[.ca] Jon Vickers: A Hero's Life (ISBN 1555536743)

From Amazon.com:
Although Jeannie Williams was not able to get cooperation from Jon Vickers for her biography of the tenor, he should hardly be displeased with the result. Whenever she touches on the big battles Vickers fought in the opera world--and there are many, from an early dispute with BBC television that simmered for decades, to touchy relations with the Bayreuth Festival that restricted Vickers's appearances to just two summers, to his famous withdrawal from engagements as Tannhäuser--Williams is scrupulous in her presentation of every aspect of the dispute. What emerges from this life story is a great artist who is surprisingly simple, true to his beliefs from the very start, and dispassionately aware of the value of his gifts. Williams gives us a man who encompasses three of opera's most demanding roles (Otello, Tristan, and Aeneas in Les Troyens) in one season at the Metropolitan Opera, then is asked to stand by for Placido Domingo as he toys with Aeneas in the Met's centennial season. Lack of respect in his native Canada is a recurring theme: the great Tristan shares the bill with Phil Silvers at the Canadian National Exposition, and a fitting farewell tour is sabotaged by the Canada Council. Because she must rely on published interviews, Williams is constricted in her analysis of how Vickers developed his highly individual interpretations of his roles. Tellingly, a singing actress who could meet Vickers on his own terms, Teresa Stratas, offers the most revealing descriptions of how the singer worked. Through accumulation of details (Benjamin Britten twice walked out on Vickers's Peter Grimes; elsewhere we learn that Vickers found embellished Handel "old fashioned"), Williams gives us a sense of what made Vickers wild and gripping onstage. Birgit Nilsson contributed the lovely foreword. --William R. Braun

An interesting enigma:
Reviewing this book is frustrating. As a biography, it is very well written and as close to objective as humanly possible. This is no drooling, glossy fan book altho Ms Williams is certainly a fan of Mr Vickers (as I have been for many years). The paradox comes as we read of Mr Vickers nasty temperament that hides behind a cloak of being so "religious" while showing numerous instances of public rudeness to colleagues as well as to his public by signing contracts he had no intentions of fulfilling (such as his Tannhauser). If a truly great artist and human being as Lauritz Melchior frankly admitted the role of Walther lay too uncomfortably high for him, why couldn't Vickers admit the role of Tannhauser was too difficult for him. Instead he hides behind a hypocritical excuse of "religion" or "morality." How moral is Siegmund, one of hsi signature roles, who runs off with his sister (who is married to another character) AND has a child with her? Ms Williams shows us that Vickers was quite similar to a composer her served so well, Richard Wagner - a genius but a lousy person.

Critic's Comments:
CRITICS' COMMENTS on Jon Vickers: A Hero's Life Peter G. Davis, music critic, New York magazine, formerly of The New York Times: ""Jon Vickers: A Hero's Life ranks among the most impressive books I have ever read about an individual singer . ...If the man himself remains an intriguing enigma, that in no way lessens the achievement of this objectively written, painstakingly researched, immensely readable biography." Antony Peattie, BBC Music Magazine: "This major new biography gives an unusually full picture of the man, his voice, and his career ... One of the best studies of a singer that I have ever read." Patrick J. Smith, Opera News: "Jeannie Williams has done an excellent job in bringing back memories of an extraordinarily vivid singer." Publishers Weekly: "In this remarkably even-handed, unauthorized account, Williams engagingly depicts the conflicting aspects of a great artist's personality and howthey shaped his career."

Watching a street sweeper can be fascinating.:
The other day I watched a man sweeping the street where I live and it was fascinating. He took such care, and made great attention to all the little details. I was watching a great artist at work. I doubt if there is a book about him though. My point is, \oif you've got this far\c, should these folk, like Vickers, Callas - certainly, Joan Sutherland, and to a lesser extent Rita Hunter, et al, be examined quite so thoroughly from the point of their human attributes? I mean, I'd like to be able to sing leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera, but I don't have a voice. I think I'm a nice person, though I do get hate mail for my reviews. So, again, another point, should we expect Vickers to be able to do what he did night after night and still be a nice person? Dare I say it? I don't want to get too close to people whose performances I've enjoyed, because I have the idea that they may not be very pleasant people. Likewise, I have no real desire to read about their appalling behaviour. These people are only singers for heaven's sake. They need keeping in line, whether it's by Rudolf Bing, Joe Volpe, John Tooley or Wolfgang Wagner. Vickers had a great career, but like so many singers, including Callas, Bjoerling, di Stefano, Corelli, Christoff right down to Rita Hunter, once the personality disorder gets in the way of the talent you may as well not bother. It's sad really, because there's no-one like Vickers around today. \oI mean, I live in a city that thinks Andrea Bocelli is a great artist, but who am I among so many?\c The fact that Britten walked out on Vicker's Peter Grimes tells me more about Britten than it does about Vickers. I would have taken it as a compliment. Maybe more people should be like me: Go the performance, applaud the performer and don't bother to peer behind the little bushes they are hiding behind.

A well-balanced and meticulously researched biography:
No matter whether or not you like the intrinsic quality of the singer's voice, or that you may look askance at his many idiosyncracies, there is no doubt that Jon Vickers was one of the great singing-actors of the second half of the 20th Century. In this quite impressive biography (the first for Vickers), author Jeannie Williams has set out the illustrious career of Vickers in great detail and clarity. Although Vickers has not collaborated with Williams for the writing of this book, which may account for the presence of a few minor points where the author appears to be not too sure of, it is evident that a lot of meticulous research has been undertaken for the writing of the work. A number of episodes (e.g. the "Tannhauser incident") have been given extensive treatment here. Not only has Williams laid out the views of those who were immediately involved in those controversies, the opinions of friends and colleagues have also been gleaned and revealed without unnecessary embellishments. As such, the book does provide a well-balanced and richly detailed account of Vickers's singing career from the humble beginnings in parishes of his native Canada (where he met with a number of difficulties later on), through his ascent to the pinnacle of the operatic world in which he became the definitive Siegmund, Peter Grimes, Otello and Tristan, to his low-key withdrawal from the stage in the late 80s. Nevertheless, despite all the wealth of details, which are set against the colourful and often cantankerous world of opera, and the fact that Vicker's intergrity and dedication to his art is never in doubt, the singer's emotional character, his behaviour backstage (which has raised a lot of eyebrows) and some of his convictions continue to baffle the reader and, presumably, most people who know him in person. Nevertheless, to be fair, it is almost impossible for any third-party to penetrate the depth of another's psyche and Williams has already tried her best to put on the table all the facts as well as different views so that the reader can make up his own mind as regards Vickers the person as well as the merits of his (and his opponents') arguments. Therefore, while the actual writing is not too stylish, and may sometimes be linguistically a bit bland, this is still an excellent biography of an important singer. The book also contains a selected discography and, above all, an exhaustive chronology of performances which is indispensable for those who need such information. On the whole, the book can be recommended with enthusiasm.

A biography worthy of the subject:
This is one of the finest biographies of a singer I have ever read. (And I've read a lot.) Jon Vickers was one of the greatest singers of the past 50 years, the supreme Siegmund, Florestan, Tristan, Aeneas and Peter Grimes of his time. (And no slouch as Otello, Canio, Samson and Parsifal, either.) He was a singer with a unique timbre, an iconoclastic temprement, and a burning sense of his artistic mission. Like many great artists, he could sometimes act a little crazy. He was stubborn, short-tempered (he did not suffer fools at all, much less gladly) and on occasion, downright irrational and almost violent. He was also a deeply spiritual man and great artist capable of giving performances of almost transcendant beauty and intensity. Jeannie Williams gives a comprehensive picture of the great tenor, both his abundant virtues and his manifest warts. The book is well-reasearched and remarkably complete in its account of his career, considering that Vickers refused to participate or cooperate with the author. Vickers' deep Christian beliefs and convictions are treated respectfully and recognized as an integral part of what made him the artist that he was. The most fascinating chapters are the ones on Vickers' notorious Tannhäuser cancellation in the late 70s (which left both Covent Garden and the Met in the lurch), and on his relationship with the opera "Peter Grimes." As to the former, Vickers maintained that he could not sing Tannhäuser because his religious convictions prevented him from finding any point of connection with the character, and because he found Tannhäuser "revolting." But every single person interviewed for the book, many of them wholly sympathetic to Vickers, believed that the real reason for Vickers' cancellation was because he could not handle the vocal demands of the part. The author allows the reader to draw his or her own conclusion about the incident. As for Peter Grimes, which many consider Vickers' greatest role, Williams affirms that the composer disliked Vickers interpretation intensely and resented Vickers' unilateral (and unauthorized) rewrite of some of the text. (Vickers later claimed that Britten had sanctioned the changes and that they had been made in collaboration with conductor Colin Davis, but according to Williams, they were entirely Vickers' doing.) This is the very best kind of operatic biography - written by someone who deeply admires the subject but who does not allow that admiration to cloud her judgment or degenerate into fan-like gush. This will no doubt remain the definitive biography of Vickers for quite some time. Highly recommended.