Jussi Bjorling "Donna non vidi mai" M. Lescaut Live 1960

[Situnadei]

Soli Deo Gloria- Jussi Björling was a gift from God.

[weatherheadnoel]

Wonderful.

[acharlesworth1991]

you don't have to know this was his last concert to know this is how this aria should be sung Try all others on You Tube and they just pale The conductor and orchestra need to be praised as well for they are both at one with the singer and bring out the detail in Puccini's orchestration. never been bettered and almost certainly never will. I want this played at my funeral.

[Kajsa305]

LOVE!!

[thheijmans]

I can get real emotional,knowing this was his last concert. But what a wunderful last one! He is.he was and always will be my number one. Jussi Always.

[Bjorlingmiracle]

He was at the very summit of his artistry just before he died; his voice at its fullest and richest, his technique at its peak. Can anyone hearing the power in his voice suspect that he is suffering from a soon to be fatal heart condition?!

[suffes]

@Bjorlingmiracle It´s something magic with this concert! Yes, this particular evening he was in his most powerful shape ever, his "lazer beam" was back and his vibrato was 20 years "younger". It´s like he did know that this was is "it" and he gave it all. The concert is recorded in stereo! Listened to 1 hour of it in a radio programme some month ago.

[EduardoMarta]

I listen to this opera, sung by Jussi, since 1967. I shed tears then, I shed them now. So clear, so beautiful. His voice suits Puccini's Verismo style. From Manon to Turandot - I collected the vinyl of each opera. Last summer, I saw La Boheme in Santa Fe, NM. The Stars were Shining Brightly ... (the opera house is open air on the sides). It was perfect, the Tenor was very good, young, clear voice - and for moments I think of Jussi.

[Sybriix]

There is no tenor in the world to get my goose bumps to rise as much as my good role model Jussi Bjorling. See you up there when the day has come for me!

[Kajsa305]

Älskade Jussi... Perfekt. Själ. Konstnär! Vilken förebild du är för oss alla sångare... Jag böjer mitt huvud inför dig, och hoppas att framtida tenorer lyssnar.....

[trannel9988]

tack Leif GW för tipset i ditt Sommarprogram!

[lafca88]

E' una delee piu' convincenti e belle interpretazioni di questo brano; anche molto meglio di L: Pvavarotti che canta troppo aperto e gli acuti poi. . . . .

[RudySunseeker]

Life is too short not to listen to Jussi Björling every day.

[seektheforce]

@RudySunseeker I just found my favorite quote!!

[Mapman923]

Yeah. This is it. I can listen to this again and again. I've never heard such perfect and meaningful portamentos.

[delam2]

The one person who disliked this is surely deaf...

[SHICOFF1]

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IN HIS VOICE FROM THE EARLY RECORDINGS IS IT'S DARKER NATURALLY. AT 49 YEARS OLD HERE HE COULD HAVE GONE ON FOR MANY YEARS, HE LASTED WHEN YOU CONSIDER HE FIRST SANG IN OPERA AT AGE 19 ON STAGE! (IN THIS OPERA)

[Kilchattan7]

Dont talk to me of flowing Scottish brooks

[SHICOFF1]

I like the picture with Melchior and the Bithday cake at #136 and the one from 1949 with Gigli at #151 The singing is great here.

[30pavlova1]

Fantastically beautiful voice, perfect technique, total emotion.

[31122051]

MERAVIGLIOSO ! Con un piede nella tomba ma con lo strumento vocale ancora in perfetta forma ! BRAVISSIMO !!!

[Siriussupporter]

En man som sjunger ur sitt hjärta. Hör ni smärtan?

[matforsbon]

Sad he died just a month after this recording

[donaldrose]

I have been giving a young man some instructions on vocal production as a tenor. He was with a truly mediocre teacher and I wanted to ensure that at least some of the wisdom built up in 200 years of bel canto teaching reached him. Part of my what I hope will be influence is that I gave him an anthology CD of Bjoerling and suggested that if he needs to hear what a really great, nearly flawless technique sounds like; this was it.

[vpo2g2]

And with a heart condition, yet. If God had vocal cords..........

[villyhartman]

Indeed!! - He was a golden star, and his tenor had a special and selden timbre ,

I have been told that his father, when Jussi was a young boy, massaged his throut.

Who knowes......



[ophunka]

Jussi Björling az Angyali Hang!Köszönöm!!

[pieritlyon]

Muy hermoso, magnifico; el gran Jussi  Bjorling.

[Federuak]

El tenor que mas me gusta.

[zgopify]

I remember reading somwhere that when Bjorling sang this aria when performing with Dorothy Kirsten in Chicago, she started to cry, as she had never heard anything so beautiful. The aria brought down the house, small wonder.

[paulostroff99]

AWESOME! One of his very best! T Y.

[RudySunseeker]

@paulostroff99

Agree, if perfection exists, this is a good example.

[JussiBjorling1960]

Simultaneously exquisite and heartbreaking.....

[ceb2633]

Oh, Lord, hand me the kleenex! This will always be the voice, always! Thank you so much for this special treat.

[tomfroekjaer]

Intensely beautiful. Top 3 ever. Thanks - brings tears to my eyes.

[Toutbon]

Just sublime!

[martinolemalino]

Bravo for this Amazing technique! Sounds like a trumpet!

[MrSkylark1]

Vastly SUPERIOR to ALL singers today where the ART of SINGING is NON-EXISTENT

[YoucefVincennes94]

Listenig to this rendition by Björling brings to my mind how unfair is life! No one hears about him (unknown even among some Opera fans!!) whereas he is -at least- to Pavarotti and certainly superior to Domingo or Carreras !

[Zva26]

Here is a tenor who took his voice with him to the next world, and he's probably been brightening the heavens since he arrived there in September of 1960. He left us much too early, and with that magnificent voice still intact and immediately recognizable to those who cherish him.

[paulostroff99]

Wonderfully sung!

[paulostroff99]

Glorious!

[vpo2g2]

Jussi proved that God has a larynx.

[The99Gambo]

Francesco Merli's rendition is also exceedingly good and very different. But somehow I come back to Jussi's version for comfort and joy. There is an earlier recording by Jussi too.

[796824]

Bjorling has never been matched even now

[AmhranaiAlainn]

Words cannot express what I feel inside my heart when Jussi sings. His recordings are probably the best vocal treasure in the history of recording. A pure artist, capable of anything. He always strove like truly great artists to impart a deeper meaning in a song every time he delivered it to the audience as this rendition proves. It also proves that singing is not a physical business (as his passing was imminent), but a metaphysical one. This man can teach us all so much even 50 years on.

[EduardoMarta]

I discovered the voice of Jussi 42 years ago. I bought vinyl records of all the Puccini operas with Jussi singing and listened to them constantly. His singing here is beautiful (as you say) and it reminds me of Mimi (in La Boheme) singing with tuberculosis.

[tempo986]

Oh! my God! Non posso reggere dall'emozione questa meraviglia!!!!!!

Oltre alla magnifica voce, la grande interpretazione. Tears, Tears,....... thank you.

Vera Bardelli Perinati

[RudySunseeker]

Power, finesse and poetry, all in perfect tonal costume, just for you and me.

[MTondeleo]

"A sound so fine, there's nothing lives / 'Twixt it and silence." -James Sheridan Knowles, Irish dramatist (1784-1862). Jussi Björling did all that great operatic tenors did - and more - ringing, light-to-dark high notes, all shored up with the most exquisite, beautiful sound ever produced by a human voice.

[RudySunseeker]

What a fantastic comment!

[MTondeleo]

Thanks, RudySunseeker. When I saw that ancient Irishman's quote, I thought of Björling. A friend of mine, fine basso in his day, got to know Mario del Monaco, told me a story I hope is true. Friend complimented del Monaco, who agreed that he was perhaps the greatest, but Jussi Björling was the Commendatore. As if to admit unabashedly his own superiority, but there was one voice that transcended any earthly comparison with the rest.

[The99Gambo]

Monaco was great, but Bjorling - although not an Italian - had a vocal gift so exceedingly rare that in many audio recordings he appears to be at an even higher level.

[Siriussupporter]

From a heartsick who died a month later??????? This is god who is speaking!

[gilraen789]

This is a voice giving perfect service to the music and the role.

[operalament]

pretty hard to believe, probably the most perfect singer ever, . its breaks your heart

[The99Gambo]

@operalament: you are quite right. I am in tears now. It is so beautiful. God bless you Jussi.

[Bruchag]

@operalament dont think he was perfect...that's the beauty he sings with the Orchestra and libretto.

All stories of the greats are apochryphal but it seems he just turned up, did what the conductor/director wanted and sang. Ss best he could and with an impish smile, and oh yes he liked the bevvy. Great great man and voice.

[Rigelcentauri58]

Caruso and Bjorling shared the same soul. They are now singing together in Heaven. God´s ears must be happy.

[petereuropa]

Like a male nightingale. His voice is clear as a flowing brook in the Highlands in Scotland.

[adremoid]

nice comparison. bravo

[The99Gambo]

@petereuropa: you are quite right. I am in tears now. It is so beautiful. God bless you Jussi.

[The99Gambo]

@petereuropa

You are spot on! We sit at his feet and enjoy his gift. What a wonderful legacy. 

[RudySunseeker]

This is truly majestic! Then again, Jussi Björling i-s the emperor of opera singing in modern times. This can never be improved upon, as a matter of fact it is impossible just to get close.

[RudySunseeker]

He must have sensed that the end was looming, not far away. So what does he do? He goes out and makes people happy. Why, that was his mission in life..

[Siriussupporter]

This was a month before his death in his sleep. Imagine this is sung by a man with a heartsickness. If i havent read about it i wouldn t belive it. Älskar Jussi.

[sas9023055]

As perfect as any human being can be!

[giovannichetta]

as perfect and emotional as ... :-)

[sefferpot]

I WAS THER! I´m from Gothenburg. Now i actually lives close to Borlänge. Not old enough to understand opera 1960 but i remember the incredible trafic jam on the way. There where no link roads at that time only narrow city roads. It was my opera freaky father who brought me. I think that he and others felt that this was the last opportunity. Even i remeber a fantastic voice but not what it was he sang. Today when the golden age are gon i realize what an historic event i have joined.

[pearlmuth3]

Very fine singing from a fine lyric spinto at the end of his life.

[Cannio85]

Jussib is one of the best tenors of the world, I always think that if he should lived for more time, he could be the succesor of Caruso.

[tenor74]

"You are the only one worthy to wear his mantle..." (Dorothy Caruso 1951, when she an Jussi met).

He was and is the successor of Enrico Caruso.

[pacoykaren]

Thank you and BRAVO, Maestro!!

[giovannichetta]

nessun commento tecnico, non mi sento all'altezza, ma non ho sentito alcun cantante nella mia vita capace di suscitare così tanto sentimento d'anima. Per me Jussi resta il nr. 1 in assoluto.

[pearlmuth3]

WONDERFUL SINGING

[pearlmuth3]

he was dead in 4 weeks and 4 days at age 49.

[dollenberg]

One critic made the remark that Jussi's voice declined due to his heavy drinking. Here is proof positive that right to the end of his days he was the sublime Jussi - a king among tenors.

[billyguns2]

Bjoerling left us many great recordings and performances, but for me his Des Grieux in Puccini's Manon LEscaut has always been his greatest role; there is something so "right" about the sound of this voice in this music that it defies description. I doubt if this aria has ever been as well sung in the history of the opera. Many thanks for posting it; it's hard to believe Bjoerling would be dead soon after this concert.

[RudySunseeker]

So true, agree with everything you say. What an emotional experience listening to this masterpiece!.

[billyguns2]

Well said; you've put into words exactly what I feel when I hear this. Please read my comments too.

[RudySunseeker]

Achingly beautiful. Everything you could think of being needed is there, he had it all.

God bless you, Jussi, you will be loved forever!

[noonah08]

Jussi is the love of my life as well ;). Painfully beautiful...

[neronnenn]

Jussi, my love forever

[piafedith]

Very beautiful voice!

[jokenruth]

Mr. Bjorling, always great. The Best ever

[tHEnOOSEsWINGS]

Thank you. The video is excellent and the pictures are wonderful. The tension on their faces with Jussi and Beniamino. A short life but many recordings for all of us to enjoy.

[MusicaParola]

It is amazing that this great artist would be dead in a little over a month; he was fortynine. He is in exceptional form here. Earlier in June, he recorded a very good Verdi Requiem (Price, Tozzi, Elias, cond. Reiner). Bravo Jussi!