Jon Villars sings Gott! Welch Dunkel hier!...

Taken from a 2003 telecast of Beethoven's Fidelio at the Salzburg Festival. We have Jon Villars as Florestan singing the act 2 aria Gott! Welch Dunkel hier!...

Mr. Villars has been recently in the news for being released from a Canadian production of Fidelio after storming out of the stage during a rehearsal. I came to YouTube wanting to hear him and found out that not a single excerpt of his singing exists. Well, for those who were as curious as me to know how he sounds, here it is, in the role that he just created a storm.

So what do you think? Does he have the voice to support giving the finger to the conductor and walking out?

if you want to read the news report click here:
http://tiny.cc/villarsreport

For more discussion on the topic, go to http://parterre.com/?p=2624

Conductor : Sir Simon Rattle
Stage Director : Nikolaus Lehnhoff
Sets : Raimund Bauer
Costumes : Anna Eiermann
Berliner Philharmoniker

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Jon
• Villars
• Beethoven
• Fidelio
• Gott!
• Welch
• Dunkel
• hier!...

[tiagoemanuel21]

ich finde er ist einfach nicht genug fit für die rolle... wenn er am schluss so atmen muss... naja

[martello79]

As for tenors making a good live rendition of this aria: try out James King and recently Simon O'Neill, both here on youtube.

So yes, they are out there, but indeed they are seldomly heard (in our last Amsterdam production around 2002, Torsten Kerl died a painful Stimmtod at the end of the aria).

[piasecznik]

From what I've read it was probably not just him being a diva, but long tensions between him and the conductor reaching a high point in that scene. The comments to the second link in the description include some reports by people who were there.

[blktenorpower]

you...this aria is pretty hard. the END! i sing this, and i havent really heard a tenor LIVE make it thru that end, without some, somthing?! lolol nice voice for this fach.

canada thing....im not sure, but there may have been something between the conductor an he before?! i KNOW german conductors are VERY touchy about NON-germans singing in german. who knows what happen. hes singing and working.....good for him! more power to him

[Gizalles]

Zum "Stinkefinger": Grundsätzlich gibt es auf der Bühne, auch sonst nie, einen Grund sich auf das Niveau eines Autofahrers herunter zu lassen.

Zur Stimme: Sie ist im Hals und die Farbe sehr amerikanisch. Viele Fehler in der Aussprache. Er mäckert und er sollte am Legato arbeiten. Aber er könnte, wenn er daran arbeitet, ein Florestan werden. Gut ..?.

[searnold56]

He dies at the end. Is he really a helden? Or is he just a big steely german lyric? He doesn't handle the phrasing very well in the second half of the aria.

It begs the question....Is he cast as a helden because he looks like one or because he is one?

[searnold56]

I searched for a video of him last night after i heard about the Fidelio incident and found nothing like you. Thanks for posting!

As to whether he's got the voice to support his actions...

NO ONE should do that to a conductor and frankly to the other singers on stage. It betrays all of the work that the cast has put in to gel the production. Replacing a major cog this late throws everyone off.

As for his voice....It's nice. You just wont work if you walk out. Exhibit A - Kathleen Battle