Editing Jon Vickers

{{Short description|Canadian opera singer}}
{{about|the Canadian opera singer|other people with similar names|John Vickers (disambiguation)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2015}}

{{Infobox person
|name        = Jon Vickers
|honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CC|size=100%}}
|image       = Jon_Vickers.jpg
|alt         =
|caption     =
|birth_date  = {{Birth date|1926|10|29}}
|birth_place = [[Prince Albert, Saskatchewan]], Canada
|birth_name  = Jonathan Stewart Vickers
|death_date  = {{Death date and age|2015|07|10|1926|10|29}}
|death_place = [[Ontario]], Canada
|other_names =
|known_for   =
|education   = [[The Royal Conservatory of Music|The Royal Conservatory]]
|occupation  = [[Opera singer]] ([[tenor]])
|nationality =
|organizations = {{plainlist|
* [[Royal Opera House]]
* [[Metropolitan Opera]]
}}
|awards      = [[Governor General's Awards#Governor General's Performing Arts Awards|Governor General's Awards]]
}}
'''Jonathan Stewart Vickers''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CC}} (October 29, 1926 – July 10, 2015), known professionally as '''Jon Vickers''', was a Canadian [[heldentenor]].

Born in [[Prince Albert, Saskatchewan|Prince Albert]], Saskatchewan, he was the sixth in a family of eight children. In 1950, he was awarded a scholarship to study opera at [[The Royal Conservatory of Music]] in Toronto. In 1957 Vickers joined London’s [[Royal Opera House]], Covent Garden company. In 1960 he joined the [[Metropolitan Opera]]. He became world-famous for a wide range of German, French, and Italian roles. Vickers' huge, powerful voice and solid technique met the demands of many French, German, and Italian roles. He was also highly regarded for his powerful stage presence and thoughtful characterizations.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11734490/Jon-Vickers-tenor-obituary.html|title=Jon Vickers, tenor – obituary|work=The Telegraph|date=July 12, 2015|access-date=July 14, 2015}}</ref> (Conversely, he was sometimes criticized for "scooping"—beginning a note below pitch and then sliding up to the correct pitch—and for "crooning".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/reputations-jon-vickers|title=Reputations – Jon Vickers|website=Gramophone|accessdate=August 29, 2021}}</ref>)

In 1968 he was made a Companion of the [[Order of Canada]]. Vickers received the [[Governor General's Performing Arts Award]] for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts, in 1998.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jon Vickers biography|url=http://ggpaa.ca/award-recipients/1998/vickers-jon.aspx|publisher=Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation|access-date=February 4, 2015}}</ref>

==Career==
Vickers studied with [[George Lambert (baritone)|George Lambert]] at [[The Royal Conservatory of Music]]<ref name="Bayreuth">[http://www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/fsdb_en/personen/384/index.htm Jon Vickers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714160818/http://www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/fsdb_en/personen/384/index.htm |date=July 14, 2015 }} (in German) Bayreuth Festival. Retrieved July 14, 2015</ref> and sang professionally in Canada from the early- to mid-1950s. In 1952 he won the ''[[Nos futures étoiles]]'' competition on [[CBC Radio]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/nos-futures-etoiles-emc|title=Nos futures étoiles|author=Suzanne Thomas|work=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]|date=December 15, 2013}}</ref> His international career began with his 1957 [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]] Riccardo in [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]]'s ''[[Un ballo in maschera]]''. He continued to appear there into the 1980s, putting his personal stamp on the roles of Énée in [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]'s ''[[Les Troyens]]'', Radamès in Verdi's ''[[Aida]]'' and the title role in his ''[[Don Carlos]]'', [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]]'s ''[[Samson (Handel)|Samson]]'', Florestan in [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]'s ''[[Fidelio]]'', Tristan in [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]'s ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'', Canio in [[Ruggero Leoncavallo|Leoncavallo]]'s ''[[Pagliacci]]'', and the title role in [[Benjamin Britten|Britten]]'s ''[[Peter Grimes]]''.<ref name="roh">{{cite web|url=http://www.roh.org.uk/news/canadian-born-tenor-jon-vickers-dies|publisher=Royal Opera House|title=Canadian-born tenor Jon Vickers dies|date=July 11, 2015|access-date=July 14, 2015}}</ref> Some critics praised Vickers' Tristan as the best since [[Lauritz Melchior]]'s.<ref>''Classical Music: The Listener's Companion'' (2002), ed. Alexander J. Morin, pp. 1038</ref>

He debuted at the [[Bayreuth Festival]] in 1958 as [[Sigmund|Siegmund]] in ''[[Die Walküre]]'' and sang ''[[Parsifal]]'' there in 1964.<ref name="Bayreuth" /> Later negotiations with [[Wieland Wagner]] concerning appearances as Siegfried in ''[[Götterdämmerung]]'' ceased on Wieland's death in 1966. His debut role at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] in 1960 was Canio in ''Pagliacci''.<ref name="MET">{{cite web|url=http://www.metopera.org/News-Flash1/News-Flash/Remembering-Jon-Vickers-19262015/|title=Remembering Jon Vickers 1926–2015|publisher=Metropolitan Opera|access-date=July 14, 2015}}</ref> He appeared at the Met for a period of 27 years in 280 performances of 17 roles, including Florestan in ''Fidelio'', Siegmund in [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]'s ''[[Die Walküre]]'', Don Jose in [[Georges Bizet|Bizet]]'s ''[[Carmen]]'', Radamès in ''Aida'', Erik in Wagner's ''[[Der fliegende Holländer]]'', Herman in [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]]'s ''[[The Queen of Spades (opera)|Queen of Spades]]'', Samson in both Handel's oratorio and [[Camille Saint-Saëns|Saint-Saëns]]' ''[[Samson et Dalila]]'', the title role of [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]]'s ''[[Otello]]'', Don Alvaro in Verdi's ''[[La forza del destino]]'', ''Peter Grimes'', ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'', Laca in [[Leoš Janáček|Janáček]]'s ''[[Jenůfa]]'', Vasek in [[Bedřich Smetana|Smetana]]'s ''[[The Bartered Bride]]'', and the title role in Wagner's ''[[Parsifal]]'', giving his farewell in 1987.<ref name="MET" />

Among Vickers' more notable recordings were ''Die Walküre'' in 1966 and ''Tristan und Isolde'' in 1972, both with [[Herbert von Karajan]] (Vickers became one of Karajan's favourite singers at the lavish Salzburg Easter and Summer Festivals in ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'', ''[[Carmen]]'', ''[[Otello]]'', ''[[Fidelio]]'' as well as ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]''), ''[[Les Troyens]]'', singing the part of Énée (Aeneas), with [[Colin Davis|Sir Colin Davis]] in 1969,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.lemonde.fr/musiques/article/2015/07/13/mort-du-tenor-jon-vickers-interprete-inoubliable-d-enee-et-d-otello_4681144_1654986.html|title=Mort du ténor Jon Vickers, interprète inoubliable d'Enée et d'Otello|work=Le Monde|date=July 13, 2015|access-date=July 14, 2015|language=fr}}</ref><ref name="hero">''Jon Vickers: A Hero's Life'' (1999) by Jeannie Williams and [[Birgit Nilsson]]</ref><ref name="presto">{{cite news|url=http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/obituary/1326/Jon-Vickers|title=Obituary – Jon Vickers|date=July 13, 2015|access-date=July 14, 2015|first=Katherine|last=Cooper|agency=Presto Classical}}</ref> and a legendary and controversial 1959 recording of Handel's ''[[Messiah (Handel)|Messiah]]'' with Sir [[Thomas Beecham]].<ref name="presto"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classical.net/~music/recs/reviews/a/arc23631a.php|publisher=Classical Net|title=Messiah|access-date=July 14, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/12/jon-vickers|title=Jon Vickers obituary|date=July 12, 2015|access-date=July 14, 2015|work=The Guardian}}</ref>

Although scheduled to sing [[Tannhäuser (opera)|Tannhäuser]] at Covent Garden in the late 1970s, Vickers dropped out, claiming he could not empathize with the character,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://tpr.org/post/farewell-canadian-born-tenor-jon-vickers|title=Farewell to Canadian-born Tenor Jon Vickers|first=John|last=Baker|agency=Texas Public Radio|access-date=July 14, 2014|date=July 13, 2015}}</ref> and that the opera itself was blasphemous in nature.<ref name="roh"/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.broadstreetreview.com/dance/tannhaeuser_blasphemy_or_piety|title=Tannhäuser': Blasphemy or piety|date=January 1, 2011|access-date=July 14, 2015|first=Steve|last=Cohen|agency=Broad Street Review}}</ref> He sang Nerone in Monteverdi's ''[[L'incoronazione di Poppea]]'' at the Paris Opéra, and Alvaro in ''La forza del destino'' at the Met (1975). His roles also included Don Carlos, Andrea Chenier, Herod in ''[[Salome (opera)|Salome]]'', Giasone in ''[[Médée (Cherubini)|Medea]]'' (with [[Maria Callas]] in the title role), Pollione in ''[[Norma (opera)|Norma]]''<ref name="presto"/> and rarely heard parts such as Cellini in Berlioz's ''[[Benvenuto Cellini (opera)|Benvenuto Cellini]]'',<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/10/arts/music-berlioz-s-cellini.html|title=MUSIC: BERLIOZ'S 'CELLINI'|first=Donal|last=Henahan|date=May 10, 1983|access-date=July 14, 2015|work=The New York Times}}</ref> Ratan-Sen in [[Albert Roussel|Roussel's]] ''Padmavati'' and Sergei in [[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovitch]]'s ''[[Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (opera)|Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District]]''.<ref name="hero"/> Many critics praised his interpretation of Verdi's ''[[Otello]]'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2009/08/vickers-moor-revisited-and-domingos-otello-farewell/|title=Chicago Classical Review » » Vickers' Moor revisited and Domingo's "Otello" farewell|accessdate=August 29, 2021}}</ref> which he recorded twice: in 1960 with [[Tullio Serafin]] and 1973 with Herbert von Karajan. Vickers also was a long time collaborator with American pianist [[Richard Woitach]].<ref>{{Citation |last= Crory |first= Neil |date= June 30, 2001|title= New York |work=[[Opera Canada]] |page= 34|volume=42|issue=1|url= http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Opera+in+review%3A+(Canada,+United+States+and+International).-a030069990|access-date= September 9, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last= Winters |first= Ken |date= April 16, 2005|title= Classical: Recital will long shine in the memory |work=[[The Globe and Mail]] |page= R6|url= https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/recital-will-long-shine-in-the-memory/article1330317/ |access-date= September 9, 2013}}</ref>

Vickers further sang at the 'home' of Italian opera, Milan's [[La Scala]], as well as in the major opera houses of [[Lyric Opera of Chicago|Chicago]], [[San Francisco Opera|San Francisco]], [[Vienna State Opera|Vienna]], and at the [[Salzburg Festival]]. He retired in 1988.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/13/arts/music/jon-vickers-opera-star-known-for-his-raw-power-and-intensity-dies-at-88.html|work=The New York Times|title=Jon Vickers, Opera Star Known for His Raw Power and Intensity, Dies at 88|date=July 12, 2015|access-date=July 14, 2015|first=Anthony|last=Tommasini}}</ref>

==Personal life and death==
Vickers was born into the musical family of William, a teacher and school principal, and Myrle (née Mossop). As a youth he sang in his father's church, and his initial intention was to study medicine. He worked on a neighbour's farm and acquired the muscular stature that characterized him. During a semi-professional production his leading lady made a recording of his voice and sent it to The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He auditioned there with [[Messiah Part I|Every Valley Shall be Exalted]] and was offered a scholarship.<ref name = "jvickers">{{Citation
 | last1 = Barker
 | first1 = Frank Granville
 | last2 = Blyth
 | first2 = Alan
 | title = Obituaries
 | newspaper = [[The Guardian]]
 | pages = 35

 | date = July 10, 2015
 | url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/12/jon-vickers
 | access-date =July 14, 2015}}</ref>

In 1953 he married Henrietta (Hetti) Outerbridge. They had five children. After her death in 1991, he married Judith Stewart.<ref name="jvickers"/> Vickers died of [[Alzheimer's disease]] on July 10, 2015, in Ontario.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2015/7/News/Jon_Vickers_Tenor_Obituary.html|title=Jon Vickers, 88, Heroic Canadian Tenor, Has Died|journal=[[Opera News]]|date=July 11, 2015|author=William R. Braun|access-date=July 12, 2015|archive-date=July 12, 2015|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150712025158/http://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2015/7/News/Jon_Vickers_Tenor_Obituary.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/13/arts/music/jon-vickers-opera-star-known-for-his-raw-power-and-intensity-dies-at-88.html|title=Jon Vickers, Opera Star Known for His Raw Power and Intensity, Dies at 88|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 12, 2015|author=Anthony Tommasini|author-link=Anthony Tommasini}}</ref>

==Religion==
He was a dedicated, outspoken Protestant; one writer referred to him as "God's tenor" for this reason.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-jon-vickers-dead-opera-singer-gods-tenor-20150712-column.html|title='God's tenor' Jon Vickers dead at 88|first=John von|last=Rhein|website=chicagotribune.com|date=July 12, 2015 |accessdate=August 29, 2021}}</ref>

==Discography==
Vickers' voice was recorded in dozens of performances, including:<ref name="hero"/>

===Opera recordings===
* Aeneas in [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]'s ''[[Les Troyens]],'' with conductor [[Rafael Kubelík|Rafael Kubelik]], live recording from the Royal Opera, Coven Garden in 1957
* Giasone in [[Luigi Cherubini|Cherubini's]] ''[[Médée (Cherubini)|Medea]]'', with conductor [[Nicola Rescigno]], live recording from [[Dallas Opera|Dallas Civic Opera]] 1958.
* Don Carlo in [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi's]] ''[[Don Carlos]]'', with conductor [[Carlo Maria Giulini]], live recording from the [[Royal Opera House]], Covent Garden 1958.
* Siegmund in [[Richard Wagner|Wagner's]] ''[[Die Walküre]]'', with conductor [[Hans Knappertsbusch]], live recording from the [[Bayreuth Festival]] 1958.
* Samson in [[George Frideric Handel|Handel's]] ''[[Samson (Handel)|Samson]]'', with conductor [[Raymond Leppard]], live recording from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 1959.
* Otello in Verdi's ''[[Otello]]'', with conductor [[Tullio Serafin]], RCA Victor 1960.
* Siegmund in [[Richard Wagner|Wagner's]] ''[[Die Walküre]]'', with conductor [[Erich Leinsdorf]], Rca-Decca 1961.
* Radames in Verdi's ''[[Aida]]'', with conductor Sir [[Georg Solti]], Rca-Decca 1961.
* Florestan in [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven's]] ''[[Fidelio]]'', with conductor [[Otto Klemperer]], EMI 1961.
* Samson in [[Camille Saint-Saëns|Saint-Saëns']] ''[[Samson and Delilah (opera)|Samson and Delilah]]'', with conductor [[Georges Prêtre]], EMI 1962.
* Gustavo III in Verdi's ''[[Un ballo in maschera]]'', with conductor [[Edward Downes]], live recording from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden 1962.
* Parsifal in Wagner's ''[[Parsifal]]'', with conductor [[Hans Knappertsbusch]], live recording from the [[Bayreuth Festival]] 1964.
* Siegmund in Wagner's ''[[Die Walküre]]'', with conductor [[Herbert von Karajan]], Deutsche Grammophon 1966.
* Énée in [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]'s ''[[Les Troyens]]'', with conductor [[Colin Davis]], Philips 1969.
* Don José in [[Georges Bizet|Bizet's]] ''[[Carmen]]'', with conductor [[Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos]], EMI 1969–70.
* Florestan in Beethoven's ''Fidelio'', with conductor Herbert von Karajan, EMI 1970.
* Tristan in Wagner's ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'', with conductor Herbert von Karajan, EMI 1971–72.
* Otello in Verdi's ''Otello'', with conductor Herbert von Karajan, EMI 1973.
* Pollione in [[Vincenzo Bellini|Bellini's]] ''[[Norma (opera)|Norma]]'', with conductor [[Giuseppe Patanè]], live recording from the Festival d'Orange 1974.
* Cellini in Berlioz's ''[[Benvenuto Cellini (opera)|Benvenuto Cellini]]'', with conductor [[Sarah Caldwell]], VAI 1975.<ref>Performed in English, {{OCLC|54404309}}.</ref>
* Grimes in [[Benjamin Britten|Britten's]] ''[[Peter Grimes]]'', with conductor Colin Davis, Philips 1978.

===Concert recordings===
* [[Edward Elgar|Elgar]]: ''[[The Dream of Gerontius]]'', with conductor Sir [[John Barbirolli]], live recording Rome 1957
* [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]]: ''[[Messiah (Handel)|Messiah]]'', with conductor Sir [[Thomas Beecham]], RCA Victor 1959
* [[Ralph Vaughan Williams|Vaughan Williams]]: ''[[Serenade to Music]]'', with conductor [[Leonard Bernstein]], live recording from the Lincoln Center NY 1962
* [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]]: ''[[Requiem (Verdi)|Requiem]]'', with conductor Sir John Barbirolli, EMI 1969–70
* [[Gustav Mahler|Mahler]]: ''[[Das Lied von der Erde]]'', with conductor Sir [[Colin Davis]], Philips 1981
* [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]]: [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Symphony No. 9, "Choral"]], with conductor [[Zubin Mehta]], RCA Red Seal 1984.

===Recital recordings===
* ''Italian Opera Arias'': Arias by [[Francesco Cilea|Cilea]], [[Friedrich von Flotow|Flotow]], [[Umberto Giordano|Giordano]], [[Ruggiero Leoncavallo|Leoncavallo]], [[Amilcare Ponchielli|Ponchielli]], [[Giacomo Puccini|Puccini]] and [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]], with conductor [[Tullio Serafin]], RCA Victor 1961.
* [[Franz Schubert]]: ''[[Winterreise]]'' with pianist [[Geoffrey Parsons (pianist)|Geoffrey Parsons]], EMI 1983.
* [[Franz Schubert]]: ''[[Winterreise]]'' with pianist Peter Schaaf, VAI 1995.
* [[Richard Strauss]]: ''[[Enoch Arden (Strauss)|Enoch Arden]]'', Op. 38, with pianist [[Marc-André Hamelin]], VAI 2006.

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Bibliography==
* Kuhn, Laura (ed.). "Vickers, Jon(athan) Stewart" in ''Baker's Student Encyclopedia of Music: R-Z'', p.&nbsp;1952. Schirmer Books, 1999. {{ISBN|0-02-865315-7}}
* Macdonnell, W.M. and Norman, Barbara. [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008357 "Vickers, Jonathan Stewart"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100210030419/http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008357 |date=February 10, 2010 }}. [[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=GlfVLFMwLJsC ''Jon Vickers: A Hero's Life''] by Jeannie Williams, Northeastern University Press, 1999. {{ISBN|1-55553-408-2}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150627064743/http://www.bruceduffie.com/vickers.html Interview with Jon Vickers] by Bruce Duffie (originally published 1981 in ''Wagner News'', the newsletter of the [[International Association of Wagner Societies|Wagner Society of America]])
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150714171654/http://www.wagneropera.net/RW-Performers/Jon-Vickers.htm Jon Vickers] wagneropera.net
* {{IMDb name|0896009}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJdX57sUuxk&t=86s On YouTube as Otello]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cUJKhE88vI&t=7327s Singing MESSIAH (YouTube)]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvtZpYnpbKQ Siegmund in DIE WALKURE]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vickers, Jon}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2015 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian male opera singers]]
[[Category:Grammy Award winners]]
[[Category:Canadian operatic tenors]]
[[Category:Heldentenors]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Singers from Saskatchewan]]
[[Category:People from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan]]
[[Category:The Royal Conservatory of Music alumni]]
[[Category:Honorary members of the Royal Academy of Music]]
[[Category:Neurological disease deaths in Ontario]]
[[Category:Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Canada]]
[[Category:Governor General's Award winners]]