Tour de force
On this day in 1973 the Metropolitan Opera presented the company premiere of Les Troyens.
Jon Vickers
80 pieces since 2009 — in 17 roles, at 10 companies, most often at Metropolitan Opera.
80
pieces
17
roles
10
companies
18
years
By role
Role Aeneas
Dido it again
“Trove Thursday” presents Purcell’s remarkably concise Dido and Aeneas in a pair of fascinatingly different interpretations.
Baby the reine must fall
I’m beginning this new series of “pirate-casts” with a great opera: Berlioz’s Les Troyens featuring the luminous pairing of Janet Baker and Jon Vickers as Didon and Énée.
Role Andrea Chénier
Start the revolution without me
In Andrea Chenier an unexpected Canadian star-tenor relishes beheading alongside a far less well-known Italian diva: Jon Vickers and Ilva Ligabue.
Role Don José
Calling cards
On this day in 1968 mezzo-soprano Shirley Verrett made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Carmen.
“The silky-toned Miss Verrett makes the most of the situation”
On this day in 1968 mezzo-soprano Shirley Verrett made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Carmen.
Role Énée
The queen’s gambit
Lately I’ve been loving listening to Régine Crespin, prompting Trove Thursday to celebrate the great French soprano with private in-house recordings of two of her important non-Met North American appearances.
Role Florestan
Jailhouse Roccos
Chris’s Cache wraps up November with Régine Crespin’s Chicago Leonore; two rare Met Fidelios headed by Christa Ludwig and Hildegard Behrens; and a concert performance with Birgit Nilsson led by Leonard Bernstein, plus a final twist: excerpts of Carol Vaness in Leonore.
The octogenarian muse
Helga Dernesch is the singer whom I largely credit for rekindling my love for opera.
Prison riot
Herbert von Karajan once said listening to some of his old recordings made him envy painters who could simply burn the pictures they disliked.
Unchained melody
When a new production of Fidelio premiered at the Met in 1960, the opera had been absent from the repertoire since 1951, the post-war return of Kirsten Flagstad as a still effective Leonore and led by Bruno Walter. In the period between the two productions a new generation of singers had begun to make their […]
Role Herodes
Sie ist ein Ungeheuer, deine Tochter
The focus in this 1974 performance of Salome from Orange is (mostly) on the Herodes of Jon Vickers.
Role in the Judgment Scene
RIP Giulietta Simionato
Legendary mezzo-soprano Giulietta Simionato died this morning. She was 99. [Corriere della Sera]
Role Jenik
An old-fashioned wedding
“Trove Thursday” presents a complete Prodanà Nevesta (aka Die Verkaufte Braut, of course) by Smetana plus extended excerpts from a broadcast of Spontini’s La Vestale in its rarely heard original French version.
Role Otello
A favorite Verdi performance from John Danaher
My favorite Verdi performance is the iconic 1960 RCA recording of Otello with Jon Vickers in the title role and the Rome Opera Orchestra and Chorus under the baton of the masterly Tullio Serafin.
Matinee idol
On this day in 1974 soprano Kiri Te Kanawa made an “emergency” Met debut as Desdemona and her broadcast debut
A divided duty
Today’s Chris’s Cache features live recordings of Otello most noteworthy for their Desdemonas: (in chronological order) Teresa Stratas, Julia Varady, Eva Marton and Karita Mattila.
“Live” at last!
La Cieca is delighted to note that two of the best-remembered and most-coveted “Live from the Met” telecasts have at last been made available on DVD. Otello (25 September 1978) and Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci (5 April 1978) are now available at the Met Opera Shop and online at www.metoperashop.org, “as well as through other outlets.” La […]
Role Parsifal
Once in love with Amy
“Trove Thursday” leaps to the end of the cycle with a slightly abridged Götterdämmerung featuring Amy Shuard as Brünnhilde.
Role Peter Grimes
The right box
Let’s call this meeting to order. My name is Patrick and I’m a boxset-aholic.
Role Radamès
Ethiopian blends
Anticipating the first new local Aïda in thirty-six years, Chris’s Cache revisits Verdi’s popular opera in four unusually interesting in-house recordings from the Met 1961-1976.
Leonie on the Nile
Leonie Rysanek, would have turned 90 today.
Role Riccardo
I won’t dance, don’t ask me
A live Un Ballo in Maschera featuring Jon Vickers, Amy Shuard, Lucia Popp, Shirley Verrett and Peter Glossop.
Role Samson
Kaleidoscopic maestro
Saturday marks the centenary of Julius Rudel’s birth which Trove Thursday celebrates with Le Coq d’or, Faust and Ariodante, a triple-bill showcasing his impressive versatility, featuring Beverly Sills and Norman Treigle, two of the most important artists he nurtured during his leadership of the New York City Opera.
Role Sergei
Bored to death
Trove Thursday offers Shostakovich’s 1962 Katerina Izmailova with Australian soprano Marie Collier as its anti-heroine and Jon Vickers as her lover.
Role Siegmund
This is a gala day for you
On October 14, 1979 I spent my birthday attending my first all-star opera gala, thrilled at the chance to hear some of the great singers I’d only experienced on LPs, broadcasts or via my pirate reel-to-reel tapes.
Give me a ‘Ring’ sometime
On this day in 1975 the Metropolitan Opera completed its first integral Ring cycle since 1962.
Le déjeuner sans l’herb
Five decades before the Met turned to computer-assisted planks to help tell the story of Wagner’s Ring cycle, the company stirred controversy and comment with another staging of the tetralogy. General Manager Rudolf Bing imported a stark, abstract production from the Salzburg Festival in order to secure the services of Herbert von Karajan, who not […]
Role Tristan
A favorite Wagner performance from Peter Russell
I’d long ago given up on my Goldilocks search for a “just right” complete Tristan und Isolde recording starring Jon Vickers, my hands-down tenor of choice.
By Peter Russell
48 comments
“Something great in itself”
Now we have considered the three “winners” in the Tristan competition, let’s turn to the also-rans, or, to be more optimistic, the runners up.
One night of love
Your alte Jungfer’s requisite Kuschelkatze (pictured) arrived on my doorstep in Mariahilf with the name of Tristan.
Jon Vickers 1926-2015
The legendary Canadian heldentenor died on Friday. He was 88.
The music lovers
The curious things about accepted wisdom is that sometimes it’s correct.
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
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