jussi's but for me Jussi is number one, of course.

[ForAll23]

Thank you for this recording, really nice to hear.

I knew Rolf Björling pretty good, he was a friendly and helpful person. I am glad I learned to know him.

[vernokenn]

Jussi fathered Rolf before he married another woman. To his credit, he acknowledged his son.

[1Ooppera]

I think he is great! To compare he into his "tenorgodfather" is simply not fair.

But as we all can hear, he can make it great by himsef, without his fathers name. What is strange that i found him much heavier than his father was, a real spinto. Their voices were vary different. Anyway from this fuzzy recording is hard to make any judgement, rather that he sang this Manricos stretta great!

[pearlmuth3]

I heard Raymond several years ago on a recording of the Boheme aria I think it was Che gelida on the Karzas Radio show on WFMT Chicago and he was quite good like his dad but hard to know form one recording. I don't know if he is after a career or not have not heard but the recording sounded fine.

[pearlmuth3]

Can you believe I was lucky enough to hear father and son, some years apart though!

[GermanOperaSinger]

Jussi's grandson Raymond is also a tenor, wonder what he sounds like.

[gpoec]

Dear German Opera Singer,

There is a Swedish recording "Tre Generations'. Jussi, Rolf, and Raymond all sing songs and arias on it, and to my ear, they all have the same pure velvet sound. I am sure that PaPa Jussi would have been proud of his son and grandson's singing. They are like a musical Holy Trinity, I heard both Jussi and Rolf sing (not together)and was more aware of the quality of their voices, than of the size. I knew Rolf and sang with him in the Chicago area.

[dollenberg]

Having seen, read and discussed with experts most of Jussi's life, I am amazed that he was thought to be a womaniser.  He had one illegitimate son which he provided for all his life. Most experts believe he was quite straight laced and did not indulge in affairs with his leading ladies. He weakness was alcohol.

[gpoec]

I just read, "Jussi," written by Anna Lisa Bjoerling. What a busy, wonderful, life he had. Besides Rolf, I believe there was a daughter too. However that doesn't, IMO, make him a monster or a womaniser. It is, IMO, likely that alcohol played a part in both instances. Jussi is still, for me, the greatest tenor of my lifetime. Rolf was also a friend of mine. This subject was never mentioned. I think that, guilt and shame, held in Jussi's hearts, could have been the reason for his drinking.

[dollenberg]

Thanks for your comments. I saw Jussi in Cardiff many years ago. I have seen many of the "greats" but Jussi is the greatest tenor I have ever heard. Hearing him is a life enhancing experience. He was one of a kind.

[gpoec]

I sang with Rolf in the Chicago area. He had a beautiful voice. On the record,"Three Generations," Raymond has very much the same sound as both Jussi and Rolf. In 1950 I got to meet Jussi and Anna Lisa on the stage of Carneige Hall, where I was a member of the Augustana College Choir doing a joint recital with the Bjoerlings. If a voice can carry, it doesn't have to be huge. Jussi B's voice carried. In my life, it was a thrill to have been so close to greatness. However, life must move on.

[CMyClips]

@GermanOperaSinger

Thank´s for your uploads. I found a clip with Raymond Bjorling at following link. Enjoy!

youtube.com/watch?v=uGuU5pSq15­k

[CMyClips]

@GermanOperaSinger

Thank´s for your uploads. I found Raymond Bjorlings channel att Youtube. Search for user Rb8718 and listen to "Till Havs" where he tributes his grandfather Jussi. Enjoy!

[CMyClips]

@GermanOperaSinger Thank´s for your uploads. I found Raymond Bjorlings channel att Youtube. Search for user Rb8718 and listen to "Till Havs" where he tributes his grandfather Jussi. Enjoy!

[francescaemc2]

Danke. reminiscent of the Caruso recording.

In quality if not in voice. lol.

kidding. He is very good and the last note is outstanding. thanks for posting.

[pearlmuth3]

Voice was not large about like Jussi but later he sang Calaf with Nilsson in Sweden and it was larger then early and had developed a wobble I have the tape. As I said I heard him in Chicago recital in 64 but turandot was in the mid 70's, pushed the voice so it was gone pretty much.

[sospello]

Interesting clip. Did he just sing in concert format or actually perform in the entire opera?

[GermanOperaSinger]

He sang the entire production. Rolf Bjorling was a professional tenor whose career spanned from the mid early 60s to the mid 80s...of course he didn't live up to Jussi's name, but I don't think anyone could.

[pearlmuth3]

Heard him live in concert and met him after, yes in the middle in 1964 it had a jussi like sound but not on top of course he was a good singer and a nice guy.

[GermanOperaSinger]

How large was his voice compared with his father's?

[VinylToVideo]

Quite interesting, thanks. Similarly the volume has to be turned up! Joking; of course not in the best sound.