Jules Massenet’s
Werther was first performed, and only once, at the Royal Opera House
Covent Garden in 1894. It was such a flop that it was put in deepfreeze until
1979. It has been defrosted but it has not exactly become a big hit despite
some fine recording. In fact, the performance I saw on September 20, 2019 was only
the 44th at Covent Garden.
The current run
is the third revival of Benoit Jacquot’s 2004 production so Werther
may be picking up some speed. In tenor Juan Diego Florez as the hero and mezzo
soprano Isabel Leonard as Charlotte it has huge star and vocal power to pull a
lot of people to Covent Garden.
The opera has a
few big arias but its plot and emotional and moral wavelengths come from a very
different world. A young man looks at a young woman and falls in love with her
– a love that is all-consuming, eternal, pure, immutable and God-given. That is
what happens to Werther when he sees Charlotte.
Apart from the
romantic stratosphere that Werther and Charlotte occupy, they also live in a
society where Christian teachings and virtues are strictly obeyed. Charlotte
cannot marry Werther because she vowed to her mother that she will marry Albert
(baritone Jacques Imbrailo). She does. Werther is devasted (and that is putting
it very mildly) and he can’t do or think of anything else except of Charlotte
and suicide.
The love based
on Christian theology and morality does not permit even a thought of carnal
contact. In fact, that would be blasphemy, a very serious sin. Werther and
Charlotte have not kissed and have not even thought or imagined erotic
connection.
We have to wait
for a couple of hours for them to kiss and by that time he has shot himself
with Albert’s gun and is dying. But he is so slow about it that they have time
to consider redemption, the purity of their love, make funeral arrangements and
meet the Solitary Reaper.
Whatever the
problem of accepting the world that Massenet took from Goethe’s novel, the performers
draw us into it with sheer vocal beauty. Florez can climb to high Cs with a
single leap but Massenet makes few such demands. But the beauty of his tone and
the depth of his emotional range keeps us watching intently.
Isabel Leonard
as Charlotte, the pure, obedient and unhappily married young women does not
have to do much octave-leaping but she does have to draw our sympathy as we see
and hear her distress, struggle, emotional turmoil and final release. She does
it beautifully.
Her young sister
Sophie is sung by the rising American soprano Heather Engebretson who provides
some contrast to Charlotte and does fine vocal work.
Charles Edwards’
sets do the job. We start in the yard of the Bailli (Alastair Miles) where we
see light streaming through an open gate. The second scene is outside by some
stairs leading to the church. We see a mostly
overcast but bright sky. The third scene is in the panelled, austere house of
Albert and Charlotte and the final scene takes place in a miniature room where Werther
is bleeding from the gunshot wound. There are several refences to blue sky but
I did not see any of that.
Jacquot takes a
conservative but solid approach to the opera and the result is an excellent
production. Edward Gardner conducts the Royal Opera House Orchestra through
Massenet’s lush music. The recordings make it reasonably available but the
opera occupies an emotional and moral
universe that may not be conducive to Werther becoming a frequently
staged work.
_____________________
Werther by Jules Massenet is being performed six times
between September 17 and October 5, 2019 on various dates at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London,
England. www.roh.org.uk
James Karas is the Senior Editor - Culture of The Greek Press. greekpress.ca
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