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Examiner, March 16, 2014 |
Richard Carter |
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Massenet: Werther, Metropolitan Opera, 15. März 2014 |
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Met Opera Review: The young Werther’s sorrows have ended
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Werther: Final performance at the Met |
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At the Saturday matinée, March 15, 2014, the Metropolitan Opera gave its
final performance of Jules Massenet’s “Werther,” starring German tenor Jonas
Kaufmann as the troubled lad who dies of love. (Technically the cause of
death is a self-inflicted pistol shot, but you get the meaning.) He and his
costar, French mezzo-soprano Sophie Koch in the role of Charlotte—the
unrequited love interest—totally owned the stage in all their scenes. When
the Act IV curtain fell, the audience roared in wild applause, complete with
strictly forbidden confetti showers from the Family Circle Boxes.
The
role of Sophie, Charlotte’s younger sister and the second-oldest of eight
children, and that of Albert, the man Charlotte promises her (deceased)
mother she will marry, are the other two principals. Cuban-American soprano
Lisette Oropesa and Serbian-Israeli baritone David Bižic interpreted these
characters, giving committed performances to their relatively small roles.
The new production by director Richard Eyre, set and costume designer
Rob Howell, lighting designer Peter Mumford, and choreographer Sara Erde is
a feast for the eyes and a study in 19th-century realism. Not to be
overlooked are the thought-provoking, often beautiful projections by video
designer Wendall K. Harrington.
Just one example of the latter:
During the Act I “Clair de lune” (Moonlight) scene, five elegant couples
dressed for a ball danced a gentle waltz. When Werther and Charlotte
eventually joined them, the screen at the back of the stage—the ornate wall
of a richly furnished ballroom—began “revolving,” emulating the circles
being traced by the central couple. The audience saw the walls and the
gathered guests floating by. Then, as if the couple leaned back to look
upward, the audience glimpsed the ballroom ceiling, its chandeliers, crown
mouldings and dome also moving in circles. A clever idea.
Whereas Act
I familiarises the audience with Charlotte in her motherly role as eldest
sister and shows Werther falling instantly in love with her, Act II
basically consists of Werther behaving badly. He has not taken well to
Charlotte’s marriage to Albert. Werther asks if she loves her husband, and
she obliquely responds that one feels gratitude when in close company with
excellent people.
Acts III and IV, on the other hand, are tours de
force for Charlotte and Werther, respectively. She scarcely leaves the
stage. He has returned at Christmas time, just as she had bidden him. He
asks if she missed him, and again she evasively bids him to observe that the
room’s furniture is exactly the way it was before. Jonas Kaufmann’s ardent
showstopper, “Pourquoi me révellier, ô souffle du printemps?” (Why did you
waken me, oh Spring breeze?) detonates a feverishly passionate duet of
Charlotte’s ultimately unsuccessful attempts to flee from Werther’s grasp.
Not since Alfredo Kraus and Tatiana Troyanos has a stage couple generated
this much blistering heat.
French-Armenian conductor Alain Altinoglu
led the mighty forces of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in a sweeping
account of this score, with its nod to Richard Wagner.
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