Celeste Aida

The 25-year old Jussi Björling in "Se quel guerrier io fossi...Celeste Aida" from Act 1 of Verdi's Aida (sung in Swedish - whereas his stage partners sang in German). This is taken from a live performance on 7 June 1936 at the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera) conducted by Victor de Sabata. Please kindly note that due to the extremely primitive technology (explained below) used for the live recording, there is an interruption in the middle of the aria (with the beginning of the second verse lost)

Björling appeared for only two seasons at the Vienna State Opera (1935/36 and 1936/37) throughout his entire career. Hermann May, the Vienna State Opera's sound technician, was responsible for the recording. He was appointed in 1929 at the recommendation of Clemens Krauss to take charge of the engineering of sound effects at the opera house. Within his job capacity, he indulged in a personal hobby of recording selected moments of performances at the opera house. Microphones were smuggled onto the stage and the sound recordings were made on wax, gelatine, or decelith sheets. Such primitive recording methods and equipments were able to capture only segments of performances. Several excerpts he recorded faded out at a particular point and then faded back in several measures or pages later, making the listening process a sort of "operatic coitus interruptus." Despite these limitations, these excerpts form a precious legacy from a bygone era of one of the most important opera performing venues in the world. The excerpt presented here also captured the fresh, pristine singing of the young Björling just before his international career began.

The info on the performance and cast is as follows:

Radames: Jussi Björling
Aida: Maria Nemeth
Amonasro: Alexander Svéd
Amneris: Kerstin Thorborg
Ramfis: Ludwig Hofmann

Chor der Wiener Staatsoper
Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper
Victor de Sabata, conductor
7 June 1936