Einar Beyron

Born Ejnar Oscar Bengtsson, Beyron studied voice in Copenhagen, Berlin and Stockholm (with John Forsell), and made his debut – while still a student – at the Stora Teatern in Göteborg as Barinkay (1923). In 1924 or 1926, depending on sources, he made his debut at the Royal Opera in Stockholm as Froh; he was to be that theater's first tenor until 1954, and to appear there until 1959. He was married to soprano Brita Hertzberg; she, too, was a mainstay of the Royal Opera.

Abroad, Beyron made guest appearances in Copenhagen, Oslo, Riga, Prague, Budapest, at La Scala (Tristan, 1957), at the Teatre del Liceu (Parsifal, 1958), and very regularly in Malmö.

His most important roles were Tristan, Lohengrin, Stolzing, Tannhäuser, Lyonel, Don José, Don Carlo, Calaf, Gösta Berling (I cavalieri di Ekebù by Zandonai), Hoffmann, Julien (Louise), Pelléas, Sadko and Števa Burja; but he also sang a lot of operetta (Danilo, Octavio in Giuditta), and he participated in five world premieres, all at the Stockholm opera: Engelbrekt by Nathanael Berg (21 September 1929), Marionetter by Hilding Rosenberg (14 February 1939), Die Kathrin by Korngold (7 October 1939), Lycksalighetens ö by Rosenberg (1 February 1945) and Raskolnikoff by Heinrich Sutermeister (14 October 1948).

In the 1950s and 1960s, he was also a stage director in Stockholm, Oslo, Malmö and Helsinki.

Beyron's and Hertzberg's daughter Catarina Ligendza became a successful international Wagnerian soprano.

Reference 1: Kutsch & Riemens, reference 2

I wish to thank Daniele Godor for the recordings and pictures.