I really detested The Sorrows of Young Werther when I read it, but I appreciated the opera more. I don't know if that is simply the power of music, or if the libretto was more favorable to me than Goethe's prose.
Notes on Massenet's Werther
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According to this article from 2016, Massenet's original score contains some bars in the duet of Werther ans Charlotte which are mostly unperformed. (So I have presumably not heard them in any of the two versions with Kaufmann 2010 and 2014) Can anybody find them for me ?
The quotation:
While preparing the Werther score several months ago, BLO Music Director and Werther conductor David Angus discovered the original manuscript of the orchestral score, in Massenet’s own hand, had recently been made available online. In reviewing it for inspiration on how to approach the score afresh, he noticed something not included in published versions of the score: a 90-second piece of vocal music and text that overlays the Act IV moment when a dying Werther finally kisses the elusive Charlotte.”
These mysterious vocal lines had the two characters joining in with the ecstatic orchestra music that plays in the moment. As Angus describes it, ‘Firstly in glorious, full unison at the tops of their voices, and then breaking apart and weaving around each other’s music in sensuous counterpoint. He describes its beauty as Puccini-like, recalling some of that composer’s soaring melodies. Angus also points out this newly discovered moment is a rare time in the work where people sing together, rather than in alternating, sung dialogue.
In consultation with two international experts on Massenet, Angus found these vocal lines have never been included in a printed, published version of the score. No research to date has revealed evidence they’ve been performed in a Werther production by a major professional opera company. After trying the scene with and without the new music in rehearsals, Angus, director Crystal Manich and the artists fell in love with the depth it gave to the scene, and decided to include the vocal lines in the performance.
www.classical-scene.com
The quotation:
While preparing the Werther score several months ago, BLO Music Director and Werther conductor David Angus discovered the original manuscript of the orchestral score, in Massenet’s own hand, had recently been made available online. In reviewing it for inspiration on how to approach the score afresh, he noticed something not included in published versions of the score: a 90-second piece of vocal music and text that overlays the Act IV moment when a dying Werther finally kisses the elusive Charlotte.”
These mysterious vocal lines had the two characters joining in with the ecstatic orchestra music that plays in the moment. As Angus describes it, ‘Firstly in glorious, full unison at the tops of their voices, and then breaking apart and weaving around each other’s music in sensuous counterpoint. He describes its beauty as Puccini-like, recalling some of that composer’s soaring melodies. Angus also points out this newly discovered moment is a rare time in the work where people sing together, rather than in alternating, sung dialogue.
In consultation with two international experts on Massenet, Angus found these vocal lines have never been included in a printed, published version of the score. No research to date has revealed evidence they’ve been performed in a Werther production by a major professional opera company. After trying the scene with and without the new music in rehearsals, Angus, director Crystal Manich and the artists fell in love with the depth it gave to the scene, and decided to include the vocal lines in the performance.
BLO Updates Werther - The Boston Musical Intelligencer
The Boston Lyric Opera’s theatrically riveting new production of Werther, combining video elements by Greg Emetaz with a new bit of never-before-sung Massenet, continues at the Shubert Theater through next weekend. [continued]
www.classical-scene.com
That's about right, though
I still don't know, how Schipa handled Lorsque l'enfant. I like it quite dramatic.
I am glad we have this opera with different types of tenors.
Tenors are my introduction to opera so naturally Pourquoi me reveiller is one the first tenor aria for me. The aria is a staple for many young tenor students, and i just thought of it as beautiful or passionate aria about a little sad love story, nothing significant. Until i decided to actually do research on the story of the opera and the aria itself. It's incredible how mental unstability can be wrapped in such a lovely and seemingly innocent cantabile. And to think i used to believe that everything mad must sound somewhat like Lucia (di Lammermoor)
My experience is just the opposite. I have always knownTenors are my introduction to opera so naturally Pourquoi me reveiller is one the first tenor aria for me. The aria is a staple for many young tenor students, and i just thought of it as beautiful or passionate aria about a little sad love story, nothing significant. Until i decided to actually do research on the story of the opera and the aria itself. It's incredible how mental unstability can be wrapped in such a lovely and seemingly innocent cantabile. And to think i used to believe that everything mad must sound somewhat like Lucia (di Lammermoor)
it is an aria of a man, who eventually commits suicide. I didn't know he is yet at a comparatively harmless stage of his story, where he is just reading a poem. Plus I know it like this - Peter Dvorský and the conducting of Ondrej Lenárd, who really conveyed the damp feeling of depression. Try it, it is time tagged, I wonder if it will scare you too ? It scares me even now.
Massenet was also depressed himself, according to a docummentary movie I have seen. And his Elegie is also pretty scary, imo.
Indeed
by the way, he doesn't quite look like your Kaufmann, does he? 😈Indeed
Indeed
. Not even like Werther ! (On posters and illustrations of that time).1 - 15 of 15 Posts
