Hjördis Schymberg

Hjördis Gunborg Schymberg (April 24, 1909 – September 8, 2008) was a Swedish coloratura and lyric soprano active on the opera stage and in concert halls between 1934 and 1968. One of the leading singers of the Royal Swedish Opera, she was awarded the title of Hovsångerska (Court Singer) in 1943, and in her later years became a distinguished voice teacher.

Hjördis Schymberg was born on the island of Alnön on April 24, 1909, the fourth of five musically talented sisters. Her father worked in the local lumber mill and her mother was a seamstress. As a child, she played both the violin and piano and sang with the Gustavsberg children's orchestra. She and her sisters also sang in cafes and performed music to accompany silent films. At the age of 16, she had her own radio program, Tant Hjördis sjunger med barnen (Aunt Hjördis sings with children), but it was not until 1929 that she began formal vocal training with Brita von Vegesack. Three years later, she went to where she studied under John Forsell, who was also the teacher of Jussi Björling. Schymberg and Bjorling were to sing together later, including a highly celebrated rendition of O Soave Fanciulla, recorded in 1941. A scholarship gave her the opportunity for further study in Italy under Renato Bellini and Lina Pagliughi.

She made her stage debut in 1934 as Berthe in a matinée performance of Adolphe Adam's comic opera La poupée de Nuremberg. Later that year she sang Mimì to Björling's Rodolfo for their 1934 role debuts in La bohème and went on to sing with him over 100 times, including his last performance in Stockholm in 1960. She soon became one of the leading sopranos of the Royal Swedish Opera and also sang regularly in Copenhagen, Oslo, and Helsinki. She created the title role in Larsson's The Princess of Cyprus in 1937. However, her international career was delayed by World War II. Her first major engagement outside Scandinavia came in 1946 when she was scheduled to appear in London's Royal Albert Hall in a concert of arias by Handel, Mozart, Berwald and Delibes, conducted by Ernest Ansermet. Schymberg's American debut came in 1947 when she sang Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at New York's Metropolitan Opera. The manager Edvard Johnson had heard her already back in 1938 and wanted her to appear at the Metropolitan. She was given a contract for the following season after her debut in 1947 but she never returned to the Metropolitan. She also appeared there in the same season as Gilda in Rigoletto. A review of her Met debut in The New York Times described her:

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