Werther, Quarantined
The Applause Should Have Gone to…
Enjoy Werther, Quarantined in honor of the cancelled productions from the Metropolitan Opera (take a peek into what might have been here in this quarantine performance!) and Boston Lyric Opera. Some operas hold a special place as a beloved treat to perform. Massenet’s gorgeous Werther definitely checks that box. We remotely applaud the performers and production teams who did not get to bow, and dive in on this operatic exploration of what happens when we don’t act on our instincts.
The Cliff Notes
Per the Royal Opera House:
Werther loves Charlotte, but she promised her mother on her deathbed that she would marry Albert. After the marriage Charlotte suggests that Werther should travel – but not forget her.
Charlotte, unhappily married, has fallen in love with Werther through his letters. He returns unexpectedly; Charlotte sends him away. Werther shoots himself and dies in Charlotte’s arms.
And with a bit more detail:
Werther, an eligible bachelor poet, meets a wholesome, delightful woman named Charlotte. They have a wonderful evening out together at a dance. Then her long-lost fiance Albert comes back to town. Even though she’s immediately fallen in love with Werther (it’s mutual), she marries the fiance because she promised her dying mother she would do so. They all decide to be friends. It doesn’t work. Werther kills himself with Albert’s gun just as Charlotte arrives to save him. They swear love to each other as he dies in her arms. (It’s a really cheerful plot.)
Full Synopsis
For a full synopsis from the Metropolitan Opera, click here. Prefer to watch someone sarcastic and entertaining? Avi Green has you covered.
Why should you care?
I’ll leave it up to the stars from the Royal Opera to sell you on why this story of bad things happening to good people is so beautiful. Their production took place this past fall. Gorgeous melodies and drama through music, with an electrifying forbidden love story, anyone?
A Toast to the Happy Couple?
Mixologist John shares a gorgeous recipe for a Love Letters cocktail. See him in action!
Ingredients
1oz Bourbon
1/2 oz. Cointreau
7 dashes Angostura Bitters
7 dashes Peychaud's Bitters
Champagne or sparkling wine to top off
Lemon Peel Garnish
Directions
Place bourbon, cointreu, angostura bitters, and Peychaud's bitters into a mixing vessal and stir with ice till cold (15 seconds). Strain into a coupe glass, top with sparking wine and garnish with a lemon peel. Enjoy!
Read the First Line
The Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra plays the Claire de Lune, an orchestral excerpt, beautifully.
If you’re trying to picture a passionate poet, Juan Diego Flores can help. You’ll be enraptured by his rendition of “Pourquoi me réveiller”. Nicolai Gedda also did a beautiful version. And Jonas Kaufman’s rich voice doesn’t disappoint either! The title of this lovely reflection translates to: why should I awaken?
If you didn’t click on the Met cancelled Werther excerpt above, I encourage you to do so here. Joyce DiDonato would be my fantasy football Charlotte, for sure. Enjoy the Letters Aria, sung by Joyce at the Royal Opera. (Kind of like how Lady Macbeth is more famous than her spouse, this show is really about Charlotte and her decisions.) DiDonato made her highly acclaimed debut as Charlotte at the Royal Opera House in 2016. Of her performance, New Statesman lauded:
“DiDonato’s Charlotte was always going to be fascinating. How would a singer of such energy, such an active force on stage, tackle a character whose defining characteristic is not doing – not kissing Werther (until too later), not defying her mother’s wishes, not allowing herself to feel or act on her desires? Taking all that energy and pushing it inwards, DiDonato gives us a Charlotte with a complicated inner life – outwardly quiet and self-possessed, but only at a cost.”
Devour the Letters
To enjoy the entire opera, check out the full performance from the Bergen National Opera on Vimeo, with English subtitles.
To listen to a gorgeous version with one of the 3 Tenors, click here for Carreras and von Stade.
To the Bitter End
In preparing for their performances this season, Boston Lyric put together this fantastic study guide, which is a lot of fun for a newbie or an experienced fan.
Per NPR: Massenet composed his operatic version of the story in 1887. He hoped it would be premiered by the Opera Comique in Paris, but the company was looking for something more cheerful, so the opera was shelved until its premiere finally took place in 1892 in Vienna, where it was an immediate hit. (No surprise there.) It took less than a year for the Opéra-Comique to rectify their mistake, and Werther premiered in France in January 1893. The opera was performed over 1,100 times there in the 50 years to follow.
The Letter Scene (also called Va! Laisse couler mes larmes) from Werther is NOT the same as the Letter Aria from Eugene Onegin, here sung by Netrebko in a Met production. The former is a French aria sung by a mezzo, the latter a Russian aria sung by a soprano. Feel free to ask for clarification if ever trapped in conversation with an opera snoot. They’ll nod knowingly, before rambling off.
Reynaldo Hahn pithily summarised the instant sensation created by Massenet’s music: “Everyone loves Massenet, except perhaps for the inhabitants of Mars.”
Although the role of Werther was written for a tenor, Massenet adjusted it for a baritone, when Mattia Battistini sang it in Saint Petersburg in 1902. It is very occasionally performed in this version, which changes only Werther’s vocal line - not even the orchestration.