Filmed vocal items with Jussi

Jussi singing "Was ist Silvia?" in American TV on 20 november 1950

WE HAVE TO BE GRATEFUL that the American TV Company NBC recorded four live broadcast concerts in 1950, 1951 and 1956, which have been issued on DVD and are available from the Jussi Björling Shop. There is also recording by the American TV Company CBS from 1957 of the Ed Sullivan Show, where Jussi sings two numbers from Rigoletto, unfortunately not commercially issued. One of the numbers is La donna e mobile. It has been shown on SVT (Swedish Television) a couple of times.

Swedish film issues are unfortunately very few. There are a couple of feature films and a solitary TV excerpt. The film Resan till Dej from 1953, with two very good song numbers with Jussi, has recently been restored and digitized, was issued on DVD (PAL) in 2013 and can be bought from the Jussi Björling Shop. Fram för framgång from 1938, with a young Jussi who performs five numbers, has been relayed on Swedish Television several times but is as yet not issued. Hopefully this will happen soon!

Swedish Television (SVT) planned in 1960 to record the great roles with Jussi the next year, but everybody knows what got between. One SVT-recording has been preserved: Till Havs from December 1958 from the programme För hela familjen (For the whole family). Unfortunately un-issued.

We have chosen to link a number of filmed vocal items with Jussi, including the un-issued numbers from Ed Sullivan Show 1957 and Hej dunkom from the film Fram för framgång from 1938 in spite of less than first class sound and pictures.

Watch, listen and enjoy!

1. "Hej dunkom", Swedish folk song, from the feature film "Fram för Framgång" from 1938. 1:02 min.
2. ”Was ist Silvia” by Schubert, 2:29 min, rec. 20.11. 1950
3. ”Till Havs” by Gustaf Nordqvist from the feature film ”Resan till Dej”, from 1953, 2:50 min.
4. ”Celeste Aida” from Aida by Verdi from ”Resan till Dej” från 1953. 1:30 min.
5. Final, act 1, from La Boheme by Puccini with Jussi and Renata Tebaldi, 3:43 min, rec. 30.1.1956. ”O Soave Fanciulla". TV-relayed consert from Rockefeller Center in New York ”Producer´s Showcase: Festival of Music”.
6. ”Giovanna, ho dei rimorsi”, duet from Rigoletto by Verdi with Hilde Güden, 7:58 min. rec.17.2. 1957 in New York, ”Ed Sullivan Show”.
7. "La donna é mobile" from Rigoletto rec. 17.2 1957 in New York, "Ed Sullivan Show". 2:17 min. 

New website for the Jussi Björling Society

We would like to wish you a warm welcome to the Jussi Björlingsällskapet's new website: www.jussibjorlingsallskapet.se Here you are given good opportunities to delve into the life and work of the singer Jussi Björling. But this website will just be in Swedish.

The old website: www.jussibjorlingsallskapet.com, which you are reading now, will remain as a comprehensive archive and will be able to be visited as usual and you can read it in English, click on the British flag.

The new website is intended to be a more up-to-date place for current information from August 2023.