Farewell to a legendary singer: José van Dam, the definitive Saint François in Messiaen’s opera Saint François d’Assise, dies at 85

José van Dam in the title role of Olivier Messiaen‘s Saint François d’Assise, Salzburg Festival, 1998. (Photo: © SF/Bernd Uhlig )

The legendary bass-baritone José van Dam, whose death was announced yesterday, was a singer whose career many knew from recordings and film than live. His discography was wide and extensive encompassing much of the standard repertoire.

I was lucky enough to catch him live on a precious few occasions at Covent Garden. He was an astonishing Wozzeck in Berg’s opera in Willy Decker’s 1984 revival of Covent Garden’s original 1952 production designed by Caspar Neher. In 1986, he was Jokanaan in Strauss’ Salome in a revival of August Everding’s 1970 production notable for Gwynneth Jones’ performance of the title role. And in 1996 he was an unforgettable Philippe in Luc Bondy’s French-language (hurrah!) production of Verdi’s Don Carlos with Roberto Alagna in the title role.

Perhaps his greatest single role was as Saint François in Messiaen’s opera Saint François d’Assise.  José van Dam sang it at the premiere in Paris, conducted by Seiji Ozawa in 1983, and he would again undertake the role in the 1992 Salzburg Festival (at the Felsenreitschule), directed by Peter Sellars with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic and revived in 1998. 

“In a certain way, that performance changed my life”, the artistic director of the Salzburg Festival, Markus Hinterhäuser recalls. “In this role, José van Dam was not simply a singer, he was an embodiment. He had a quiet authority, a mixture of humility and strength which corresponds exactly to what Messiaen meant when he created the role of his Francis.”

Perhaps fittingly, the Salzburg Festival is returning to Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise this year with a new production designed and directed by Romeo Castellucci with Maxime Pascal conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Philippe Sly in the title role. See the festival website for details.

José van Dam’s obituary on the OperaWire website.