Review: WERTHER baritone in Vienna, Wiener Staatsoper, with Ludovic Tézier, direct by M° Frédéric Chaslin.
By Natalia Di Bartolo © dibartolocritic
The musical and artistic scope of the Werther di Massenet it has an almost sacred value. For the enthusiast and the scholar, the work represents a fundamental French side not only of late 19th century operatic music, but also an eternal passage into the soul. The depths of Werther's music are unfathomable. Therefore the writer finds that staging it must always be a sort of "rite", performed with sacred respect, for the unmissable opportunity offered by Art to the user of a full immersion in the most mysterious unconscious, in search of that imponderable that only Music can offer.
The protagonist, Werther, was born tenor and made its debut in Vienna, at the Wiener Staatsoper, in 1882. Massenet, however, later adapted the score to the baritone vocality of the then famous Matthias Battistini, repackaging the opera to measure, which was staged in this version in St. Petersburg in 1902.
Indeed, as a historical-musical find, the version with the baritone protagonist is very interesting, because the intervention on the score was carried out by Massenet himself. In the results, however, the baritone Werther lacks a "cry". Not of voice, because the baritone register is all there, but of a "cry": of those inflections and sonorities, of that acute register which, above all in French singing, allow the protagonist not only to converse, but to speak with himself, to scream his own infinite and incurable pain, to approach death dragging the spectator with it into a vortex. It can't just be the orchestra that emits that cry, implying a voice that cannot do it by nature.
All this not even if to interpret Werther, as happened in Vienna on March 28, 2017 it's the big one Ludovic Tézier, who has sung an infinity of Werther, but like Albert. In this case, however, the work saw him as the protagonist and Albert interpreted by the valid Adrian Isöd, in turn became a tenor.
Not even Tézier, in his vocal splendour, always returning to Vienna from a memorable Conte di Luna in Il Trovatore, can cope with a structural deficiency in the reworked score. And yet he proved to be a credible Werther, magnificent vocally, he also forcefully imposed himself scenically. A great professional, Tézier, nothing to say, except that it is repeated: the tenor Werther is missing. The baritone song at the end is more serene, in which the dying Werther has a part that makes the strong point in the center. Hence he easily exchanges several phrases with the tenor and the effect of the finale does not suffer much from Massenetian modifications.
the brave Sophie Koch he sang his umpteenth Charlotte, with the professionalism that distinguishes her and which in the first act bordered on routine, but which is always appreciable by an interpreter of this caliber. In the third act, in the solo part, obviously, she took over the scene: there nothing was different from usual and this Viennese Werther, despite some imperfections in his orchestral tone, gave the listener the dutiful jolts of the letters in the right places.
The Sophie by Maria Nazarova proved to be well acted and vocally adequate for the part: French singing is another world than the Italian one and evidently Nazarova finds herself better in this repertoire, despite the ringing and extension: in La Sonnambula, also in Vienna, in last January, the impression given by his Lisa had not been positive, since the adherence to the canons of Italian bel canto did not have sufficient significance. Here, however, the petite and pretty singer portrayed a lively teenage Sophie, even vocally.
Conducting Werther is very difficult: the score requires a conducting hand suited to the "rite" mentioned above. The lunge of the orchestral sections can and must, at times, become even violent, following the ascending path of a music that rises from the depths, does not stop at the base. Making it remain latent to underlie the song is the greatest crime that can be committed against the masterpiece.
In Vienna, the French maestro Frédéric Chaslin, with a decidedly German imprint, has put all the good will and expertise it is capable of into it. But her direction is too articulated, at times almost spelled out, therefore lacking that fluidity which gives her the possibility of turning into a flash, even a whip, at the right moment. But overall, including the changes that made the parts of Schmidt and Johann, the correct ones Peter Jelosits and Marcus Pelz, everything went fine.
What disturbed, however, in this well-tested Viennese production, was the usual staging.
Directing by Andrei Serban it is accurate, even if it has made the children become a regiment, but it has some flaws, which the writer has already noticed for some time: with that yellow rocking chair on the left in the first act, that late-years-old air’ 50 with period furniture and even the TV in Charlotte's house, scenic outline unpleasant of Peter Pabst, a cui i costumes sloppy of Petra Reinhardt contribute, Serban makes the protagonists move in an out of time and out of place atmosphere.
In this case, Tezier's Werther rightly detached himself from the whole, in a sort of entirely personal timeless dimension that benefited the character. And then in this production the protagonist is expected to die on the bed with his shoes on. Tezier, in his scenic skill, has also tried to recline sideways, but the protagonist must turn his soles towards the audience; and therefore he himself and several tenors, who alternated over time, sang in this way. Roberto Alagna did well, in the same production, to take off his shoes! But, apart from this detail, Werther's death it's always a directorial problem. In this case, with the corpulent Tézier, everything was resolved with gusto, without too many contortions, in a heartfelt and believable ending.
Enthusiastic audience for the performance, in particular, of the famous performer. Successful or not compared to the original, the opera with baritone Werther, very little represented, still remains a gem and, in Vienna, the gems are always worthy of at least the Sacher House.
Natalia Dantas © dibartolocritic
PHOTOS © VIENNA STATE OPERA | Michael Pöhn