For Jon Vickers

The almighty Canadian tenor — the supreme Grimes, the supreme Florestan and Énée, among the greatest of Otellos and Tristans — has died at the age of eighty-eight. He had a voice of stentorian power, but he was never content simply to flatten the ears of his audiences; he was an energetic and detailed actor who made a close study of his characters. If, sometimes, he went over the top, it was never merely for effect; the excess came from a surplus of conviction. How I wish I could have heard him live; I came along a little too late.