Gala-Coupé of Leopold II

1934 Ford coupé

1936 Packard One-Twenty Business Coupé

1948 Bentley coupé de ville

1954 Cadillac Coupé de Ville

Ford Taunus coupé

1974-1978 AMC Matador Coupé

1990s Honda Civic coupé

2005 Saturn Ion 4-door coupé

A coupé or coupe (from the French verb couper, to cut) is a closed car body style (permanently attached fixed roof), the precise definition of which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, and over time. Coupés are often hardtopped sports cars or sporty variants of sedan (saloon) body styles, with doors commonly reduced from four to two, and a close-coupled interior (i.e., the rear seat placed further forward than in a standard sedan) offering either two seats or 2+2 seating (space for two passengers in the front and two occasional passengers or children in the rear). Before the days of motorized vehicles, the word referred to the front or after compartment of a Continental stagecoach.

Pronunciation[link]

In Europe (including the United Kingdom), the past participle French spelling, coupé, and (mostly in English speaking countries) a modified French pronunciation (/kuːˈpeɪ/ koo-PAY), are used. The stress may be on either the first or second syllable; stressing the first syllable is the more anglicized variant. Most, but not all, speakers of North American English currently use the word coupe (without the acute accent - coupé) and pronounce it as one syllable. This was a gradual change occurring prior to World War II.^[1] A North American example of usage is the hot-rodders' term Deuce Coupe ("doos coop") used to refer to a 1932 Ford; this pronunciation is famously used in the Beach Boys' 1963 hit song, Little Deuce Coupe.

History[link]

In the 19th century a coupé was a closed four-wheel horse-drawn carriage, cut (coupé) to eliminate the forward-mounted, rear-facing passenger seats, with a single seat inside for two persons behind the driver, who sat on a box outside. If the driver had no roof over his head then it was a coupé de-ville. Commonly, a coupé had a fixed glass window in the front of the passenger compartment. The driver was protected from road dirt by a high curving dashboard. A landau is a coupé de-ville with a folding top. Where only the passenger compartment has a folding top but the driver remains covered, the style is known as a landaulet.

During the 1920s, the Society of Automobile Engineers suggested nomenclature for closed cars that included the following:^[2]

Coupelet

A small car seating two or three with a folding top and full height doors with fully retractable windows.

Coupé

An enclosed car operated from the inside with seats for two or three and sometimes a backward-facing fourth seat.

Convertible coupé

A roadster with a removable coupé roof. (technically not a coupe, but some car companies try and cash in on the cachet the word coupe brings)

Through the 1950s opening-roof convertible automobiles were sometimes called drop-head coupés, but since the 1960s the term coupé has generally been applied exclusively to fixed-head models. Coupés generally have two doors, although automobile makers have offered four-door coupés and three and five-door hatchback coupés. Modern coupés often have the styling feature of frameless doors, with the window glass sealing directly against a weather-strip on the main body.

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) distinguishes a coupé from a sedan (saloon) primarily by interior volume; SAE standard J1100 defines a coupé as a fixed-roof automobile with less than 33 cubic feet (930 L) of rear interior volume. A car with a greater interior volume is technically a two-door sedan, not a coupé, even if it has only two doors. By this standard, the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, and Mercedes-Benz CL-Class coupés are all two-door sedans. Only a few sources, however (including the magazine Car and Driver), use the two-door sedan label in this manner. Some car manufacturers may nonetheless choose to use the word coupé (or coupe) to describe such a model (e.g., the Cadillac Coupe de Ville).

Alternatively, a coupé is often distinguished from a two-door sedan by the lack of a B pillar to support the roof. Sedans have an A pillar forward at the windscreen, a B pillar aft of the door, and a C pillar defining the aftermost roof support at the rear window. Thus with all side-windows down, a coupé would appear windowless from the A to the C pillars. These fixed-roof models are described as a hardtop or pillarless coupé. Though, to confuse things even further, there are many hardtop/pillarless two- and four-door sedans. Targa top, or just 'T'-top models are a variation on the convertible design, where the roof centre section can be removed, in one or two sections, leaving the rest of the roof in place. Yet another variation on the convertible or drop-head coupé is the fully retractable hardtop. In this form the car has all the adantages of fixed-head vehicle but, at the touch of a button, the entire roof lifts off, folds and stows away in the trunk (boot). Though retractables were tried many years ago by Peugeot, in Europe and Ford, in the US, with the Fairlaine Skyliner, it is only in the 21st century that there has been an explosion in the popularity of this bodystyle.

During the 20th century, the term coupé was applied to various close-coupled (rear seat that is located further forward than usual and the front seat further back than usual)^[3] automobiles.

Manufacturers have used the term coupé in several varieties, including:

Club coupé

A coupé with a larger rear seat, which would today be called a two-door sedan.

Business coupé

A coupé with no rear seat or a removable rear seat intended for traveling salespeople and other vendors who would be carrying their wares with them.

Opéra coupé

A coupé de-ville with a high roofed passenger compartment such that the owners could be driven to the opera without the need to remove their large hats. These often had 'occasional' seats that folded for use by children or extra passengers, and allowed easy passage to the rear seats.^[4][5] These cars most closely approximated a motorised version of the original horse-drawn coupé. Often, they would have solid rear-quarter panels, with small, circular windows, to enable the occupants to see out without being seen. These opera windows were revived on many U.S. automobiles during the 1970s and early 1980s.^[6]

Sports coupé or berlinetta

A body with a sloping roof, sometimes sloping downward gradually in the rear in the manner known as fastback.

Four-door coupé

A sedan with classic coupé-like proportions. The designation was first applied to a low-roof model of the Rover P5 from 1962 until 1973,^[7] but was revived by the 2005 Mercedes-Benz CLS, as well as other models including the 1992 Infiniti J30, the 2008 Volkswagen Passat CC, and the 2009 Jaguar XJ.^[8] However, the low roof design reduces back seat passenger access and headroom.^[9] (these cars are not really a coupe body style, but more of a marketing effort for product positioning)

Quad coupé

Quad coupé is a marketing name for cars with one or two small rear doors with no B pillar.^[10]

Combi coupé

Combi coupé is a marketing term used by Saab for a car body similar to the liftback.^[11]

With the growing popularity of the pillarless hardtop during the 1950s some automakers used the term coupé to refer to hardtop (rigid, rather than canvas, automobile roof) models and reserved the term sedan for their models with a B pillar. This definition was by no means universal, and has largely fallen out of use with near-demise of the hardtop. Similarly, a Rover P5 saloon model came in a body style with a lower roof that was called a coupé. Technically, it was cut, as the original definition required, but it was not a shorter car body.^[12]

Today coupé has become more of a marketing term for automotive manufacturers, than a fact of the vehicle's design and technical makeup.^[12] They ascribe the term to any vehicle with two, three, and now even four-doors, for the term's perceived luxury or sporting appeal. This is because coupés in general are seen as sportier than sedans; hence a coupé would be marketed as a sportier vehicle than a two-door sedan.

While previous coupés were "simply line-extenders two-door variants of family sedans", some coupés have different sheet metal and styling than their four-door counterparts.^[13] The AMC Matador coupe of the 1970s had a unique design sharing almost nothing with the 4-door versions.^[14]

Even 2-door cars with a backseat are now being referred to as "sedans" in which the terms "coupe" and "sedan" are used interchangeably. Two-door sedans with front bench seating have phased out with the 1995-1999 Chevrolet Monte Carlo being the last model to offer it.

However, 2-door cars in general have fallen in popularity, with the popular exception of convertibles and 2-seat roadsters. Sedans, pickup trucks and SUVs/station wagons have had fewer 2-door models (especially ones with backseats) in recent years since the cost of 4-door cars has gone down along with engineering to ease access to the back seat area.

See also[link]

• Coupe de Ville
• Car classification

Notes and references[link]

External links[link]

Look up coupé in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Media related to Coupes at Wikimedia Commons

Rhys Millen (born in New Zealand), nephew of IMSA GTS driver Steve Millen, son of Rod and elder brother of Ryan, is one of the America's top competitors in drifting. Prior to that he was a top rally driver in the US, and became the first works backed driver from a car manufacturer with GM in 2004 after narrowly losing to Ken Nomura in the US D1 Grand Prix exhibition event in 2003. In 2011 Millen raced a 500bhp AWD Hyundai Veloster in the US Rallycross championship, in 2012 he will compete in the US-based so-called Global Rallycross Championship.

Career[link]

Millen became just the second champion in the short history of the United States' top drifting series, Formula D, just a year after his good friend, Samuel Hubinette, became the maiden series champ. Millen has two wins in his Formula D career: the 2004 season finale at the Irwindale Speedway, and the 2005 season opener at the Wall Speedway in Wall Township, New Jersey. He became the highest placed non-Japanese driver in the US round of the D1GP event in 2005, making it to the last 8 after beating Masato Kawabata, only to lose to Yasuyuki Kazama through a "One More Time" rerun. Millen's father, Rod, also competes in drifting on occasion. In fact, Rod made his Formula D debut at the 2005 season finale at Irwindale, the same event where his son was crowned the champion.

Millen has driven a Pontiac GTO drift car for three seasons (Winning in 2004 and 2005, but losing out to Hubinette in 2006) and a Pontiac Solstice for the 2007 D1 Season. For the 2009 season, he will drive a Hyundai Genesis Coupe.^[1] Red Bull has been a major sponsor of Rhys' drifting efforts, as well as the paint schemes of many of his cars.

Besides racing, Millen is also a stunt driver for films such as The Dukes of Hazzard, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. He also did the driving for the first Hyundai Genesis Coupe commercial.

On December 31, 2008, he became the first person to back-flip an off-road truck in the air. He landed off-balance, forcing his vehicle to flip on its side a few times after landing, but then walked away unharmed.

In 2009, Hyundai teamed up with Millen to race the Hyundai Genesis Coupe at the Formula Drift Professional Drifting Championship, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and select Redline Time Attack Series events in 2009.^[2][3] On July of that year, Millen set a new rear wheel drive record to take Pikes Peak's time attack title.^[4][5]

Complete Drifting Results[link]

(key)

D1 Grand Prix[link]

Formula D[link]

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (April 2009)

External links[link]

• IMDB entry
• Official Site
• Formula D profile
• Rhys Millen Documentary Mad Skills
• Rhys Millen Interview before attacking the Pikes Peak Hill Climb

Robert Merrill (June 4, 1917 – October 23, 2004) was an American operatic baritone, who was also active in the musical theatre circuit.

Early life[link]

Merrill was born Moishe Miller, later known as Morris Miller, in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York, to tailor Abraham Miller, originally Milstein, and his wife Lillian, née Balaban, immigrants from Warsaw, Poland.

His mother claimed to have had an operatic and concert career in Poland (a fact denied by her son in his biographies) and encouraged her son to have early voice training: he had a tendency to stutter, which disappeared when singing. Merrill was inspired to pursue professional singing lessons when he saw the baritone Richard Bonelli singing Count Di Luna in a performance of Il Trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera, and paid for them with money earned as a semi-professional pitcher.^{[citation needed]}

Radio and recordings[link]

In his early radio appearances as a crooner he was sometimes billed as Merrill Miller. While singing at bar mitzvahs and weddings and Borscht Belt resorts, he met an agent, Moe Gale, who found him work at Radio City Music Hall and with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. With Toscanini conducting, he eventually sang in two of the maestro's NBC broadcasts of famous operas, La traviata (with Licia Albanese, in 1946), and Un ballo in maschera (with Herva Nelli, in 1954). Both of those broadcasts were eventually released on both LP and CD. His ranking as an important NBC performer is evidenced by his inclusion in NBC's 1947 promotional book, NBC Parade of Stars: As Heard Over Your Favorite NBC Station, displaying Sam Berman's caricatures of leading NBC personalities.

Merrill's 1944 operatic debut was in Verdi's Aida at Newark, New Jersey, with the famous tenor Giovanni Martinelli, then in the later stages of his long operatic career. Merrill, who had continued his vocal studies under Samuel Margolis made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1945, as Germont in La traviata. Also in 1945, Robert Merrill recorded a 78rpm record set with Jeanette MacDonald featuring selections from the operetta Up In Central Park; MacDonald and Merrill did two duets together on this album.

In 1951, Merill did a series of duet recordings together with the Swedish tenor Jussi Björling, including the world-renowned recording of "Au fond du temple saint" from the opera Les pêcheurs de perles by Georges Bizet.

Again in 1952 Merill and Björling, as well as Victoria de los Ángeles made a widely admired recording of Puccini's La bohème, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. In 1953, Merrill, Björling, de los Angeles and Zinka Milanov recorded the complete Pagliacci and Cavalleria rusticana.

Films[link]

His role in the musical comedy film Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick (1952) led to a conflict with Sir Rudolf Bing and a brief departure from the Met in 1951. Merrill sang many different baritone roles, becoming, after the untimely on-stage death of the celebrated Leonard Warren in 1960, the Met's principal baritone. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he appeared under the direction of Alfredo Antonini in performances of arias from the Italian operatic repertoire for the open air Italian Night concert series at Lewisohn Stadium in New York City.^[1][2][3][4]

He was described by Time as "one of the Met's best baritones". Yet reviews were not consistently good: Opera magazine reported on a Metropolitan Opera performance of Barber of Seville in which Merrill delivered "by all odds the most insensitive impersonation of the season". He was accused by the reviewer of "loud, coarse sounds" and "no grace, no charm, as he butchered the text and galumphed around the stage".^[5]

Merrill also continued to perform on radio and television, in nightclubs and recitals. In 1973, Merrill teamed up with Richard Tucker to present a concert at Carnegie Hall—a first for the two "vocal supermen" (as one critic dubbed them), and a first "for the demanding New York public and critics" Merrill recalled. The event marked a precedent that would lead eventually to the "Three Tenors" concerts many years later. Merrill retired from the Met in 1976. For many years, he led services, often in Borscht Belt hotels, on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

In honor of Merrill's vast influence on American vocal music, on February 16, 1981 he was awarded the prestigious University of Pennsylvania Glee Club Award of Merit.^[6] Beginning in 1964, this award "established to bring a declaration of appreciation to an individual each year that has made a significant contribution to the world of music and helped to create a climate in which our talents may find valid expression."

In 1996, at a reception at Lincoln Center, Merrill was presented with The Lawrence Tibbett Award from the AGMA Relief Fund, honoring his fifty years of professional achievement and dedication to colleagues. (The AGMA Relief Fund, award sponsor, provides financial assistance and support services to classical performing artists in need.)

Relatively late in his singing career, Merrill also became known for singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Yankee Stadium. He first sang the national anthem to open the 1969 baseball season, and it became a tradition for the Yankees to bring him back each year on Opening Day and special occasions. He sang at various Old Timer's Days (wearing his own pinstriped Yankee uniform with the number "1¹⁄₂" on the back) and the emotional pre-game ceremony for Thurman Munson at Yankee Stadium on August 3, 1979, the day after the catcher's death in a plane crash. He would also sing at one World Series game in each year the Yankees played the Fall Classic at the stadium, starting in 1976. A recorded Merrill version is sometimes used at Yankee Stadium today. He preferred a traditional approach to the song devoid of additional ornamentation, as he explained to Newsday in 2000, "When you sing the anthem, there's a legitimacy to it. I'm extremely bothered by these different interpretations of it." Merrill appeared as himself in a cameo role, singing the national anthem, in the 2003 film Anger Management. Merrill joked that an entire generation of people know him as "The 'Say-Can-You-See' guy!" (Agmazine, April 1996).

Merrill received the National Medal of Arts in 1993.

Personal life[link]

While there has been dispute regarding his birth year (some^[who?] claim he was born in 1919), the Social Security Death Index,^[7] his family, and his gravestone state that he was born in 1917.

Merrill married soprano Roberta Peters in 1952. They parted amicably; he had two children, a son David and a daughter Lizanne, with his second wife, Marion (d. March 20, 2010), née Machno, a pianist. Merrill liked to play golf and was a member of the Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York, for many years.

He always maintained a warm sense of humor and once recalled the time a young contractor was working in his New Rochelle, NY home. Surveying the photos, posters, plaques and other music memorabilia in the Merrill home, the young man asked Merrill, "You're a singer, aren't you?" "Yes," he responded. "You sing opera, don't you?" the worker asked. "A little," replied Merrill. (Agmazine, April 1996).

He wrote two books of memoirs, Once More from the Beginning (1965) and Between Acts (1976), and he co-authored a novel, The Divas (1978). Merrill toured all over the world with his arranger and conductor, Angelo DiPippo, who wrote most of his act and performed at concert halls throughout the world. He always donated his time on the Cerebral Palsy telethon with Dennis James.

Death[link]

Robert Merrill died at home in New Rochelle, New York, while watching Game 1 of the 2004 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. He is interred at the Sharon Gardens Cemetery in Valhalla, New York, which is a subdivision of the Kensico Cemetery. His headstone features an opera curtain that has been drawn open. The small rocks on the headstone pertain to the Jewish tradition that a visitor to someone's grave-site places one as a sign of the visit.

His epitaph states:

Like a bursting celestial star, he showered his family and the world with love, joy, and beauty. Encore please.

Performances with the Metropolitan Opera[link]

Robert Merrill made 769 performances with the Metropolitan Opera in the following 21 roles:^[8]

Studio recordings[link]

Robert Merrill made at least 23 studio recordings of complete operas:^[9]

Listen to[link]

• WNYC Soundcheck: Robert Merrill Remembered (October 26, 2004)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Robert Merrill official site
• Robert Merrill at Findagrave.com
• Discography of opera recordings (Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings)
• The New York Times, Obituary, October 26, 2004
• "Great Singers Remembered: Robert Merrill" by Philip Ehrensaft. La Scena Musicale, May 14, 2005

v t e New York Yankees Formerly the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Highlanders - Based in The Bronx, New York City, New York Franchise History Seasons Records No-hitters Awards Players Managers Coaches Owners and executives Broadcasters Opening Day starting pitchers Opening Day starting lineups Team captains Members of the Hall of Fame First-round picks YES Network Ballparks Oriole Park Hilltop Park Polo Grounds Yankee Stadium (opened 1923) (Events) Shea Stadium Yankee Stadium (opened 2009) Spring Training: Barrs Field Bader Field Al Lang Stadium Fort Lauderdale Stadium George M. Steinbrenner Field Lore Curse of the Bambino Johnny Sylvester Murderers' Row Babe Ruth's called shot Ed Lucas Don Larsen's perfect game M&M Boys Bucky "Bleeping" Dent Pine Tar Incident Jeffrey Maier The Yankee Years The Core Four David Wells' perfect game David Cone's perfect game Culture Monument Park New York Yankees Museum Old-Timers' Day Bleacher Creatures Yankees Universe Eddie Layton Logos, uniforms and dress code "Holy Cow!" Robert Merrill John Sterling/"Yankees win! Theeeeeee Yankees win!" Ronan Tynan "Here Come the Yankees" "Haya Doin'?" "New York, New York" "God Bless America" The Pride of the Yankees The Babe Ruth Story Damn Yankees musical film The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant Safe at Home! 61* Joe Torre: Curveballs Along the Way The Bronx is Burning Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning The Bronx Is Burning The Bronx Zoo Gene Monahan Dandy Freddy Sez George Costanza Paul Olden Yankee Stadium Legacy Yankees HOPE Week Rivalries Boston Red Sox New York Mets Los Angeles Dodgers San Francisco Giants Subway Series Monument Park honorees Mel Allen Ed Barrow Yogi Berra Bill Dickey Joe DiMaggio Whitey Ford Lou Gehrig Lefty Gomez Ron Guidry Elston Howard Miller Huggins Reggie Jackson Mickey Mantle Roger Maris Billy Martin Don Mattingly Joe McCarthy Thurman Munson Allie Reynolds Phil Rizzuto Red Ruffing Jacob Ruppert Babe Ruth Bob Sheppard George Steinbrenner Casey Stengel Retired numbers 4 3 5 7 37 8 8 16 15 32 9 10 1 44 23 42 49 Key personnel Owners: Yankee Global Enterprises Hal Steinbrenner Hank Steinbrenner General Manager: Brian Cashman Manager: Joe Girardi Team Captain: Derek Jeter Championships (27) 1923 1927 1928 1932 1936 1937 1938 1939 1941 1943 1947 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1956 1958 1961 1962 1977 1978 1996 1998 1999 2000 2009 American League Pennants (40) 1921 1922 1923 1926 1927 1928 1932 1936 1937 1938 1939 1941 1942 1943 1947 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1955 1956 1957 1958 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1976 1977 1978 1981 1996 1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 2009 Other titles Eastern Division: 1976 1977 1978 1980 1981 1996 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2009 2011 | Wild Card: 1995 1997 2007 2010 Minors AAA: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees | AA: Trenton Thunder | A: Tampa Yankees Charleston RiverDogs Staten Island Yankees | Rookie: Gulf Coast League Yankees DSL Yankees1 DSL Yankees2   Seasons (111) 1900s-1910s 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920s-1930s 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940s-1950s 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960s-1970s 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980s-1990s 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000s-2010s 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Book:New York Yankees

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2010)

Johan Jonatan "Jussi" Björling (5 February 1911^[1] – 9 September 1960) was a Swedish tenor. One of the leading operatic singers of the 20th century, Björling appeared for many years at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and less frequently at the major European opera houses, including the Royal Opera House in London and La Scala in Milan.

Biography[link]

Björling (surname also spelled as "Bjoerling" and "Bjorling" in English-language sources) was born in Borlänge, Dalarna, Sweden, in February 1911. The midwife's register shows he was born on 5 February; however, the church baptism records erroneously show 2 February, and this was the day on which he celebrated his birthday throughout his life.^[1] He was initially taught to sing by his father, David, an accomplished vocalist, and made his debut public appearance at the age of four with the Björling Male Quartet. The group performed in concerts throughout Sweden and the United States for eleven and a half years. He later studied opera with John Forsell.

Björling performing at Skansen, Stockholm in 1960.

Björling made his professional operatic debut as the Lamplighter in Manon Lescaut at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm in 1930. This was soon followed by Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Arnold in Rossini's William Tell and Almaviva in Rossini's The Barber of Seville. This in turn led to engagements in Europe and the United States. Björling made his American concert debut in Carnegie Hall in 1937; the following year, he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Rodolfo in La bohème.

Björling went on to become one of the principal singers at the Metropolitan Opera during the 1940s and 1950s, with an interruption during World War II. He sang many major tenor roles in operas in the French and Italian repertoire, including Il trovatore, Rigoletto, Aida, Un ballo in maschera, Pagliacci, Cavalleria rusticana, Faust, Roméo et Juliette, La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, and Manon Lescaut.

In December 1940, Arturo Toscanini invited him to sing the tenor part in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in New York, a recording of which exists. He also performed the Verdi Requiem under Toscanini in 1939 in Lucerne, Switzerland, and in November 1940 in New York, another performance eventually transferred to recordings.

One of Björling's first LP sets was a 1950 performance of the complete Il trovatore, with Zinka Milanov, for RCA Victor. In 1953, he recorded the role of Turiddu in a complete version of Cavalleria rusticana opposite Milanov for RCA Victor, but because Victoria de los Ángeles was under contract to EMI, the recording of the complete Pagliacci, made concurrently with Cavalleria, was not released by RCA, but by EMI. Robert Merrill appeared on both albums, but Leonard Warren was featured only on the Pagliacci one, as Tonio.

Bust of Björling in Stockholm

Again with de los Angeles and Merrill, Björling made a widely admired recording of Puccini's La bohème conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. Björling's recording of Madama Butterfly, with de los Angeles in the title role and conducted by Gabriele Santini, is also widely celebrated. In Victoria de los Angeles' s biography by Peter Roberts (Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1982), de los Angeles noted that "In despite of technical developments, none of the Jussi Björling recordings give you the true sound of his voice. It was a far, far more beautiful voice than you can hear on the recordings he left".

Björling sang the part of Mario in the 1957 complete stereo recording of Tosca, recorded by RCA Victor in Rome with Erich Leinsdorf conducting. The tenor was awarded the 1959 Grammy Award for Best Classical Performance - Vocal Soloist (With Or Without Orchestra) for his recording Björling in Opera.

In 1956, he appeared in an episode of the NBC television anthology Producers' Showcase. The episode was one of two programs entitled Festival of Music, and was hosted by Charles Laughton (José Ferrer hosted the second Festival of Music program.) Björling can be seen with soprano Renata Tebaldi in two arias from La bohème. Both Festival of Music programs, originally telecast in color, have since been released on black-and-white kinescopes on DVD.

Björling was known as the "Swedish Caruso".^[2] His son Rolf, a successful tenor in his own right (although not at the level of his famous father), and his grandson Raymond are inheritors of the "sound".

Bust of Björling in front of the Jussi Björling Museum in Borlänge

His widow, Anna-Lisa Björling, published a biography with the cooperation of Andrew Farkas that described Björling as a loving family man and generous colleague. However, Anna-Lisa did not attempt in the book to hide the destructive influence of Björling's alcoholism.

On 15 March 1960, Björling suffered a heart attack before a performance of La bohème at London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. However, he still performed that night.^[3] He died of heart-related causes (enlarged heart) six months later in Siarö, Sweden, aged 49. One of his final recordings was the Verdi Requiem conducted by Fritz Reiner for Decca Records which was recorded as late as June 1960 alongside Leontyne Price, Rosalind Elias and Giorgio Tozzi. He is buried in the little church cemetery at Stora Tuna, Sweden.

Legacy[link]

His name is now used with the prestigious Jussi Björling Music Scholarship at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, and adorns the concert hall there named in his honor.

An archive of nearly all of Björling's recorded performances, photographs, letters, recital and opera programs, reviews, obituaries, and other items related to his career is maintained at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University Bloomington.

Awards and citations[link]

• Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance, 1960
• He was ranked greatest singer of the century by Classic CD (United Kingdom) "Top Singers of the Century" Critics' Poll (June 1999).
• Entered Gramophone's Hall of Fame in 2012.^[4]

Selected recordings[link]

• Il trovatore, Covent Garden, 1939.
• La traviata, Royal Opera House (Stockholm), 1939, sung in Swedish.
• Roméo et Juliette, sung in Swedish, 1940
• Un ballo in maschera, Met, 1940.
• Il trovatore, Met, 1941.
• Rigoletto, Met, 1945.
• Il trovatore, Met, 1947.
• Roméo et Juliette, Met, 1947.
• La bohème, Met, 1948.
• Manon Lescaut, Met, 1949.
• Don Carlos, Met, 1950.
• Faust, Met, 1950.
• Il trovatore, RCA, 1952.
• Jussi Björling in song, RCA, 1952.
• Pagliacci, RCA, 1953.
• La bohème, RCA, 1956.
• Tosca, Rome Opera House, RCA, 1957.
• Turandot, Rome Opera House, RCA, 1959
• Madama Butterfly, EMI, 1960.
• Jussi: Musikurval och text av Björn Ranelid (2011)

Many aria and song collections of Björling have also been issued on LP and CD.

References[link]

• The Jussi Björling Society of USA About Jussi Björling
• Roberts, Peter, Victoria de los Ángeles, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1982.p.163

External links[link]

• Jussi Björling Museum (Swedish and English)
• Jussi Björling profile
• Jussi Björling Collection at Indiana University
• Discography at SonyBMG Masterworks
• History of the Tenor - Sound Clips and Narration
• Björling and his wife Anna-Lisa Björling sing "O soave Fanciulla"
• Video showing Björling's grave and the Jussi Björling museum
• Björling sings "O Holy Night"
• Jussi Björling at Find A Grave