Both Torsten Ralf’s elder brothers, Oscar Ralf (1881−1964) and Einar Ralf (1888−1971) were respected singers. Torsten spent ten years working in a telegraph office while studying singing at the Royal Conservatory in Stockholm with Hjaldis Ingebjart and John Forsell. He then undertook further study with Hertha Dehmlow in Berlin and made his operatic stage debut in 1930 as Cavaradossi / Tosca at Stettin (now Szczecin).
From 1931 to 1933 Ralf was a member of the Chemnitz Opera and from 1933 to 1935 of the Frankfurt Opera before joining the Dresden State Opera where he enjoyed great success until his departure in 1943, establishing himself in roles such as Florestan / Fidelio, Walther / Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Siegmund / Die Walküre, Radamès / Aida, Tristan / Tristan und Isolde, Bacchus / Ariadne auf Naxos and the title roles in Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Parsifal and Otello. In addition he took part in a number of first performances, including those of Der verlorene Sohn by Robert Heger (title role, 1936), Massimilla Doni by Othmar Schoeck (1937), Daphne by Richard Strauss (Apollo, 1938) and Die Zauberinsel by Heinrich Sutermeister (1942). He also sang with the Bavarian and Vienna State Operas and appeared at the Royal Opera House, London between 1935 and 1939 as Lohengrin, Parsifal, Tannhäuser, Walther and Erik / Der fliegende Höllander. Ernest Newman considered that his Parsifal was the finest he had ever heard. In addition he sang in a single performance at Covent Garden as Bacchus in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, given by the visiting Dresden opera with the composer himself conducting in 1936.
Having become a member of the Royal Swedish Opera in 1941, following the end of World War II Ralf sang at the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires in 1946 and at the Metropolitan Opera, New York for three seasons from 1945 to 1948, making his debut as Lohengrin, followed by Tannhäuser, Walther, Otello, Parsifal and Siegmund. He returned to sing a similar repertoire, with the addition of Tristan, for the 1946−1947 season; and for the 1947−1948 season added Radamès to his New York roles before making his final appearance there, as Walther, in January 1948.
In the same year, during which he settled in Stockholm, Ralf returned to Covent Garden to sing Radamès, undertaking Tannhäuser in Rome in 1951 and between 1950 and 1953 appearing regularly at the Vienna State Opera in several of his key roles, including Florestan, Walther, Lohengrin, Tannhäuser and Otello. Recordings from this period show that he was still singing extremely well: he was appointed a Swedish Court Singer in 1952, but gave what was to be his last performance in Vienna in November 1953 before dying unexpectedly during the following year in Stockholm.
Ralf possessed an ideal voice for Wagnerian opera: resonant and heroic without being overpowering, used with considerable musicality and subtlety. In addition to his work in the opera house he was a notable concert singer, making his mark in works such as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Verdi’s Requiem.
© Naxos Rights International Ltd. — David Patmore (A–Z of Singers, Naxos 8.558097-100).