WERTHER • PARIS
★★★★★☆
Photo: Jean‑Louis Fernandez
REVIEW WERTHER: TOP SOLOISTS SHINE AT THE OPÉRA COMIQUE
Exceptionally beautiful symphonic opera music unfolds in the magnificent acoustics of the Opéra Comique, where outstanding soloists elevate Ted Huffman’s production of Massenet’s tearjerker Werther to a five-star experience – despite a set design that at times seems a little anaemic compared to Goethe’s passionate love story.
In just a few years, Samoan-born New Zealander Pene Pati has made a name for himself as one of the most brilliant lyric tenors on the international scene. His voice has a touch of Pavarotti – an old-school Italian brilliance combined with naturalness and vocal power.
In the title role, he succeeds with a rare blend of youthful passion and poetic vulnerability. It is not without reason that this particular role is referred to as a highlight of his French repertoire. With his sunny tone, he distances himself from the dark, tormented neurotic that other interpretations have cultivated.
Photo: Jean‑Louis Fernandez
The story, based on Goethe’s novel, revolves around the young Werther’s all-consuming love for Charlotte, who, after her mother’s death, has become a kind of housekeeper and must look after the home and her many younger siblings.
Charlotte represents a youth that has been stifled by duty – as tightly as the corset she must wear in the petty bourgeois regime.
Photo: Jean‑Louis Fernandez
Adèle Charvet has established herself as one of the most talented French mezzo-sopranos of her generation and is outstanding as the young woman caught in an inextricable conflict between passion and duty.
What do you do when you have promised your deceased mother to marry Albert – but in the meantime have fallen head over heels for Werther? And remember: it was a different time.
Photo: Jean‑Louis Fernandez
Massenet’s score is filled with highlights and warm orchestral colours that mirror the turmoil of the soul. The music constantly follows the emotional turmoil of the main character – exceptionally well rendered by conductor Raphaël Pichon and the Orchestre Pygmalion.
Ted Huffman stages the opera in an everyday dining room, focusing on the psychology and deliberately avoiding spectacular set pieces, except for a fallen Christmas tree as a symbol of a dream that has gone awry.
Huffman has been appointed Pierre Audi’s successor as director of the Aix-en-Provence Festival and is also behind a new production of Tosca at Glyndebourne this summer, which is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Photo: Jean‑Louis Fernandez
The finale ends in a pool of blood on an almost bare stage, as Werther, crushed by forbidden passion, chooses death by cutting his veins, and the emotional breakdown has its tragic consequences.
Experiencing Werther at the Opéra-Comique in Paris gives the performance a special historical significance. It was here that the work had its French premiere in 1893.
Five stars from Det Sku’ Du Se for a magnificent opera experience, which was filmed and broadcast live on Arte TV this evening, where you can log in and stream a replay of the brilliant cast. Enjoy.
