Jonas Kaufmann gives life and death to Werther in Paris

Photo : Jonas Kaufmann.© Opéra national de Paris/ Elisa Haberer

Werther - (1892)MUSIC BY JULES MASSENET (1842-1912) , 17 January 2010
POEM BY EDOUARD BLAU, PAUL MILLIET AND GEORGES HARTMANN AFTER JOHANN WOLFG ANG VON GOETHE
Michel Plasson Conductor
Benoît Jacquot Stage Director
Charles Edwards Sets
Christian Gasc Costumes

Jonas Kaufmann Werther
Ludovic Tézier Albert
Alain Vernhes Le Bailli
Andreas Jäggi Schmidt
Christian Tréguier Johann
Sophie Koch Charlotte
Anne-Catherine Gillet Sophie

Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine⁄ Paris Opera children's Chorus
Original Royal Opera House production, Covent Garden, London (2004), owned by the Opera national de Paris

My mind is still being flooded with images and sounds from last night and I’ve never had such a hard time to find the words to describe how it was…

I’ll try to retrace my own steps which lead to last night in an attempt to sort out thoughts and emotions for myself as well, so please be patient if this will feel a bit chaotic! I think I mentioned that yesterday I saw Werther for the first time live. I can remember a few operas I have seen live for the first time in the last year and they were all experiences I am very grateful for, rich and exciting. But none of these experiences compare to last night.

In the past I almost never had the chance to hear French opera live but somehow I got hooked by just listening. I know some people think they tend to be long and tedious, excessively sweet, etc. But from the first one I heard I fell in love! I guess it is like colours or ice-cream flavours, each one of us has favourite ones. I enjoy all opera, but the French repertoire touches me in places inside no other manages to. It is strange in many ways, because French is not necessarily my favourite language, but in opera there is nothing like it! When it is right it enhances the music enormously, because it becomes music itself..and when it is wrong…. Of all the recordings I have listened to, or the performances I have seen, more than 90% of the time it sounds wrong and only a very few sound “right”. But the search is worth it!

Last night I found a gem! And am still stunned today that it happened because i rarely went into an opera with more contradictory feelings about it. I’ve listened to recordings, old and new and there were things I liked in each and things I didn’t. If you take away the ones where the Frenchs ends up trying your patience you are left with very few. And out of those in some the diction was at conflict with my understanding of their French, basically if I have to read what they are singing separately rather than understanding it directly, it’s destructive for the emotional link and I don’t like that . The one I ended up coming back to was an old recording with Goerges Thill. That had all the style and the clarity I was longing for but you know that the sound your are hearing from a remastering of a 1930s recording is not going to be anything like the live one. And even there I felt in some instances that beauty of sound won over intensity of interpretation. Generally I got an impression that musically some bits felt weaker and I just couldn’t get my ears round it like in others. It wasn’t like Manon or Romeo et Juliette, which I heard once and could almost sing it next. Still, I already knew I did like the arias very much, I just wasn’t sure about the whole.

Then there is the story… I know Goethe from school and sadly, I never liked “Die Leiden”… And the years passed have not made a character who just lays flat and begs for death grow on me. It is not so much the death wish in itself, there is plenty of that in opera and I’ve never not come to terms with one before. But there are death wishes and death wishes. There is romantic melancholy (like in Dichterliebe, which I adore and could die for!!) ..and there is Werther!!!! So once I had confused myself to bits with the music, I went and grabbed the libretto…. Which was love at first sight!!! I basically cried my way though it and it is pure poetry, just perfect. But by no means does it define exactly how Werther should come across or who he really is. With the time gaps and the unseen events it provides for, there is a world to be created. Besides, there are indications as to how certain passages should be expressed, but when I went back to the recording, tough luck in hearing what is written there! At least I understood why none felt really right or why there where bits in each interpretation that didn’t marry how they were sung with what they were saying. In a way it is like with Wagner, if only singing those notes when saying that text where easily possible then perfection would be achievable :-) So I set my expectations about last night at some level of imperfection. I was praying and praying that I wouldn’t end up in a personal conflict with the piece: please don’t make Werther a total whimp, please don’t make Albert into a cold hearted fellow, please let Charlotte be tormented at least a bit between the two. Please let me understand the French so I don’t have to read the surtitles and that I can concentrate on the music. And most of all I wished the music to make sense, to come together and just blow me away.

1er acte : Sophie Koch (Charlotte) et Jonas Kaufmann (Werther)(Photo : Elisa Haberer) at http://www.classictoulouse.com/

Every wish fulfilled, every dream made reality, even the ones I never dared to have!

It still is an unusual opera for me, as I normally take sides, involuntarily that is, not here, you just can’t. You can’t feel like Werther, or Albert or Charlotte, or rather you can feel and empathise with all. And it doesn’t have an ending you can logically deal with; it’s neither a great injustice done nor does it liberate or solve anything. Things happen because they do and nobody is better off at the end of it. You can’t find resolution or release, or at least I didn’t find it. Werther’s death is only a desperate try to escape from suffering; does it bring him peace? Will he be put to rest where he longs for, among the “tilleuls ? Where does it leave Charlotte and Albert? What will it mean for Sophie, so young, so full of life to know of Werther’s violent end?
All it leaves you with is sadness, endless sadness and even today I still feel the pulls of it now and then… So I can’t say that I like it, it seems an almost inappropriate word to use… but I felt it, with every pore and every breath and find it incredibly hard to disentangle myself from it.

So something, or rather many things must have been done right to create such a strong and lasting impression!

If there is a Werther who I can now hear singing it in my mind, exactly likes it says in the libretto, it is Jonas Kaufmann. Ive heard him sing many things on many occasions but I never before had the occasion to be immersed like this in this …. beautiful garden that is his voice and singing. I’ve seen the strong, bold ruby red roses before, the sweet tender snowdrops, I’ve felt the blue butterflies of his piani touch softly in the air, I’ve seen green moss grow under shady trees… but last night was like waking up under the silvery moonlight in the garden of Eden! With fresh flowers everywhere, with scents binding into each other to create the most intoxicating perfumes and then magically whirling away from each other, for single ones to be admired on their own. And at the very end, when he slowly guided you towards the gate, you stop and slowly turn back, not wanting to leave before taking one last look and in your hand you find the tiny drops of the bluest forget-me-nots, and through your fingers they fall leaving behind just the faintest of smells.

I just can’t think of it or describe it in any other way…It has to be heard and felt and seen to be understood. There are just so many layers to his Werther and although he is heartbroken he is never obvious or predictable. The character, expressed in extremely few gestures , explodes from nowhere or disintegrates into nowhere. This Werther is not tired of life, he is intoxicated with it, tortured by it, tempted with hope and thrown into despair. And at the same time the feelings are never exaggerated, never just on display, it makes you feel almost too shy to watch, that is how intimate it gets. And yet you are unavoidably drawn to him, from the moment he appears on stage to his last breath at the end. You hear and feel the depths bubbling under his surface and just can’t wait for layer after layer to be peeled off to discover what is underneath the next. I understand now the reviews I read, things that seemed out of proportion now barely touch the surface of how Werther comes to life and dies through Jonas Kaufmann. Now I found the Werther I was looking for instinctively all the time. Tough thing is, that every time now that he will be singing it and I won’t be able to hear it I will feel like I’ve been robbed of something very valuable (spoilsport!!!! Méphistophélès should be thy name! – the one from Damnation, because he has the better laugh- because you take something almost banal and make it into something magical and then take it away leaving us empty… )
Dernier acte : Sophie Koch (Charlotte) et Jonas Kaufmann (Werther)(Photo : Elisa Haberer) at http://www.classictoulouse.com/

In contrast, Sophie Kock’s Charlotte goes through the opposite process somehow, trying to contain her character’s growing emotional turmoil by desperately building up one shield after another, each cracking again and again until, at the final hour she lays her heart next to Werther’s, but alas all too late. She’s a wonderful and very convincing artist and in the third act she was absolutely amazing. Her voice is pleasant and rounded and it is again never displayed but only the instrument to bring Charlotte alive. There was intention in every word, every gesture. I couldn’t imagine this production without her and I am incredibly grateful to have been able to see her as my first. She is unforgettable.

Ludovic Tezier’s Albert is the perfect fit for the trio. Very restrained in the first part, he evolves into a steady and dependent character in the second part. I think he brings across the fact that Albert may act apparently simpler in comparison to Werther and Charlotte, but he is not simple at all. You heard and felt with him assurance, and a man certain of his goals and aspirations, but he always keeps you wondering what more there is behind it. He believes in good and forgiveness, but he is no fool, nor is his love for Charlotte to be taken lightly. The fact that his expression of the feeling is not as ardent as Werther’s is a trait of character, not a measurement of intensity of feeling. In fact, his first lyrical, hopeful arias says it all: « Ah! je voudrais qu'en rentrant Charlotte retrouvât les pensers que je laisse: Tout mon espoir et toute ma tendresse! » Charlotte is his hope in life for happines. He extends a hand to Werther, even tries to help him, by gently suggesting a different happiness possible. But think just how he might have felt, coming back home, feeling already that his wife is having doubts, finding the door to his house open, her totally disturbed and then finding out Werther is back. He is not a man of bold explosions, but he shows how much Charlotte actually means to him by his rash gesture. Or at least this is how I see him and I identified these thoughts perfectly with Tezier’s interpretation. His warm, very elegant voice is nothing but pleasure to listen to! Because for him as for the others the gestures were so contained I look forward to seeing the tv broadcast to get a close up of his expression :-) And I can listen to him again and again and again.
Anne-Catherine Gillet (Sophie) et Sophie Koch (Charlotte)© Opéra national de Paris/ Elisa Haberer at http://www.forumopera.com/

Alain Vernhes (Bailli) and Anne-Catherine Gillet (Sophie) are a dream of diction and beauty of sound. She was like a blast from the past, such a beautiful reminder of the Thill recording ( there Germaine Feraldy) She is absolutely perfect for the role, a bell like voice, a beautiful and tender presence, with an innocence and candour that makes your ears rejoice and your heart melt!

All behind, or rather in front of it all , Michel Plasson! To me he is a legend, I’ve known about him for so long, I just feel privileged to have been able to have him conduct this Werther. He made me fall in love with the piece, in its whole and all the individual bits. He spun it into an ethereal construction fragile and lace like, that you feared it could disappear if touched. I was surprised how soft and elegant, how romantic and intimate the score could be. It charmed you into listening. And to see at the final applause how happy and proud he is of his singers is soooo touching! (that it made me cry all over again.. as if he hadn’t induced enough dehydration already ;-))) Applause for the wonderful orchestra as well!

The production has beautiful imagery and most of all, a picture-like colour palette, reflecting every characters personality. Simple, yes, but elegant and effective. Everyone looked beautiful, and why shouldn’t they? Having said that it does feel at times just too restrained. I like the tension that build with characters looking at each other from the distance and when silence and steadiness speak a thousand words, but sometimes it was taken a bit too far. I don’t like to feel any singer being transformed into a statue. An there were choices I disagree with: like in the 2nd act when Albert talkes to Charlotte she looks sternly away from him and even draws her hand away when he tries to hold it. That doesn’t make sense, Albert is content, happy about his 3 months of marriage, now he wouldn’t be would the woman next to him have treated him like this for these months. Besides, I think Charlotte cares about Albert and why shouldn’t she? She doesn’t love him maybe as passionately as she ends up loving Werther, but she does care about him. Which only makes her choices more tragic. For me this would have been a better interpretation of things, but it wasn’t this director’s choice, here she clearly and openly rejects him.

Also Werther’s little room in the last scene didn’t quite work, not the room in itself, but the room slowly sliding forward on the inclined stage. For me there is a simple rule, does what you want to do technically work without interrupting or disturbing the music? Does it add value? If the answers are no, just forget it and do something else. It was maybe interesting to see, but not with the sliding mechanisms screeching their way through the musical introduction to the 4th act and all the mechanics showing behind the sliding box.

Other than that I think it was a good production with some really beautiful images that burned themselves into my mind. It all worked well together and the production and we all ,who see it are lucky to hear and see these singers and this conductor! For me personally it was all too much to take in, which is why I think what currently predominates in my mind is the singing and only then the score and the images.

I’ve never heard anything like it ever and I still can’t believe all things considering that I was sitting yesterday listening to this Werther.

By the way I didn’t find the Bastille that big! Big yes, but not as exaggerated reports recount it. My decent priced seat had good acoustics and good view, what can’t be said about other places. Yes balconies are high up, but who said at the top of the amphi in ROH people don’t look like ants?

And yes, I had full on panda eyes at the exit, I started crying out the mascara in the 2nd act and cried again and again. I would have happily wept on with no interruption had it not been for pesky intervals ( I could have done with just one, because it is horrible to interrupt that beautiful atmosphere!) and the absolutely horrendous, neighbours from hell I had!( exception nice familiar face next to my right, she suffered them too!. Behind us a couple who thought when singers don’t sing it is time to chat, even if music is on..and they just kept on and on and on, louder and louder. No amount of stinky eye was able to stop them until about 3 of us turned round and shushed exasperated at the same time.. and then they held their breath for about 30 min and continued… The one to my left had an invitation, showed up after act 1, and as soon as she sat started yawning until her jaw cracked, extending herself, leaning back, leaning forward, rubbing her ears, her forehead and nose, scratching her head and repeating the routine with occasional elbows stuck into my ribs, with no apologies. When applause started she jumped up, she had to be somewhere urgently. To my right next to my friend the coughing couple, she almost coughed her insides out and he was the useless bit next to her. She sounded unwell so she must have known she was making these unearthly sounds… not a bottle of water or any coughing sweets or anything in sight. She was literally less than 2 meters from the door, next to the isle but she never made a move for it until the break, she just kept on coughing and coughing. They don’t seem to have cough sweets there either because she repeated the program all throughout. So whenever I was finally into it, silently crying my heart out, the ones at the back whispered, the one next to me fidgeted and the cougher shared her germs…. It’s not a small wonder I actually was so impressed by the show and got so much out of it… although who knows .. maybe I was just crying in frustration of not being able to kill them and by the end of it kill myself and get it over with. By the way Jonas Kaufmann coughed discretely 2-3 times and sang uninterrupted , why is it too much to ask of dear members of the public to keep still and with their mouths shut???

In case you still have any doubts the applause and Bravo shouts where like a hurricane that came crashing down on all singers and the conductor and many of the people present left the Bastille singing the tunes! No more proof needed that everyone else loved it to bits as well :-)

By the way, I turned to the one singing the Werther aria through the exit door and said in French “it was amazing, wasn’t it?” And he turned to me smilingly and replied: “yes, and he is yours!!” Took me 1 second to process that and I started laughing saying that I wasn’t German, but he is brilliant indeed :-) He had obviously heard me speaking German to someone and meant to congratulate me and tell me I should really be proud to have such an amazing compatriot :-)))