All the preparations are (hopefully) done and the sights, tastes and smells of Christmas can finally soothe our pre-Christmas stress. But there is one more sense that need stimulation; we also want to hear the sound of the season to really find the mood.
There is the familiar buzz of Christmas carols, songs and jingles – too often corrupted as muzak in the shopping malls. But there are also classics – no doubt different ones for all of us.
For me, the feeling of Christmas really settles in when I can play Händel’s Messiah uninterrupted (all 3 CDs) in the morning of Christmas Eve while the final preparations are made. But what really gives me goose bumps and brings tears to my eyes is listening to Jussi Björling singing `Julsang – O Helga Natt’ [Yule Song – Oh Holy Night] once the Evening really settles in – that is the start of Christmas.
This Swede who died in 1960 at the age of only 49 was possibly the best tenor of the last century; he blows the `Three Tenors’ right out of the water in my opinion.
Jussi Björling
[…]Europe soon followed, as well as Chicago and Buenos Aires and he finally appeared at the MET in 1938 as Rodolfo. He was then only 26.
He reached immense acclaim during his career and undoubtedly came to represent to many a music lover the voice of the century. With a smooth yet full-bodied timbre and an extraordinary evenness of tone, Jussi Björling possessed one of the most distinct tenor voices in history, topped by a ringing top B flat and a particularity for the melancholy. Jussi Björling came to be the only and unique non-Latin tenor that could rival the Italian dominance in the tenor heritage and he appeared while such grand and famed tenors as Martinelli, Schipa, Gigli and Lauri-Volpi were still present and active.
His health weakened during the 50’s and suffered a heart attack in March 1960 just before going on-stage at a performance at London’s Covent Garden but did still perform. He died six months later in Sweden.
Listen for yourself, never mind that he sings in Swedish:
What’s your holiday music?