Vickers sings "Vesti la Giubba" from Pagliacci (1955)

A rare document of Jon Vickers. Here, just 29 years old, the Canadian future Heldentenor sings in a live performance from a Montreal studio of Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci, broadcast by the CBC and conducted by Otto Werner-Mueller. At the time Vickers was a student at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music. The power of his voice and the almost scary intensity of his acting are already evident.

As Vickers described it, "In those days a live broadcast was really murderous. You started at 8 in the morning and had 2 full orchestral rehearsals, a dress rehearsal, and you did a show at night, if you had any voice left. And the circumstances were very difficult because of the primitive quality of the electronics, compared with today."

The original broadcast videotape from 1955 appears to have been transferred to film, then back to video.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Opera
• Pagliacci
• Vickers
• tenor
• Canio
• vesti
• la
• giubba

[WiseMonki]

I always loved the way Vickers moved on the stage... like a powerful caged animal... so much tension and commitment to the role at hand. Great post... of one the of the best tenors in the last 100 years... and with the company of Bergonzi my favourite. Many thanks,

[habanitos1]

He had a very light voice for that role at taht age. It sounds cool though

[mauriciomille]

@habanitos1 how old was he here?....

[Juliet0307]

Jon is so drammatic,so sensitive,so powerful,he sings with such a deepness...

He is unique.

[caruso81]

@philipvanlidth True....

I didn`t read...

It is to much....

[philipvanlidth]

@caruso81 You obviously didn't read the description offered by the poster of this video. After two full orchestra rehearsals and a dress rehearsal, with a day that began at 8:00 AM, it is a miracle that he had this much voice left. I don't know of many twenty-nine-year-olds who would have that kind of vocal stamina already. It isn't that he isn't prepared for this role. He has proven that he was supremely prepared for it...

[caruso81]

He is loosing his voice here because he is not prepared for this role yet.... To young.....

[Nello7]

He projects far more than his twenty years allows. This video is interesting to say the least. I love Vickers and this is a great historical tool. The best operatic interpretive actor perhaps ever- but the voice always bore the adversity of the performance.

[aaroncaruso]

This is a young Vickers. What a gem. He does make a mistake with the Italian at the climax of the aria, but that being said- its still a rare gem. Thanks for posting!

[IlgruppoDiDocci]

TERRIBLE!

[pearlmuth3]

yes he could act and maybe his voice was not a typical Italian one but it was bigger and more dramtic then bergonzi of course better for roles Carlo did not sing. Very fine tenor with no bad habits as so many have.