Sigurd Björling (2 November 1907 - 8 April 1983) was a Swedish

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

tic

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

. He made his debut as Alfio in ''

Cavalleria Rusticana ''Cavalleria rusticana'' (; ) is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from an 1880 Cavalleria rusticana (short story), short story of the same name and subsequent ...

'' in 1935 at

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera () is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the centre of Sweden's capital, Stockholm, in the borough of Norrmalm (borough), Norrmalm, on the eastern si ...

. He specialized in

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

ian roles, among them Wotan, Telramund, Amfortas, Hans Sachs and Kurwenal. His United States debut came on 3 October 1950 in San Francisco (as Kurwenal), and the following year he was the first postwar-Wotan at the

Bayreuth Festival The Bayreuth Festival () is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of stage works by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented. Wagner himself conceived and promoted the idea of a special ...

. On 15 November 1952 he made his debut at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

, singing there for a full season. He sang his last performance in 1974.

Björling, Sigurd (Baritone)
performance record on the MetOpera Database. He appeared in the 1979 film ''

Kejsaren ''Kejsaren'' is a 1979 Swedish drama film directed by Jösta Hagelbäck. At the 15th Guldbagge Awards, Anders Åberg (actor), Anders Åberg won the award for Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actor. It was entered into the 2 ...

''.

References

1907 births 1983 deaths Swedish operatic baritones 20th-century Swedish male opera singers {{Sweden-opera-singer-stub