Originally posted by pastoralguy
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"Sadly, we are deprived of the operas he did not record. There were two attempts at one of his best roles, Riccardo, in Verdi's The Masked Ball. The first was to be with Arturo Toscanni from the 1954 broadcast, but laryngitis caused Jussi to cancel, and the role was filled by Jan Peerce.
The second recording was held in July, 1960, two months before his death. A stellar cast was engaged, including Birgit Nilsson, Giuletta Simionato, Cornell MacNeil, and conductor Georg Solti. Bjoerling showed up for the sessions but became entwined in conflict with Solti, two strong characters meeting head-on. Solti wanted rehearsals, Bjoerling did not. Jussi was not well at the time, suffering from a chronic heart ailment. The producer, John Culshaw, in cahoots with Solti, fired Jussi. Apparently nothing of his part was recorded. But some of the other singers recorded their parts and oneyear later, Carlo Bergonzi sang the roll of Riccardo, with Nilsson in attendance to complete the production."
It comes over that generally, Nilsson would hold out in support of maltreated fellow artists, and IIRC, inferred that it was somewhat insulting to Bjorling, a thorough professional, to demand those rehearsals for a role he completely commanded. But even more of her ire is directed to Culshaw who she held responsible for setting the rumour Bjorling was sacked because of inebriation.
Nilsson relates she was asked to write a foreword for the above book, and agreed. But her terms were that once submitted, it would be printed without alteration. Having stated these conditions, she didn't hear back.
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