Jon Vickers, et al - No! Pagliaccio non son (CBFT, 1955)

Jon Vickers (1926-2015) was a famed Canadian dramatic tenor whose lengthy career encompassed opera, oratorio and concerts. Born in Prince Albert, SK, Vickers was raised in a musical family hit hard by the Depression. His father was a high school principal and organist at the 1st Baptist Church, where young Vickers sang soprano in the choir. Despite his vocal talents, Vickers was more interested in playing hockey and aspired to become a doctor. After graduating from high school, however, the WWII “student bulge” made getting into a university too difficult. Vickers instead moved to Flin Flon, MB, and later Port Arthur, ON, where he accepted a job as a Woolworth’s manager. During this period, Vickers began singing with local glee clubs. It was with the Flin Flon Glee Club that the young tenor made his debut on March 20, 1947 as Frederic in Pirates of Penzance. Vickers appeared regularly in operetta with amateur groups, also making a name for himself as a church musician and oratorio singer. During a performance at a 1949 amateur music festival, Vickers was heard by a professor from Toronto’s Royal Conservatory, who offered him a full scholarship. The young tenor began working with English baritone George Lambert, remaining at the Conservatory for the next three years. During that period, Vickers took first prize in a nationwide radio competition and soloed in the Canadian premiere of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 and Te Deum in April 1951. His debut in opera took place in a radio performance of Wolf-Ferrari’s I Quattro Rusteghi on November 26, 1952. Vickers’ professional debut was as the Duke in Rigoletto with Toronto Opera Festival on February 25, 1954. He sang leads in La Traviata, Don Giovanni, Carmen, and Die Fledermaus during his time with the company. He also performed condensed radio and TV productions of Pagliacci, Tosca, La Bohème, Yevgeny Onegin and Manon Lescaut. Although enjoying a certain regional fame, Vickers was growing frustrated by his lack of career advancement. As he approached age 30, he was, in his own words, “married, broke and ready to write singing off as a career.” Before Vickers gave up, an offer came from London’s Covent Garden, marking the turning point in the tenor’s international career. Vickers’ March 4, 1957 Covent Garden debut as Riccardo in Ballo in Maschera launched a 30 year affiliation with the company. During this period of early acclaim, Vickers also made important debuts in Vienna, San Francisco and Bayreuth. Vickers made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Canio in Pagliacci on January 17, 1960. The tenor bookended the year with his La Scala debut as Florestan on December 17. Though he sang scarcely more than a dozen performances at the Milan theatre, Vickers remained a fixture at the Met for 28 seasons, singing over 275 performances of 17 roles, including Tristan, Parsifal, Siegmund, Florestan, Samson, Don José, Radames, Don Alvaro, Otello, and Peter Grimes. Vickers maintained a busy schedule through the mid 1980s, with appearances in Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Rio, Buenos Aires, Geneva, Salzburg, Munich, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Milan, Florence, Tokyo, Tel Aviv, and Cape Town. He also added concerts and Lieder recitals to his performances but eventually began to curtail his appearances. The 60 year old Vickers gave his final complete operatic performance in Denver as Samson on May 17, 1987. In June of the following year, Vickers was scheduled to sing Peter Grimes at Covent Garden and give a concert tour of Canada in the fall. However, after a performance of Act II of Parsifal with Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony on May 28, the tenor cancelled all future appearances and withdrew from public singing. Except for a single appearance narrating Strauss’ Enoch Arden in 1998, Vickers spent a peaceful retirement on his 400 acre cattle farm in Ontario. Following a lengthy struggle with Alzheimer’s disease, Jon Vickers died on July 10, 2015, at age 88. Jon Vickers was one of the greatest singing actors of his generation. His impressive repertoire of over 40 roles included leads in Don Carlo, Les Troyens, Salome, Andrea Chénier, Der Fliegende Holländer, Norma, and Benvenuto Cellini. Nicknamed “God’s Tenor”, he was a deeply religious and outspoken individual whose strong convictions were legendary. He refused to return to Bayreuth after the wealthy matron in whose home he was lodging praised the Third Reich. He withdrew from a production of Tannhäuser due to his own conflict with the character’s morals. And during Tristan’s death scene in Dallas, he famously shouted, “Shut up with your damn coughing!” to the noisy audience. Vickers recorded prolifically for many major labels over a three decade period, revealing a large, bright instrument, ideal for the heroes of Verdi and Wagner. Here, Vickers, with Eva Likova, Robert Savoie, Pierre Boutet & Louis Quilico, performs the finale from Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci. This was originally broadcast on CBFT’s Concert Hour on November 3, 1955.