RIP Jon Vickers

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He was a little before my time, but what a voice! A big loss.
Thanks for the links.

Yeah, the voice was possibly the biggest ever to land on an opera stage but he could sing beautifully quietly through out his range.

In 1978 I saw this production of Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea with Vickers. The sound is horrible but the vid sort of catches the atmosphere. This was the steamiest production I've ever seen on an opera stage. There was screaming and yelling and cheering and booing when it was all over. But, you could hear a pin drop during the performance.
('74 is wrong date)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWGbNP6fku8

This is a cleaner recording of them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wdGlwo_7Mk

They sounded a lot better in the theatre. Purists, then and now, hate the production but it was fabulous opera. Salle Garnier is not kind to Betty Boop voices and Vickers and Jones could sing their pianississimo spell and be heard fine way back and up in the cheap seats.
 
Good old Salle Garnier. Which became la Palais de la Danse. Loved that place. Worked there for a bit, then over at la Bastille just after it was built.

Thanks again for the links and the story. :up:

Salle Garnier was terra incognito beyond the proscenium arch. I went to a production of Norma there and the whole lusty chorus was inaudible a couple of meters upstage.

But what a glorious space! It forced a person to wear nice clothes. I always had the expectation I might meet a god at the top of that gigantic staircase.:D

https://www.google.com/search?q=sal...7JoMaQ&biw=1366&bih=635#imgrc=5tOEECV3fxg5rM:
 
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Opera Garnier is the most "theaterish" theater I've ever been in. It seems the epitome of all that is "La Theatre". It's a huge labyrinth backstage. It can take 10 years to discover all the nooks hallways, oddball rooms, underground passages.

Thanks again for the Vickers links. He wasn't much more than a name to me, but I'm enjoying that beautiful, clear voice of his. No wonder fans mourn his passing.
 
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