Jon Vickers

 

The man from the backwoods of Saskatchewan, Jon Vickers really did embody the Heldentenor type. All those open spaces, fresh air and physical challenges appeared to be the breeding ground for dramatic singers. So it was not considered strange or exceptional when such a type was added to the Covent Garden company in 1957. At that time British theatre companies could employ guests from the Commonwealth and did so. When we joined the Common Market as it was then, we had to employ European artists leaving Commonwealth ones out in the cold as 'aliens.' 

Vickers was a great success from the start. In 1959 he recorded 'Messiah' with Sir Thomas Beecham. The story goes that Vickers was apprehensive of this collaboration and apologetically told him that he wasn't like a normal British tenor at which Beecham said 'Thank God for that.'

Indeed, Beecham was so impressed he ruined a great take by exclaiming to Vickers 'You're good!'

I saw Vickers in many roles and he always brought the stage to life. His acting was riveting and his voice so huge that it could make your ears buzz even if you were sitting at the back of the theatre. As well as having the figure of a lumberjack, he was obviously over 6ft tall and he bestrode the stage as if he owned it, which in a sense he did.

I once went to the stage door to see him leave the theatre and almost missed him because in real life he was only 5ft 9in. He created the illusion of a much taller person by personality plus lifts in his shoes and wigs looking as if they were made from spun sugar. He also took care not to stand beside anyone taller. 

What is inexplicable is that a singer such as Pavarotti could seize the public's imagination where Vickers couldn't or didn't. He was totally against publicity and rarely gave interviews. He was plain speaking and had total integrity. He was ten times the artist that Pavarotti was. His repertoire was much broader. Can you imagine Pavarotti singing Vasek, Hermann, Grimes, Florestan, the Wagner heros, French opera ('Les Troyens' and 'Samson et Dalila') and yet they shared some repertoire including Riccardo/Gustavo in 'Un ballo in maschera,' Otello, Don Carlo, Canio, Radames. There was even a Saturday at the Met when Vickers sang in the matinee and Pavarotti in the evening. The papers were full of Pavarotti. There was not one mention of Vickers. 

As if that wasn't bad enough, there were those, mainly Italians who dismissed Vickers' voice as not being italianate. Some even described it as ugly - libellous in my view. He could use his voice to express a huge palette of emotion: suffering (Florestan), madness (Peter Grimes), heroism (Don Carlo, Enee, ), murderous vengeance (Canio), simple-mindedness (Vasek, Parsifal) and much else. 

To be sure we thought Vickers was great at the time but we presumed there would be others to replace him when the time came. Not only was that very much not the case but worryingly it became clear that some operas could not survive without him. I'm thinking of  'Les Troyens' here. In the new production by David McVicar with Antonio Pappano conducting the opera didn't come anywhere near what it was with Vickers. Brian Hymel was not bad vocally but was a cypher dramatically. It didn't work. We left half way through 'Les Troyens a Carthage.' 

I wondered whether this was a great opera after all.