“I Was so Nervous for Him” – Kerstin Thorborg and Jussi Björling

Kerstin Thorborg (1896–1970) was a leading mezzo-soprano with the Metropolitan for thirteen seasons, singing twenty roles in 350 performances. Her debut was as Frick in Die Walküre on 21 December 1936 and her final performances in 1950. Fifteen years older than Jussi Björling and born in the same Swedish region Dalarna (Dalecarlia), she enjoyed twenty years of rather solitary retirement there and died ten years after him. Her Met repertoire focused on Wagner so they met rarely on stage, but of course they knew each other well during the years they met professionally (1936–41 and 1945–50). They can be heard together in my favourite Jussi performance of Verdi’s Requiem: the one under Arturo Toscanini given in Lucerne, Switzerland, just before the war and issued in part on CD. Brief excerpts from an Aida in Vienna a few years earlier also have been on CD.